Harris readies VP pick

Plus: Trump was just gifted a Cybertruck by a livestreamer

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Talk about a rushed veepstakes. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her vice presidential pick before a rally in Philadelphia Tuesday, just 15 days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris’ shortlist is reportedly now down to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and she’s vetted others including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). Her campaign is already selling $20 Harris-running mate yard signs available for pre-order with an expected release date of Sept. 5.

Harris’ pick could set the tone for the next phase of the race after her energized start, but how much does a running mate matter, really? Republican’s vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) doesn’t seem to think it matters very much. “It doesn’t really matter, as much as this hits my ego,” he said in a recent podcast interview. “People are going to vote primarily for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s the way these things go.”

And yet Vance will soon find himself facing off against a former running mate’s former running mate’s running mate. The fact that Harris finds herself the Democrats’ nominee is possible thanks to a former vice president who wanted her to be his vice president. While voters will indeed be voting for the top of the ticket this fall, that doesn’t mean the candidate’s running-mate picks won’t shape the future of their parties. These are choices that can reverberate for years to come. — Hunter

Gorsuch to Biden on court reforms: be careful:

After Biden called for reforming the U.S. Supreme Court last week, Justice Neil Gorsuch became the first member of the court to offer a public reaction. When asked on Fox News Sunday, about Biden’s proposal to introduce term limits for justices, Gorsuch said he wouldn’t “get into what is now a political issue during a presidential election year,” but defended the court’s independence.

“The independent judiciary, what does it mean to you as an American?” Gorsuch said. “It means when you are unpopular, you can get a fair hearing under the law and under the Constitution. If you're in the majority, you don't need judges and juries to hear you and protect your rights, you're popular. It's there for the moments when the spotlight's on you, when the government's coming after you. And don't you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn't that your right as an American? And so I just say be careful.”

Are we getting another debate or nah?:

Harris and former President Donald Trump have each agreed to attend debates, but not the same ones. Harris said she’s on to attend the previously scheduled ABC News debate on Sept. 10, while Trump (whose campaign shop still sells a $38 "Anybody Anytime Anyplace" tee) said in a post on his social network that the ABC News debate has been “terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant” but he’s willing to debate on Fox News on Sept. 4.

When the campaigns negotiated debates earlier this year, they agreed to attend debates put on by networks that had hosted both Democratic and Republican primary debates in the past eight years, a list of networks that did not include Fox News.

Trump was just gifted a Cybertruck by a livestreamer:

Trump sat for an interview today at Mar-a-Lago with Adin Ross, the controversial most-followed livestreamer on Kick. Ross, who was permanently banned from the livestream platform Twitch last year for bigoted language, gifted Trump a Rolex and Cybertruck during the livestream, and the vehicle was customized with a wrap showing a photo of Trump after the assassination attempt against him.

The pricey gifts may violate the Federal Election Commission’s rules on in-kind contributions, but Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the campaign would “submit an advisory opinion to the FEC to seek guidance on how to handle the gifts.”

At times, the livestream with Ross reached an audience of more than 500,000 people. It’s just the latest example of Trump attempting to reach young voters through unconventional media appearances, like his June interview with influencer Logan Paul. At the end of Trump’s interview with Ross, the pair did a dance for TikTok.

This former Trump attorney just turned on him:

One-time Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who was charged in the fake electors case in Arizona in connection with attempts to overthrow the election results there in 2020, will now be working with Arizona prosecutors.

The Arizona state attorney general’s office said today that Ellis would be working with prosecutors in exchange for her charges being dropped. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement that Ellis’ “insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court.”

The Harris campaign is raising money off your thirst for the Second Gentleman:

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is the subject of the Harris campaign’s latest merch line. Last week the campaign rolled out a collection featuring items showing a vintage photo of the First Doug and Second Gentleman in a turquoise Laguna Beach tee that he posted himself in 2020 with the hashtag #MeAt20. The collection includes $32 tanks and tees, a $20 mug and a $6 two-pack of stickers.

In other Emhoff news, he and Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transportation Secretary Mayor Pete Buttigieg, were together this weekend for a fundraiser on Fire Island Pines. Emhoff also acknowledged an affair he had during his first marriage this weekend. In a statement on Saturday, Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin Emhoff defended him, called Emhoff “a great father to our kids” and “a great friend to me.”

Two ex-presidents will be help co-chair America’s 250th anniversary:

America 250, the group organizing the United State’s semiquincentennial celebration in 2026, announced four big names who will serve as honorary national co-chairs: Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and former First Ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.

America250 chair Rosie Rios said the group was “absolutely thrilled” to have the ex-POTUSes and FLOTUSes on board. “As Presidents and First Ladies of the United States, their stories are foundational to the American story,” Rios said in a statement.

The Bushes called the anniversary “an opportunity to reflect on our history and recommit to our country’s founding values” and the Obamas said that although the U.S. isn’t the same country it was 250 years ago, “there are threads that tie us back to the very beginning of it all.”

Michelle Obama shares a powerful message about making change:

It doesn’t take a big platform to make the world a better place. That was the lesson Obama shared with Melinda French Gates for a new episode of her podcast “Moments That Make Us.”

“Maybe you can’t change your school system, but you can grab a young person and be a part of seeing them,” Obama said. “Maybe you can’t fix the environment, but you can educate the neighbor kids about the importance of the environment and we all have that power, we all own that small power.” She told listeners to “focus on that” and not “get overwhelmed by the big. Real change happens knit by knit.”

The former FLOTUS also talked about life after her husband left office. She said their family dogs “didn’t know what a doorbell was” when they moved out, since they had never heard one before at the White House, and their daughters “had to learn how to balance the unwanted attention but do it politely to build their own lives in the spotlight and not be eaten up by it,” because they are so closely watched.

They’re planning a blowout party for Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday:

Former President Jimmy Carter will turn 100 on Oct. 1, and the Carter Center is getting ready with a Delta Air Lines-sponsored event two weeks earlier called “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song” at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The lineup includes musicians like Eric Church, Marin Morris, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber.

Carter’s grandson Jason Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his grandfather was “trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.” Fun fact: Did you know the last time a Democratic former president died was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973? It’s been a while.

This former FLOTUS will be featured in an exhibition about vote by mail:

A century ago, then-First Lady Grace Coolidge encouraged women to vote by filling out her absentee ballot on the South Lawn of the White House in front of the press. It was the second-ever presidential election since the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, and Coolidge’s husband Calvin Coolidge was up for a full term after ascending to the presidency following the death of Warren G. Harding.

In addition to the photo op, Coolidge wrote an open letter to U.S. women encouraging them to vote, according to the National First Ladies Library. Her picture will be among the artifacts featured in Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19, an exhibition at the National Postal Museum open from Aug. 24, 2024 to Feb. 23, 2025.

📉 Dow tumbles 1,000 points, S&P 500 posts worst day since 2022 in global market sell-off. Stocks fell sharply on Monday as worries over the health of the U.S. economy sparked a global market sell-off. [CNBC]

ℹ️ Google has an illegal monopoly on search, U.S. judge finds. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in the ruling. [Reuters]

🇫🇷 The 2024 games are averaging an audience of 33 million in the first 10 days of competition, up 80% from Tokyo. The middle Sunday of the 2024 Olympics drew in the second largest daily audience the Paris Games have seen to date. [The Wrap]

💾 Intel is laying off over 15,000 employees and will stop “non-essential work.” The chipmaker announced it’s downsizing its workforce by over 15% as part of a new $10 billion cost savings plan for 2025. [The Verge]

🏀 What Amazon’s NBA deal means for the future of sports media rights. The NBA’s rejection of Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer to match Amazon has only intensified what may well be one of the most contentious rights disputes in sports history. [Fast Company]

A Britney Spears biopic based on The Woman in Me is coming:

Britney Spears wrote in a post on X last Thursday that she was working on a “secret project” with producer Marc Platt (Legally Blonde, La La Land, Wicked), who she said “always made my favorite movies.” That secret project? A biopic based on her bestselling 2023 memoir, which Universal Pictures acquired the rights to. Platt and Wicked director Jon M. Chu are reportedly working on the film, and it’s all I can think about.

In other Britney news, Pitchfork revisited Spears’ 2007 album Blackout this weekend and gave it a score of 8.1 and Welcome Skateboards made a Britney capsule collection that’s better than most of her official merch.

Streams of Chappell Roan’s debut album doubled in two months:

Chappell Roan is having a summer. According to Spotify, streams of her The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess have risen 100% since June 1, and the album is the most-streamed album on the platform, ahead of new records from Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.

Maya Rudolph will play Harris for the rest of the year on SNL:

Harris is both creating jobs and putting others on hold. Pre-production on Maya Rudolph’s Apple TV+ show Loot has been put on pause for scheduling reasons, the cast and crew were told, according to Deadline, as Rudolph will reprise her roll as the vice president through the 2024 election. Season 50 of Saturday Night Live will premiere on Sept. 28.

Bon Iver will campaign for Harris:

When Harris and her to-be-announced running mate hit up Eau Claire, Wisc., on Wednesday, they’ll be joined by Bon Iver in the town where the band was formed, according to Billboard. Lead singer Justin Vernon supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the 2020 Democratic primary and in 2022, he supported Noise for Now for a pro-choice initiative to raise money for Planned Parenthood.

The Killers are (finally) doing a Las Vegas residency:

To mark the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album Hot Fuss, the Killers are playing it in full during an eight-night residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace from August 14 to August 30. It will be the Las Vegas band’s first-ever hometown residency.

Aerosmith is retiring and the band cites Steven Tyler’s health as the reason why:

If you’re the type of person who don’t want to miss a thing and you haven’t scratched “see Aerosmith perform live” off your bucket list yet, I have bad news for you: it’s too late. The band announced Friday that it is retiring because lead singer Steven Tyler’s recovery from vocal injury isn’t possible. “We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage,” the band said.

Brittney Griner calls prisoner exchange “a big win”:

Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner is celebrating the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from Russian prison last week.

Griner, who was detained in Russia in 2022, called the release a “great day.” “I am head over heels happy for the families right now,” she told The New York Times. “Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win.” As part of its multifaceted campaign to get Gershkovich home after he was wrongfully detained in Russia last year and accused of being a U.S. spy, the Journal’s parent company Dow Jones sought guidance from the WNBA as well as working with Biden administration officials, per The Washington Post.

Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐