Biden's checks and balances
Plus: FLOTUS in Paris
Hi, I’m Hunter and welcome to Whig, my new newsletter about politics and pop culture. Subscribe for more:
As every good student of U.S. civics knows, the federal government is divided into three branches, the executive, judicial, and legislative. Through checks and balances, they divide and separate power. The President, for example, can veto a law passed by Congress, and Congress can remove a President from office. Today, the executive branch said the judicial branch has gotten too big for its britches.
In a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, President Joe Biden called for reforming the U.S. Supreme Court and for limits on his own executive branch. Biden’s proposal included three things: an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court Justices, a mandatory ethics code for Justices, and a Constitutional Amendment to end blanket criminal immunity for Presidents. The term limits would “reduce the chance that any single presidency imposes undue influence on generations to come,” Biden said, and an ethics code would remove accusations of judicial cronyism the Court now faces. Biden named his proposed Constitutional Amendment that would reverse the Court’s immunity ruling in Trump v. the United States the “No One is Above the Law Amendment.”
“There are no kings in America, each of us is equal before the law, no one is above the law,” Biden said, blaming extremism for undermining “public confidence in the Court’s decisions.” A June AP-NORC poll found 84% of U.S. adults have only some or hardly any confidence in the Court, suggesting there’s an appetite for reforming it. Whether Biden can muster the political capital to change the Constitution, though, something that hasn’t happened in 32 years, remains another matter. — Hunter
Harris is now within striking distance of Trump:
National polls this year have found former President Donald Trump consistently ahead of Biden, but since Biden dropped out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris has pulled closer. A Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month found Trump leading Biden 48% to 42%, but its Friday poll found Harris within the margin of error, trailing Trump just 49% to 47%.
Trump says he hasn’t changed:
Don’t expect a new tone from Trump since he was shot, he said himself. Speaking at a rally last week in Charlotte, N.C., he said, “I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot. I became nice,” before adding, “If you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice. Is that okay?” At a rally in St. Cloud, Minn., on Saturday, he said the shooting didn’t change him. “Maybe I’ve gotten worse,” he said.
FLOTUS in Paris:
First Lady Jill Biden has a full schedule while in France for the Paris Games. Dr. Biden spoke to U.S. Olympic athletes and their families (“When Team USA glides through the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night, they carry more than just our flag. They carry our nation’s heart and our hopes with them too,” she said.), met with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, attended the Opening Ceremony, went to a party thrown by Ralph Lauren (the outfitter of Team USA’s Opening and Closing Ceremony uniforms), and thanked rapper Flavor Flav for sponsoring the U.S. women's water polo team.
She’s also calling for her husband’s supporters to back Harris. Last Wednesday, Dr. Biden posted a handwritten note to social media that thanked her husband’s supporters for putting their trust in him. “To those who never wavered, to those who refused to doubt, to those who always believed, my heart is full of gratitude,” she wrote. “Thank you for the trust you put in Joe — now it’s time to put that trust in Kamala. Love, Jill.”
It’s not just J.D., Usha Vance once had a problem with Trump too:
Much has been made about comments Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) made about Trump years before he picked him to be his running mate, and according to friends, Vance’s wife Usha Vance felt similarly. A friend told The Washington Post “Usha found the incursion on the Capitol and Trump’s role in it to be deeply disturbing. She was generally appalled by Trump, from the moment of his first election.”
More than two dozen friends, former colleagues, and school alumni spoke to the Post about Usha Vance’s former stance on Trump. Jai Chabria, a Republican strategist who worked on Vance’s 2022 U.S. Senate campaign told the Post that Usha “had a similar shift in views and fully supports Donald Trump and her husband and will do whatever she can to ensure their victory this November.”
Melania has a memoir coming out:
Former First Lady Melania Trump announced last week that her first book “Melania” is on its way. Described by Trump’s office as “the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has defined personal excellence, overcome adversity, and carved her own path” and “an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life,” the book is said to include never-before-shared stories and photos.
“Melania” will be published not by Winning Team Publishing, the publishing company co-founded in 2021 by Donald Trump Jr., that’s published books from former President Trump (including the forthcoming “Save America,” which features a photo from the assassination attempt against Trump on the cover), but by Skyhorse Publishing, which has published books by the likes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Rudy Giuliani.
The former FLOTUS’ book is available for pre-order for $40, $75 for a signed copy, and $150 for a “collector’s edition” that will be signed and include bonus photographs and a “digital collectible.” There’s no release date for the book, but Trump’s site said to allow 12-16 weeks for delivery. I’m eagerly awaiting to see whether the cover is the minimalist image Trump’s office put out or if we’re getting different art.
Secretary Clinton on Harris: I’m with her:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is all in for Harris. Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton endorsed Harris right out of the gate, writing a statement they’ll do “whatever we can to support her.” Then in a New York Times editorial last week, the former FLOTUS said Biden’s decision to drop out “took real moral clarity” and went into more detail about why she’s backing Harris.
“She represents a fresh start for American politics. She can offer a hopeful, unifying vision,” Clinton wrote. “She is talented, experienced and ready to be president. And I know she can defeat Donald Trump.”
This Congresswoman who lost her voice spoke on the House floor again thanks to A.I.:
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) was diagnosed last year with a rare neurological disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy that robbed her of her ability to speak clearly. Thanks to help from artificial intelligence, though, she’s talking again. On the House floor Thursday, Wexton used an iPad loaded with assistive technology to recreate her voice to deliver remarks commemorating Disability Pride Month. It is believed to be the first time in U.S. history A.I. was used to help someone speak on the House floor.
Wexton’s cloned voice was recreated by ElevenLabs, an A.I. startup that contacted her office to offer its services, and they built their model based on recordings of Wexton speaking as a lawmaker. The first time she used the voice was during an Oval Office meeting with Biden where he signed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act.
“I used to be one of those people who hated the sound of my voice,” Wexton said during her remarks on the House floor. “When my ads came on TV, I would cringe and change the channel. But you truly don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone, because hearing the new A.I. of my old voice for the first time was music to my ears. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.” Wexton has called for guardrails to prevent abuses of A.I.
🇺🇸 U.S. wins first gold medal of Paris Olympics at men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay. The team — made up of swimmers Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel — finished 1.07 seconds before the silver medal team, Australia. Italy won bronze. [CBS News]
👾 A parody ad shared by Elon Musk clones Kamala Harris’ voice, raising concerns about A.I. in politics. The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday without explicitly noting it was originally released as parody. [Associated Press]
🍔 Fast-food chains battle for low-income diners with summer value meals. Runaway menu prices have scared away low-income consumers, and a slew of fast-food chains, from McDonald’s to Taco Bell, have $5 meal deals to try to win back customers. [CNBC]
📱 TikTok collected U.S. users’ views on gun control, abortion, and religion, Justice Department says. The app collected data about its users’ views on sensitive topics and censored content at the direction of its China-based parent company, the Justice Department said in court filings Friday in response to a federal lawsuit TikTok filed in May. [Wall Street Journal]
📚 Why one of the world’s biggest textbook publishers just rebranded to look like a tech company. Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt — now called HMH — updated its logo to reflect how fast education is changing. [Fast Company]
Deadpool & Wolverine has the biggest R-rated opening of all time:
Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman brought in $205 million domestically this weekend. That’s a record for an R-rated movie and the eighth-biggest opening weekend of all time.
Gaga’s Opening Ceremony performance was almost called off because of rain:
Lady Gaga almost didn’t get to perform during the Opening Ceremony. The engaged singer, who was heard calling her partner Michael Polansky “my fiancé” during a conversation at the Olympics with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, performed Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”) at the ceremony, but it was nearly canceled for safety reasons because of rain, choreographer Maud le Pladec said. So instead they pre-recorded it.
“Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain — we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives,” le Pladec told Variety.
Celine Dion “honored” to close out Opening Ceremony:
Celine Dion’s performance of “Hymne A L’Amour” on the Eiffel Tower during the finale of the Opening Ceremony was her first performance since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in Dec. 2022. “I’m honored to have performed tonight,” Dion wrote in an Instagram post after the performance, calling Paris “one of my very favorite cities.” Dion’s number had Kelly Clarkson speechless. “I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together right now,” Clarkson said during her hosting duties for NBC. “That was incredible. In my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.”
Britney slams Halsey’s “Lucky” before deleting her criticism:
Girl, so confusing. Britney Spears criticized Halsey on Friday for her new song “Lucky” which samples the Britney song of the same name before deleting her criticism and calling it “fake news.” In the video for the song, Halsey wears a “Toxic”-style diamond bodysuit. Spears wrote in her follow-up post that that criticism wasn’t her. “I love Halsey and that’s why I deleted it!” she said. I’m just glad this all had a happy ending.
Megan Thee Stallion is performing in support of Harris:
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is performing at a rally in Atlanta Tuesday in support of Harris, according to Billboard. The rally comes after “RuPaul’s Drag Race” put out a previously filmed voter registration PSA last week starring the Veep and other celebs including Lance Bass.
Jennifer Aniston can’t believe Vance’s comments about childless cat ladies:
Comments Vance made in 2021 about the Democratic Party being “controlled by people without children” and “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made” have resurfaced since Trump named him his running mate. The actress who once played Rachel in “Friends” isn’t happy about it.
In an Instagram Story, Jennifer Aniston wrote, “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States. All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”
Aniston has been public about her own struggles with fertility. In 2022, she told Allure, “I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would have given anything if someone had said to me, 'Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.' You just don't think about it.”
The creator of “Veep” is worried we’re amusing ourselves to death:
In a New York Times editorial, “Veep” producer Armando Iannuci wrote that comparisons between what’s happening to Harris and the plot line of his show worry him because “politics has become so much like entertainment that the first thing we do to make sense of the moment is to test it against a sitcom.”
“In fact, I fear we’ve now crossed some threshold where the choreographed image or manufactured narrative becomes the only reality we have left,” Iannuci said. “Look how the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which happened only two weeks ago, so speedily transformed from real-time tragedy into iconography.”
He added, “This election will have real consequences, but reality is in danger of being squeezed off the agenda in favor of a heightened performance piece that calls itself the election but is actually a multimedia event, cut up and memed across social platforms, re-edited, rolled in conspiracy theory and baked under oodles of manipulated footage, ready to pop up on your last remaining sane aunt’s media feed.”
After watching a season of “The Crown,” Kim K believes she could “fully rule a country”:
In a filmed confession on her show “The Kardashians,” Kim Kardashian joked, “I'm not gonna lie: I just watched the whole season of ‘The Crown.’ I could fully f---ing rule a country.” That’s exactly how I felt after a semester of comparative government in college.
Biden brought watch collecting back to the White House, GQ says:
With Biden’s time in office winding down, GQ took note of the elevated watch collection the 46th President brought with him into office.
Biden’s watches include a Rolex Datejust with a blue dial, which he wore to both his 2021 Inauguration and his Oval Office address last week about not seeking a second term, and an Omega Speedmaster, the watch that went to the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore the Speedmaster during the moon landing, and Omega offered one to then-President Richard Nixon, who turned it down. It wasn’t until 2021 when Biden wore the watch that it had ever appeared on a U.S. President.
Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐