Important Takeaways:
- Well-connected Democratic Party insiders say that congressional leaders expect Vice President Harris will become their nominee for president if Biden drops his reelection bid.
- Congressional leaders are “lukewarm” on Harris as the nominee but recognize her favorable rating is higher than Biden’s and believe the president can help boost her numbers by campaigning for her, according to a person familiar with the leadership-level discussions.
- Alums of former President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 winning presidential campaigns are prepared to help Harris get her own presidential campaign operation up and running if Biden agrees to step aside, according to a source familiar with the transition plan.
- The talk among high-level Democratic strategists and donors has now turned to who is best positioned to serve has Harris’s running mate, and the short list has boiled down to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D).
- Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday after holding events in Las Vegas and returned to Delaware to “self-isolate,” which could postpone any announcement on his future until Monday.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state, reflecting the deepening decline in support for a two-state solution among wider Israeli society.
- The vote could signal that Israeli lawmakers have confidence that “the next president is going to be Donald Trump,” one analyst said.
- The vote came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to the United States to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden
- Israel has faced growing pressure to present a clear plan for what happens when the war comes to an end, with Israeli opposition to a two-state solution complicating paths to a viable diplomatic resolution.
- Addressing the Knesset on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended his handling of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli forces had been effective in putting Hamas “under pressure” amid negotiations for a cease-fire deal that would bring an end to fighting in Gaza and see hostages who remain held by Hamas in the enclave released.
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Important Takeaways:
- Some supporters of Joe Biden have been accused of being “Blue MAGA” for their staunch defense of the president in the wake of the CNN debate.
- While there is no official definition for the term, Blue MAGA has been used to describe those who are fierce advocates of the so-called “vote blue no matter who” initiative and are not willing to criticize Democrats in any way.
- The “Blue MAGA” accusations have been aimed at those who have suggested they will still vote for Biden despite accusations he is too old or lacking cognitive ability to remain in office for a second term.
- The Blue MAGA accusation has also been attached to those who have pushed false claims about Biden and his popularity, while urging the president to remain in the White House race.
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States on Thursday announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $225 million, which includes a Patriot missile battery, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems and missiles, among other items.
- Washington, Ukraine’s biggest supporter, has provided more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022 when the Russian invasion began.
- U.S. legislation was approved in April that provided $61 billion in funding to Ukraine.
- “We will stay with you, period,” U.S. President Joe Biden told Zelenskiy ahead of a bilateral meeting at the NATO summit in Washington.
- Ukraine has repeatedly called on partners to provide more help with air defense as it faces attacks from Russia on cities and energy infrastructure.
- Zelenskiy said last week he wanted to double Ukraine’s air defense capacity over the summer.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden spoke forcefully and fluently about foreign policy, one of his favorite subjects.
- He gave detailed responses about his work to preserve NATO and his plans for a second term.
- Perhaps Biden’s biggest slip-up in the press conference came early on when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” in saying he picked her because he believed she could beat Trump.
- The press conference ended with Biden being asked directly whether he’d step down for Harris if he saw polling showing she had a better chance of beating Trump. “No, unless they come back and said there’s no way you can win,” Biden responded. Then he added, in a stage whisper, “No poll’s saying that.”
- Overall, his presentation was a reminder that people are focused on him now with an almost clinical eye toward possible slip-ups and mistakes, the kind of pressure that is unlikely to go away for as long as Biden insists he’ll stay in the race.
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Important Takeaways:
- White House reporters on Tuesday continued to pepper Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with questions about Biden’s cognitive decline.
- Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked KJP who the Pentagon contacts if they detect an incoming nuke late at night past Joe Biden’s “8 pm window.”
- According to The New York Times, Biden recently told Democrat governors that his ‘health is fine,’ “it’s just my brain.”
- Biden is also reported to have told the governors that he needs to get more sleep, work fewer hours and not do events after 8 p.m.
- Peter Doocy asked Karine Jean-Pierre about Biden’s early bedtime and the ‘3 am phone call.’
- “Well, [Biden] also said he’s the sharpest before 8 pm, so say that the Pentagon at some point picks up an incoming nuke – it’s 11 pm – who do you call? The First Lady?” Doocy asked KJP.
- Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that Joe Biden is not the first person contacted in the event of a nuclear war emergency.
- “He has a team that lets him know of any news that is pertinent and important to the American people. He has someone – that is decided obviously with his national security team on who gets to tell him that news,” Karine Jean-Pierre said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Inside growing turmoil as Biden team struggles to calm post-debate storm
- President Joe Biden told a close ally that he doesn’t think he can salvage his campaign after his train wreck debate with Donald Trump last week.
- It is the first real sign that the president is considering dropping out of the race amid calls for a new candidate.
- The deciding factor, a key ally told The New York Times, could be Biden’s campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this weekend.
- They said of the president’s thinking: He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place.
- But Biden’s Deputy spokesperson Andrew Bates insisted in a post on X moments after the article went live that the reporting is ‘absolutely false.’ He complained the NYT only gave the team seven minutes to reply to a request for comment.
- White House chief of staff Jeff Zients is scheduled to hold an all-hands-on-deck staff call at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to pump up disillusioned staff and reassure them that Biden will remain the nominee.
- The president has been on the phone to lawmakers trying to shore up his support on Capitol Hill amid worries Republicans will take control of the House and Senate – along with the White House – in the upcoming elections, giving them unchecked power to run the country.
- Meanwhile, Jill Biden has been dispatched to the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan to tout Biden’s accomplishments in the White House as polls show him trailing Donald Trump.
- Now a group of business leaders are calling for Joe Biden to step down for a replacement Democratic nominee.
- Leadership Now Project is the latest entity expressing it wants to see a different candidate on the ticket in 2024 other than the incumbent president after his disastrous debate performance.
- The group wrote in a statement responding to the debate: We have heard from many individuals who share our deep concerns about the present course but fear speaking out.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘When America’s weak, the axis strengthens’: Fmr. Mossad official says Hezbollah fears war
- Oded Ilam, a former senior Mossad official, spoke recently with Arel Segal on his show on 103FM radio to discuss the implications of Biden’s failure in the recent presidential debate against Donald Trump and the possible escalation in the North.
- Ilam began by saying, “The Americans, although I don’t think they are anti-Israeli, continue to misunderstand the situation we are in. Biden and his administration have their hearts in the right place. The famous ‘warning’ that Biden gave to the Iranians didn’t move them at all. They attacked Israel anyway, and the American response was that the administration issued condolences for Raisi’s death. The American administration repeatedly shows weakness, which is also reflected in the ongoing negotiations.”
- “Every time Hamas does not accept a deal with Israel, we are forced to step back two more steps. It is hard for me to see a situation where Hamas allows us to write up another agreement that doesn’t include withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor,” Ilam noted. “I can assume that when America is weak, the axis strengthens. This confrontation is very significant. I saw Biden’s performance in Atlanta, where he was different than at the recent debate. He was excellent. The same team that advised him to go to the debate is exactly the same team that shapes America’s policy.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Voronezh Malshevo air base, in southern Russia 100 miles from the border with Ukraine, might be the most important—and most vulnerable—target in Russia.
- But it’s seemingly off of Ukraine’s list of targets for now.
- From the base, Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers belonging to the Russian air force’s 47th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment fly daily sorties lobbing powerful glide bombs at Ukrainian troops and civilians from 25 miles away or farther.
- “The large number of jets stationed at the airfield enables the simultaneous deployment of bombs, allowing multiple targets in Ukrainian territory to be engaged at once.”
- They’re within range of Ukraine’s best deep strike weapon—its American-made Army Tactical Missile System rockets. “Ukraine could potentially incapacitate the entire operational fleet stationed there if permitted to conduct such a strike”
- The main problem is Russia’s ground-based air defenses, which make it extremely dangerous for Ukrainian warplanes to fly at high altitude practically anywhere in Ukraine—but especially within a hundred miles or so of the front line, well within reach of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries.
- So the Ukrainians wait for permission they hope is coming soon. “It is painful to watch those missiles flying over our heads toward Kharkiv and thinking if your home would be destroyed this time”
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Important Takeaways:
- Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden won remain bound to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
- The conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The current rules read: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
- The vice president is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can swap in for him at the top of the ticket by default. Biden also can’t decree that she replace him should he suddenly decide to leave the race.
- If Biden opts to abandon his reelection campaign, Harris would likely join other top Democratic candidates looking to replace him.
- “The business of nominating someone to represent a political party is the business of the political party.”
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