The Walz family early votes
Plus: holy trinity unlocked ;)
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) took his son to vote for the first time as early voting numbers hit more than 28 million votes cast nationwide. It’s no surprise who Walz said he voted for, but he had a stark message about what he believes is on the line this election.
Welcome to today’s issue of Whig. Read to the end for the new holy trinity of pop. — Hunter
Top headlines:
🏠 Existing home sales on track for worst year since 1995. The National Association of Retailers says sales dropped 3.5% last month compared to September 2023, with high mortgage rates and rising home prices keeping buyers out of the market. [Good Morning America]
📱 Paul Whelan says he passed information from Ukraine frontlines to U.S. from Russian prison. The former Marine from Michigan, who was freed more than five years after his arrest in Moscow on charges of spying for the U.S., said during his time in a Russian labor camp he passed information from fellow prisoners serving on the frontlines in Ukraine to the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and England through secret burner phones. [USA Today]
🇷🇺🇰🇵 U.S. says evidence shows North Korea has troops in Russia, possibly for Ukraine war. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in Rome, said it would be "very, very serious" if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. [Reuters]
🏀 LeBron and Bronny James become first father-son duo to play in NBA game together. The moment, which had been highly anticipated since the Lakers drafted Bronny 55th overall on June 27, became reality with 4 minutes left in the second quarter against Minnesota when Lakers coach J.J. Redick motioned for both father and son to check in. [NBC News]
Biden to apologize for U.S. role in Indian boarding schools:
President Joe Biden arrived in Arizona Thursday ahead of a visit to the Gila Crossing Community School outside Phoenix where he will apologize Friday to Native Americans for the U.S. government’s role in Indian boarding schools used from 1819 to 1969 to assimilate Native Americans. It will be the first time a U.S. president has formally acknowledged the government’s role in the schools.
“I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago — to make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” Biden told reporters ahead of the trip.
An Interior Department report released earlier this year found at least 973 Native American children died at the schools of disease and malnutrition and other students were assaulted and abused.
FLOTUS heading to Helene-ravaged Western North Carolina:
The White House announced First Lady Jill Biden will head to North Carolina Friday to visit areas hit by Tropical Storm Helene. Dr. Biden is expected to meet with residents and volunteers and then visit Fayetteville and Cary for campaign events, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.
Trump’s says he’s open to pardoning Hunter:
Former President Donald Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt Thursday he “wouldn’t take it off the books” to pardon first son Hunter Biden if elected to a second term. “Hunter’s a bad boy,” Trump said. “There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from hell.”
But Trump, the first former president to be convicted of crimes, is seemingly feeling gracious for the children of his former political foe as he is himself. Trump told Hewitt he would fire special counsel Jack Smith, who charged Trump in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents, “within two seconds” of a second term. “He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” Trump said.
Trump campaign denies Hitler comments:
Multiple witnesses including Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly said Trump once said while in office, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” who he described as “people who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.” Trump campaign spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer told People, “President Trump never said this.” Harris said the alleged comments are “a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best.”
Melania falls 1-5 in second week on NYT Bestsellers list:
After a No. 1 debut on the New York Times Bestseller list last week, former First Lady Melania Trump’s self-titled memoir falls to No. 5 on the list. Trump is replaced at the top spot by Bob Woodward’s War, in which the famed Watergate journalist calls the former FLOTUS’ husband “the most reckless and impulsive president in American history.”
Harris hits town hall solo:
Vice President Kamala Harris had CNN to herself Wednesday night for a town hall with undecided Pennsylvania voters after Trump didn’t take up the networks offer for a second debate. More than 3 million viewers tuned in, and when asked by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper whether she believed Trump is a fascist, Harris said, “yes, I do.”
“Don’t take my word for it, in fact, go online and listen to John Kelly, his voice, talking about what he thinks of Donald Trump two weeks before the election,” Harris said. She listed former Trump administration members who no longer support him and said, “all called him unfit and dangerous, they have said explicitly he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States.”
Harris also said if elected, her administration “will not be a continuation of the Biden administration. I bring to this role my own ideas and my own experience. I represent a new generation of leadership on a number of issues and believe that we have to actually take new approaches.”
The Walz family early votes:
Walz and wife Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz voted at the Ramsey County elections office in St. Paul Wednesday with their 18-year-old son Gus Walz, a first-time voter. The Democratic vice presidential nominee said he voted for Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).
After voting, Walz spoke to the press and thanked Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, for “telling the world how dangerous [Trump] is.”
“Donald Trump made it very clear that this is an election about Donald Trump taking full control of the military to use against his political enemies, Donald Trump taking full control of the Department of Justice to prosecute those who disagree with him, taking full control of the media on what is told and what isn’t told to the American public,” Walz said.
Usha Vance is reading The Iliad:
Usha Vance told NBC News the reason she has been spotted with the Greek epic The Iliad while getting in and out of planes and cars traveling in support of her husband Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) is because her son “decided in the spring that he was obsessed with mythology” after he got a children’s copy of The Odyssey and The Iliad. She’s reading the real thing, which she checked out from a Cincinnati library to keep up with him.
Vance has also been spotted with other books on the campaign trail, according to NBC News, including North Woods by Daniel Mason, In The Woods by Tana French, and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, while her inactive Goodreads profile shows she gave her husband’s Hillbilly Elegy five stars and Herbert Butterfield’s The Whig Interpretation of History four stars.
Eric Trump says “it’s too early to tell” what will happen to his father’s business if he wins:
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump Organization executive vice president Eric Trump said the company is moving forward with projects including hotels and golf resorts in Oman, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and though the company’s plans in Israel are on hold, “we’re going into Israel in a big way in the future.” As for what would happen if his dad wins another term, Trump said it’s too early to tell.
“Should I stop all expansion? I don’t know what the answer is. I tried to do everything right in 2016 and I got very little credit for it,” Trump said. A 2021 report by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, found there were more than 3,700 conflicts of interest during the Trump administration, and last year, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million for a tax-fraud scheme.
More than 28 million ballots have already been cast:
Early voting is setting records in some states. More than 28 million people have voted early, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab, with record turnout in North Carolina and Georgia.
Here comes Springsteen and Beyoncé:
Are you ready, B? Beyoncé, whose song “Freedom” is Harris’ rally walkout song, is set to appear Friday at a Harris campaign rally about abortion rights in her hometown of Houston along with fellow Texan Willie Nelson.
And in Atlanta Thursday evening, Bruce Springsteen joined Harris, former President Barack Obama, and Tyler Perry for a rally. “I want a president who reveres the Constitution,” Springsteen said. “That’s why Nov. 5 I’m casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and I urge all of you who believe in the American way to join me.”
The Insane Clown Posse endorses Harris for president:
Insane Clown Posse member Violent J told The Daily Show he’s supporting Harris. “I want her to win because she’s a Democrat, and I love my mom,” he said. The segment, filmed at a gathering of the Juggalos, found many Juggalos won’t be voting for anyone. It also featured ICP-style clown make up Photoshop jobs on all the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
J Lo would like you to “get your a** out and vote”:
Jennifer Lopez, who once sang “let’s get loud” at the inauguration of a U.S. president (never forget), posted a musical request to her followers to vote. J Lo sang “get your a** out and vote” with actress Jenifer Lewis and vocal coach Stevie Mackey. OK, if you insist.
Behind the scenes of the Guts Tour:
Olivia Rodrigo is on the cover Billboard’s new touring issue talking about her Guts Tour (“I tried to make the concert feel like my own spin on a rock show,” she said), and her creative collaborators spilled on putting the show together.
“In terms of choreography, she didn’t want it to feel like a traditional pop show where the dancers can sometimes overpower the music,” Rodrigo’s co-manager Aleen Keshishian said. “I think the dancers are only in six numbers.”
Rodrigo said being on tour so soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned “made activism very important — especially considering I performed in many states that currently have abortion bans in place, I wanted to do everything I could to support organizations in each territory that are doing essential work in providing access to health care and other human rights.”
Charli XCX celebrates close of sold-out Sweat Tour:
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan wrapped the final night of their joint North American Sweat Tour Wednesday at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and Sivan did the final “Apple” dance. Charli celebrated by posting an image of the tour’s dates, all sold out, over May tweet about how the tour wasn’t selling. Point made.
The pop stars’ stylists spoke to Vogue about dressing them for the tour. Sivan stylist Marc Forné defines the aesthetics of Sweat as “wearable rave fashion.” And what IS brat? Charli stylist Chris Horan said it’s a feeling.
“With Brat, it was a lot of trial and error,” Horan said. “People always ask, what is Brat? And it’s really hard to define it, because we created this character and world with the whole team where we are like that’s brat or it’s not, it’s a feeling. There are no real rules. It all just happened because we were a family of creativity and it just started making sense. We are all very determined and we had pillars, but what makes it special is that it’s been such an enjoyable process.”
Holy trinity unlocked:
Charli wrote “finally holy trinity unlocked ;)” in a post on X after it was announced she would be headlining the Primavera Sound 2025 festival with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. AKA the clique.
Frankie Muniz is doing NASCAR now:
Former "Malcolm in the Middle" actor Frankie Muniz has a new job. Muniz will race in the full 2025 NASCAR Trucks season with Reaume Brothers Racing driving their No. 33 F-150. “I want people to know that I've literally dedicated my life to this,” he told People. Here’s to new beginnings.
Thanks for reading! See you next time. ⭐