“Former senior Trump aide Hope Hicks is doing strategic comms consulting for controversial fast fashion retailer Shein, which has attracted recent attention in Washington for its ties to China,” Politico reports.
“The company has faced intense scrutiny over claims that some of its clothes are made with the forced labor of Chinese Uyghurs (claims that the company has pushed back on) and also over its reliance on the ‘de minimis’ tariff exemption.”
Janen Ganesh: “In most western democracies, the defeated can go on to make a living in business. America is almost unique in being able to keep election-losers in handsome employment within politics. There is always a television slot, a think-tank sinecure, a tax-exempt political action committee, a speaking gig, a book deal. Sarah Palin, whose electoral career peaked as governor of one of America’s least populous states, sold a reported 2mn copies of her memoirs in hardback. There are European heads of government who can’t do that.”
“So lucrative and ego-feeding is America’s political industry that even non-Americans strive to crack it. Last week, Liz Truss gave a speech of virtuoso dottiness to a rightwing conference in Maryland. Don’t knock it as a career move. There is more income, less stress and often larger audiences to be had as a touring windbag than as a minister. Steve Hilton, who lasted two years in government as a (liberal) adviser to David Cameron, managed six as a Fox News host. Nigel Farage, that seven-time failure as a candidate for parliament, is a regular on the US circuit.”
“Think of the incentive structure here. Why moderate to win office if you can have the same trappings out of it? Fear of unelectability is what keeps political parties from embracing wild ideas. If that fear goes, if life in opposition is about as agreeable as life in government, an important check on extremism falls away. It becomes rational to cultivate activists over swing voters.”
“When Jimmy Carter crisscrossed this state ahead of the 1976 presidential caucuses, his campaign’s Iowa budget was roughly $100,000 in today’s dollars. Candidates now often spend that much in a few days,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Iowans have grown increasingly adept every four years at wringing money out of candidates and the national political establishment, with this year’s spending reaching its pinnacle ahead of Monday’s caucuses.”
“More than $105 million has been spent by the Republican presidential candidates and their allies on Iowa ads during the past year, data from AdImpact shows. That compares with roughly $53 million expended by Democrats and their allies during a similar period four years ago, when that party held competitive caucuses.”
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A new board game, “Storm the Capitol,” is being released this weekend to commemorate the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Newsweek reports.
From the game’s website: “Take control of one of 6 Patriots as you battle through the Capitol, collecting ballots, taking hostages, and fighting the police. Or play as the Capitol Police and use every means at your disposal to prevent the Patriots from getting to the roof with enough ballots to Stop the Steal.”
New York Times: “Retiring generals and departing top Pentagon officials once migrated regularly to the big established weapons makers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing.”
“Now they are increasingly flocking to venture capital firms that have collectively pumped billions of dollars into Silicon Valley-style startups offering the Pentagon new war-fighting tools like autonomous killer drones, hypersonic jets and space surveillance equipment.”
Washington Post: “Haley’s finances are under a spotlight as she seeks a return to public life, this time as president. A financial disclosure she submitted earlier this year, as required for candidates, shows how she followed a well-worn path to wealth: trading on her government experience, both as U.N. ambassador and, before that, as governor of South Carolina.”
“The public profile Haley, 51, cultivated as a Republican official — melding deregulatory policies with interventionist and adamantly pro-Israel positions — created lucrative private opportunities. In an 11-month period ending January 2023, she earned about $2.5 million from paid speeches alone, delivered to banks, other businesses and advocacy groups, according to her disclosure. That’s more than she earned in combined salary during the eight years she spent as governor and then a presidential Cabinet member.”
Politico: “Until last year, the lavish hotel was part of former President Donald Trump’s real-estate empire. No Democratic official would dare step foot inside. But as the hotel struggled to make money after Trump left office, the former president sold his lease on the Old Post Office Building and the hotel was rebranded as a Waldorf Astoria.”
“Now, spending time there has become a way for the Democratic elite to stick it to the former president.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Axios he is exploring a new career that includes connecting the next-frontier worlds of space and AI with Washington.
McCarthy has been friends with Elon Musk for about a decade, and says he could imagine working with him or other future-tech moguls.
“Airbnb will announce Monday that Ron Klain — former White House chief of staff, and one of Washington’s best-connected Democrats — will join the company as chief legal officer on Jan. 1,” Axios reports.
“It’s a surprise twist for the storied career of Klain, who remains a confidant of President Biden, with a big behind-the-scenes voice in his re-election campaign.”
“MyPillow is auctioning off hundreds of pieces of equipment and subleasing manufacturing space after several shopping networks and major retailers took the company’s products off shelves,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
“Major retailers such as Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and Slumberland Furniture all said they will no longer sell MyPillow products as CEO Mike Lindell continues to falsely claim that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.”
Wall Street Journal: “Travel analysts and advisers say traffic to Disney’s U.S. parks, and some rival parks, has slowed this summer. Data from a travel company that tracks line-waiting time at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., shows that the Independence Day weekend was one of the slowest in nearly a decade.”
“Disney faces a unique set of challenges right now, from streaming losses to executive succession to a political and legal fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Revenue from its parks division has long been a bright spot for the company, buoying overall earnings.”
New York Times: “The business of being Chris Christie has received only sporadic attention since he left public office. But his latest enterprise — a presidential campaign bent on taking down former President Donald Trump, a man he once endorsed and advised — has cast a new light on his success.”
“A close review of corporate and government records as well as interviews with more than 30 people familiar with his lobbying and consulting work shows Mr. Christie has profited from his relationship to the man he now wants to defeat, as well as from the political profile he gained in eight years as New Jersey’s governor.”
“Mr. Christie has made millions from interests wanting to leverage his political ties, including pharmaceutical, medical and sports betting companies, like DraftKings — whose hiring of Mr. Christie has not been previously reported. Some had business with the state when Mr. Christie was governor, and saw him as a reliable advocate for their bottom line, while others were interested in tapping into his close association with Mr. Trump and the Trump administration.”
Wall Street Journal: “Bud Light’s sales have tanked since April, when transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted an image on Instagram of a personalized Bud Light can that the brand had sent her as a gift.”
“The Instagram post sparked an uproar, and brewer Anheuser-Busch’s response to the boycott angered even more people.”
Wall Street Journal: “With one blunder after another, the brewing giant behind the brand became a case study in how not to handle a culture-war storm.”
An amazing statistic from a Washington Post profile of Jeff Roe, founder of the GOP consulting firm Axion Strategies: “Axiom now captures at least 63% of every dollar spent by its campaigns, versus less than 10% as just general consultant.”
“In the 2022 cycle, Roe told investors his firm, which also has corporate clients, had taken in $196 million in net revenue, while earning more than $22 million as profit after depreciation and taxes. By 2024, he said those numbers would climb to $250 million and about $36 million in profit.”
“The scale of that revenue — which both allies and detractors consider staggering within the Washington consulting class — underscores the extent to which Roe has rapidly become a major player in the Republican political consulting world, guiding the campaigns of thousands of candidates in recent years, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars and building a lengthy list of clients.”
New York Times: “A group of conservative operatives using sophisticated robocalls raised millions of dollars from donors using pro-police and pro-veteran messages.”
“But instead of using the money to promote issues and candidates, nearly all the money went to pay the firms making the calls and the operatives themselves, highlighting a flaw in the regulation of political nonprofits.”
Bud Light sales are down 26% after the fallout from a social media promotion featuring a transgender influencer, Barron’s reports.
“The fight between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company is headed to court,” the New York Times reports.
“On Wednesday, a board appointed by Mr. DeSantis to oversee government services at Disney World voted to nullify two agreements that gave Disney vast control over expansion at the 25,000-acre resort complex. Within minutes, Disney sued Mr. DeSantis, the five-member board and other state officials in federal court, claiming ‘a targeted campaign of government retaliation.’”
CNBC: “The lawsuit dramatically escalates the drawn-out feud between DeSantis, who is expected to become a top Republican contender for the 2024 presidential race, and Disney, Florida’s largest employer.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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