A Biden family affair

Plus: Ariana Grande is getting out the vote

Hi, I’m Hunter and welcome to Whig, my new newsletter about politics and pop culture. Subscribe for more:

Folks, President Joe Biden is set to speak tonight at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention following remarks from First Lady Jill Biden and an introduction from his daughter Ashley Biden. It’s a Biden family affair.

A lame duck, Biden hasn’t seen his approval rating budge since announcing he was dropping out of the race about one month ago. Still, he’s expected to receive a hero’s welcome in Chicago for his decision to pass the baton to a new generation in order beat former President Donald Trump.

Aides say Biden’s speech will argue why Vice President Kamala Harris is best suited to preserve democracy, and after speaking, he and the First Lady are expected to head to California for vacation. That sounds like the best way to spend late August, if you ask me. The man’s got a memoir and a museum to start thinking about, but first, he’s got to finish the job. The tone of that eventual book could depend on whether or not his vice president takes his place. — Hunter

Here’s who’s hosting the DNC:

The Democrats are bringing star power to this week’s convention. Actor Tony Goldwyn, who played President Grant in Scandal, will be Monday’s emcee. He’ll be followed by The View host Ana Navarro on Tuesday, actress Mindy Kaling on Wednesday, and Kerry Washington, who played Olivia Pope in Scandal, on the final night Thursday. Among the confirmed performers are James Taylor and Jason Isbell.

Harris begins laying out policy agenda:

Harris has been criticized for her lack of campaign platform, but in her first major policy speech last Friday, she laid out a few proposals she said would cut costs for Americans and help first-time home buyers.

To spur homebuilding, Harris called for tax breaks to incentivize homebuilders to build 3 million housing units in her first term, as well as down-payment aid for first-time homebuyers, an expanded child tax credit, a ban on price gouging for grocery stores and food suppliers, and other measures.

At his rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Trump called Harris “Comrade Kamala” and accused her of wanting to “institute socialist price control.” He followed up his comments with an A.I.-generated image of a Harris lookalike speaking at a communist convention.

Trump thinks he’s hotter than Harris:

Trump warned listeners during his Pennsylvania rally this weekend to not “ever call a woman beautiful, because that'll be the end of your political career, please.” Still, he couldn’t help but talk about his opponent’s appearance.

“I say that I am much better looking,” Trump said of Harris. “I'm a better-looking person than Kamala.” Claiming people said, “her biggest advantage is that she's a beautiful woman,” Trump said, “I never thought of that. I'm better looking than she is.” Lol ok.

How Melania makes her money:

New financial disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission, or FEC, show former First Lady Melania Trump has made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of NFTs and her April speech to the Log Cabin Republicans.

The disclosure, found on page six of these disclosures obtained and published by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, found that Trump’s license agreement with Designers Manager for the sale of NFTs brought in $330,607, while her speaking engagement fee for the Log Cabin Republicans brought in $237,500. The document doesn’t list any fees for her July fundraiser for the group held in New York City, but does list residential real estate she owns in New York City and Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Meanwhile, her husband made $300,000 off the “God Bless the USA” Bible with Lee Greenwood. Trump made more off his book “Letters to Trump,” though, bringing in $500,000, disclosures show. FEC filings also show Trump has between $1 million and $5 million in the cryptocurrency ethereum and he made $7.15 million in licensing fees from what appears to be an NFT company.

Santos pleads guilty:

Disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and plead guilty today to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. “I deeply regret my conduct, I fully accept responsibility for my actions, and I understand my actions have betrayed the trust of my supporters,” Santos said in court. Speaking outside court, he said he “allowed ambition to cloud my judgment.”

Santos will go to prison for at least two years and repay at least $373,000. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Santos “will finally be held to account for his actions.”

Democrats are trolling Trump at his tower in Chicago:

For the Democratic National Committee, the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago is a canvas and light is its brush. Projections Sunday night hit Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), like “Trump-Vance ‘Weird as Hell,’” “Trump-Vance: Out For Themselves,” and “Project 2025 HQ.” There were also pro-Harris messages that said “Harris-Walz Fighting For You” and “Harris-Walz: Joy and Hope.”

Influencers get DNC floor seats:

The Democratic National Convention Committee announced the first-of-its-kind “Creator Platform” earlier this month. It’s like a network platform for TV news outlets except instead of big lighting and camera set-ups, it’s a close up space on the convention floor for influencers with smartphones. More than 200 creators were credentialed to cover the convention.

This New Yorker cover is a snapshot of the race right now and no one knows how it ends:

The cover by New Yorker cartoonist Barry Blitt is an attempt to gather a narrative on the past few unpredictable weeks in politics, according to the magazine. “It looks like things are going the Democrats’ way,” Blitt said. “But who knows what twists and turns lurk right around the corner.”

🏠 New rules around real estate fees are taking effect. Realtors are barred from offering compensation on multiple listing services, making it harder for buyers’ agents and sellers’ agents to negotiate fees on their own, as they’ve done for decades. [NBC News]

☕ Starbucks names former Taco Bell, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol its new CEO. The Seattle coffee giant named Niccol as its new chairman and CEO, hoping he can revive fading sales and re-establish Starbucks as a destination where customers are willing to pay premium prices. [Associated Press]

🍫 Mars to acquire snack maker Kellanova in $36 billion deal. The move comes after Kellogg separated its business last year, with its cereal segment trading under WK Kellogg Co, and the remaining snacking and plant-based brands under Kellanova. [CNBC]

🦩 Same-sex flamingo couple successfully hatches one of a U.K. zoo’s first chicks since 2018. A recent video shows Chilean flamingos Curtis and Arthur devotedly tending to their new chick. The zoo believes the same-sex couple adopted an egg abandoned by other flamingoes. [People]

📺 Pioneer talk show host Phil Donahue dies at 88. Donahue created a new genre of television — the audience participation talk show — which briefly took over daytime television and sealed his status as a TV pioneer. [NPR]

Chappell Roan hits new high on Billboard albums chart:

Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess hits a new peak of No. 2 on the Billboard albums this week behind Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. It’s Swift’s 15th week at No. 1, tying Carole King’s Tapestry for third for the longest-running No. 1 album by a female artist, behind record holder Adele’s 21 (24 weeks) and the Whitney Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard (20 weeks).

Katy Perry’s new music video is being investigated:

The music video shoot for Katy Perry’s new song “Lifetimes” is being investigated by government officials on the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean east of Spain after they said the shoot was not authorized by their Department of Filming.

Perry’s record label Capitol Records said the production company behind the video “assured us that all necessary permits for the video were secured” and the production company said it was given verbal authority to film and “adhered to all regulations associated with filming in this area.” Why do I get the feeling Perry won’t be at the DNC singing “Roar” this year??

Ariana Grande is getting out the vote:

Ariana Grande’s Sweetener World Tour set an all-time voter registration record for a single tour for the voter registration group HeadCount in 2019 registering 33,000 new voters, and now the singer is teaming up with HeadCount again.

Grande announced she’s offering fans the chance to win a trip to the U.S. premiere of “Wicked” and an R.E.M. Beauty “glam experience” to promote voter registration. The contest rules note entrants can participate in the sweepstakes without taking a civic action and the landing page says “voting, registering to vote, or being a registered voter is not required.” But let’s be honest, if you did that, you’d break your high school social studies teacher’s heart.

HeadCount announced other pop music partnerships today, including a touring partnership with Sabrina Carpenter to register voters on her Short N’ Sweet Tour and a sweepstakes for the chance to win a trip to the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.

Coldplay has the biggest tour in the history of rock music:

Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres Tour in support of their 2021 album of the same name has grossed $945.7 million since launching in March 2022, according to Billboard, breaking the record for highest-grossing rock tour of all time set by Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour from 2018 to 2023. Coldplay still has 21 more shows scheduled, meaning they could become the first rock band to have a billion-dollar-grossing tour.

Eugene and Dan Levy are hosting the 2024 Emmy Awards:

The 2024 Emmy Awards will be a family affair. Eugene and Dan Levy will be the first-ever father-son duo to co-host the awards show next year. In 2020, the Levy’s show Schitt’s Creek swept its Emmy Awards category, taking home all seven comedy awards.

Keith Urban played a free concert outside Buc-ee’s:

About 5,000 people showed up with just a few hours’ notice to a Buc-ee’s store in Athens, Ala., about 100 miles south of Nashville for a free Keith Urban concert. The country singer told the crowd he visited the chain’s Athens location “about a month ago and when I left, I went, ‘it’d be kind of fun to do a show there.’”

Wait, I kind of love this “Kamala” logo:

My first thought seeing the graphic on this official Harris campaign sweatshirt designed by Willy Chavarria is that it feels like a Bernie-fied logo with those warm, round serifs (and that swooping K… *swoon*). “This Willy Chavarria sweatshirt puts it all out there about who you’re supporting for the next President of the United States and it’s Kamala. (period)” the campaign says about the $85 sweatshirt, which is part of its Designers for Democracy collection.

Thanks for reading! See you later. ⭐