Good evening. Sen. JD Vance, the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee, will headline tonight’s lineup at the Republican National Convention and is slated to deliver the biggest speech of his career as he looks to introduce himself to a wider swath of the American public.
While Republicans come together energetically behind the Trump-Vance ticket, Democrats continue to wrestle with doubts about President Joe Biden’s re-election bid — and the president, campaigning in Nevada, tested positive for Covid. The White House said he is experiencing mild symptoms and will return to Delaware, where he will isolate and continue his duties.
Here's the latest.
Biden Tests Positive for Covid as Powerful Dem Calls for Him to Drop Out
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the influential lawmaker known for leading a successful 2019 effort in the House to impeach former President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, added his name on Wednesday to the list of Democrats calling for President Joe Biden to step down from the top of the party’s ticket.
Telling the Los Angeles Times that Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history,” Schiff expressed concerns about the president’s ability to beat Trump in November. It’s time for Biden to “pass the torch” to a new nominee, Schiff said, warning that a “second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy.”
The announcement by Schiff, who is seen as a close ally of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, comes amid a renewed surge of opposition to Biden’s continued presence on the Democratic ticket. The continuing concerns are fueled by weakness in polling, some additional stumbles in public remarks and doubts among Democratic donors.
Biden reportedly had a tense Zoom call on Saturday with members of the New Democrat Coalition. The president is said to have lashed out at Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, an Army ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who bluntly told Biden that voters are questioning his fitness for another term.
“I don’t want to hear that crap,” Biden responded at one point, according to CNN.
On the call, Biden defended his leadership and his foreign policy accomplishments, but he also expressed frustration with Democratic lawmakers, according to reports. Those lawmakers were left with significant concerns, and some reportedly may have called for Biden to step aside if not for the assassination attempt on former President Donnald Trump.
“Members were largely dismayed with Biden's presentation, lack of a strategy, and preparation for anticipated questions,” ABC News reports. “Two sources described Biden's exchange with the former Army Ranger as ‘incoherent’ and ‘unintelligible.’”
Those concerns have continued since the weekend. Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida said Wednesday that numerous Democratic lawmakers in the House are questioning Biden’s continued viability.
“I’m deeply concerned that the president’s circle, the people who are working around the president, who quite frankly have kept him in a bubble for some time, are also not giving him the facts and the polling data on the ground – they’re not showing him what we’re seeing in our districts, what we’re seeing in the polling,” Moskowitz told CNN. “That is the concern that’s going on right now within the Democratic House caucus.”
Asked if Biden has met the conditions his campaign has reportedly set for the president to step aside — namely, poor performance in fundraising, interviews and polling — Moskowitz said Biden is “three for three” if those are the guidelines but added that Biden will have to make the decision on his own.
According to a new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 65% of Democrats agree that Biden should withdraw from the race and allow the party to select a new candidate for president. Overall, including Republicans and independents, 57% of survey respondents said Biden should step down. (The survey of 1,253 adults nationwide was conducted July 11-15.)
Younger Democrats gave Biden the least support, with 75% of those between ages 18 and 44 saying Democrats should nominate someone else. As a group, Black Democrats showed the greatest support, with 50% saying Biden should continue as the nominee. But that’s just one percentage point more than the 49% saying he should withdraw.
Biden still has supporters in Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who told The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner that he thinks Biden has the best record of any modern president, and that any effort to remove him would harm Democrats’ chances of winning in the fall. “I think he is the best candidate, and I think if he runs a strong, effective campaign focused on the needs of the working class of this country, he will win,” he said. “And I think there’s a chance he could win big.”
Time is running out for Democrats to make any potential change to their ticket. But the Democratic National Committee said Wednesday that it would wait until early August to formally nominate Biden in a virtual vote, abandoning a plan to do so as soon as this coming Monday. That gives Democrats a few more weeks to figure out definitively who will lead them this fall.
Number of the Day: $5 Billion
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced more than $5 billion in grants for 13 “nationally significant” bridges in 16 states. The largest of the grants will provide $1.4 billion to replace two bridges connecting Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington across the Columbia River. Some of the other projects receiving grants are located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Mobile, Alabama; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The grant funding is as part of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 2021. The Department of Transportation says that more than 10,000 bridges are being rebuilt, repaired, or modernized under that law.
Whither the GOP’s Deficit Hawks?
The newly adopted 2024 Republican platform does not mention the national debt, and Politico’s Sam Sutton writes that the omission “reflects how marginal this issue has become — at least politically.”
Even as fiscal watchdogs continue to warn of the dangers of ignoring the rising debt, Donald Trump’s Republican Party is focused elsewhere. “For a party that had counted deficit reduction as a staple of its official agenda for decades, the topic’s irrelevance as a political talking point marks the end of an era,” Sutton writes. “And it’s a reflection of ascendant GOP populists who eschew the party’s traditional hymn book when it comes to economic messaging.”
One of the GOP’s long-time deficit hawks, Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, told Politico that the bond market could eventually become the “single most important driver of U.S. policy” and force lawmakers to pay attention to the issue by demanding higher yields on U.S. government debt. “Not wars. Not a president. Not Congress. It’s the winds of the bond market,” he said, delivering an oft-repeated warning that belies investors’ continued appetite for U.S. Treasurys.
Fiscal News Roundup
- Prominent Dem Schiff Urges Biden to Step Aside as Party Aims to Nominate President Before Convention – Associated Press
- Nearly Two-Thirds of Democrats Want Biden to Withdraw, New AP-NORC Poll Finds – Associated Press
- D.N.C. Slows Biden’s Nomination as Party Discontent Persists – New York Times
- Biden Donors Still Trying to Oust Him Find It Harder Than Ever – Bloomberg
- What Would Persuade Biden to Step Aside? Here’s What He’s Said – New York Times
- Donald Trump's Anti-Inflation Plan Risks Sparking Even More Price Hikes – Bloomberg
- Donald Trump’s Donations Surge by $400 Million to Tighten Money Race With Joe Biden – Financial Times
- Trump’s Biggest Donor Is a Gilded Age Heir Also Backing RFK Jr. – Washington Post
- ‘Our Nation Is Not Well’: Voters Fear What Could Happen Next – New York Times
- IRS Sweetens Offer for Land Tax-Break Deals It Has Blasted – Wall Street Journal
- The MAGA Plan to End Free Weather Reports – The Atlantic
Views and Analysis
- Trump Is Courting Both Labor and Business. One Side Will Be Let Down – E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post
- JD Vance Wants to Make Silicon Valley Great Again – Parmy Olson, Bloomberg
- Musk’s ‘Final Straw’ Moment Marks Political Transformation – Eliyahu Kamisher, Dana Hull and Julie Fine, Bloomberg
- ‘Poor Son of a Bitch’: Biden Once Pitied an Older Politician Reluctant to Leave the Stage – Tom Galvin, Politico
- The US Sits on a Political Powder Keg of Its Own Making – Max Burns, Bloomberg
- The Trump Economy, Past and Future – Wall Street Journal Editorial Board