memeorandum: Rep. Sean Casten: It's time for Joe Biden to pass the torch (Sean Casten/Chicago Tribune)

12:40 PM ET, July 19, 2024

Top Items:

Biden's family starts discussing his exit plan from the 2024 race — The president's family members have discussed how he would want to end his re-election bid on his own timing and with a carefully calculated plan in place. — WASHINGTON — Members of President Joe Biden's family …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, HotAir, TMZ.com, RedState, The Sun, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and Raw Story

Sean Casten / Chicago Tribune:

Rep. Sean Casten: It's time for Joe Biden to pass the torch — Our country faces an existential threat this November. — On the one hand, we have Joe Biden. A man who passed the biggest climate and infrastructure bills in our nation's history; expanded NATO; has overseen record-breaking economic growth …

Discussion: Axios, Business Insider, NPR, Politico, Washington Examiner and ABC7

New York Times:

Here's the latest on the Democratic campaign. — The president's resolve to continue his re-election bid has been shaken by Nancy Pelosi's comments, worsening state polls and a spending boycott by key donors, some in his camp said. — Here's the latest on the Democratic campaign.

Discussion: Axios, USA Today, Politico, The Gateway Pundit and Lou Dobbs

NBC News:

Biden left feeling angry and betrayed by top Democratic leaders wavering on his campaign — President Joe Biden is furious at how the party has tried to force him out, as Democrats in Congress increasingly believe the question is when, not if, he will end his campaign.

Discussion: Today's Edition Newsletter, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, New Republic, Business Insider, Politico, Instapundit, New York Post and HuffPost

New York Times:

People Close to Biden Say He Appears to Accept He May Have to Leave the Race — One person familiar with President Biden's thinking cautioned that he had not yet made up his mind to leave the race, after three weeks of insisting that almost nothing would drive him out.

Discussion: CNBC, The Guardian, The Sun, Bloomberg, Semafor, Breitbart, The Bulwark, Election Law Blog, The National Pulse, Forbes, The Spectator World, NPR, NBC News and The Hill

Politico:

Why the big boot-Biden House Dem wave isn't here yet — With assists from POLITICO's Congress team — In the last 24 hours, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and, now, Barack Obama, have essentially given political cover to any congressional Democrat who wishes to speak out against Joe Biden.

Discussion: CNN, Hartford Courant, The Hill and CBS News

CBS News:
Trump's national lead over Biden grows — CBS News poll

Discussion: Punchbowl News, Daily Caller News Foundation, Bloomberg, modernity, Breitbart, The Hill, New York Post, Power Line, DNyuz and The Atlantic

NBC News:
Election 2024 live updates: Trump speaks at the RNC; Biden faces growing calls to drop out of the presidential race

Discussion: CBS News, Fox News and Breitbart

Washington Post:
Pelosi has told House Democrats that Biden may soon be persuaded to exit race

Discussion: Salon, NOTUS, Business Insider, New York Daily News, RedState, New Jersey Online, ABC News, Truthout, Fox News, Forbes, Washington Times, The Guardian, The National Pulse, News18, Slate, Breitbart and The Times of Israel

Reuters:
Once defiant, Biden is now ‘soul searching’ about dropping out of race, source says

Discussion: The New Bedford Light, New York Post, OutsideTheBeltway, Bloomberg, Fox News, Washington Examiner, New Republic, The Daily Beast and NBC News

Jake Lahut / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Plan to Slam Dems for Their ‘Coup’ Against Biden: Campaign

Discussion: New Jersey Online, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Guardian, New Republic, The Federalist, E&E News, The Dossier, Scripps News, NPR and New York Post

Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Sen. Jon Tester calls on Biden to drop 2024 presidential bid

Discussion: Politico, New York Post, Fox News, Business Insider and USA Today

New York Times:
Democrats wrestle with a rift while Republicans put on a show of unity.

Discussion: Delaware County Times, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, Slate, CBS News, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

Associated Press:
Biden is isolated at home as Obama, Pelosi and other Democrats push for him to reconsider 2024 race

Discussion: The Detroit News, Yahoo News, IJR, Associated Press, Boston Herald, DNyuz, American Greatness, Big League Politics, Fox News, New York Post, WHDH-TV, KGW-TV, CNBC, Al Jazeera, PJ Media, RedState and NBC News

S.V. Date / HuffPost:

Excruciating! Trump's Endlessly Long, Wildly Dishonest RNC Speech — Donald Trump briefly tried a “new tone” — before pivoting to Hannibal Lecter, “crazy” Pelosi, insurrection lies and more of his greatest hits. — LOADING — MILWAUKEE — Not four years after Donald Trump's eldest son boasted …

Discussion: The Good in Us, New Republic, Washington Post, Raw Story and New York Times

Zachary Basu / Axios:

Trump tramples unity theme in two-act convention speech … - Inside the Fiserv Forum, the ebullient mood gave way to rapt silence. … - “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God,” he said, echoing a long list of GOP convention speakers who had cited divine intervention for Trump's survival.

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, New Jersey Online, Mock Paper Scissors, Washington Post, Raw Story, Business Insider, The Guardian, NPR, No More Mister Nice Blog, New Statesman and ABC News

David Frum / The Atlantic:

This Crew Is Totally Beatable … At the climax of the Republican National Convention last night, former President Donald Trump's nomination-acceptance speech was a disheveled mess, endless and boring. He spoke for 93 minutes, the longest such speech on record.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Donald Trump Cannot Even Pretend to Change Who He Is — In the final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sophie Lennon decides to abandon her commercially successful, bawdy shtick to adopt a new persona as a respected actress for Miss Julie, a serious highbrow play.

Discussion: New York Post, The Guardian, NOTUS, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun

Dan Pfeiffer / The Message Box:

Donald Trump Can (and Must) Be Defeated — His bizarre, boring convention speech is a reminder that Trump is a terrible candidate — Unlike my party, there was no question who would be the Republican nominee. It's not a surprise, but it's still shocking.

Discussion: Washington Post, New Republic, UnHerd and Washington Times

CNN:
Fact check: Trump makes more than 20 false claims in RNC acceptance speech

Discussion: Scripps News, New York Times, Roll Call, New Republic, Mediaite, WFAA-TV, ABC News, The Guardian and Baltimore Sun

Molly Ball / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Hasn't Changed, but the GOP Has

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, Breitbart, DNyuz, Boston Herald, Variety, Times Now, News18 and The Japan Times

Rolling Stone:
The RNC Is Calling This Billionaire Trump Donor an ‘Everyday American’

Discussion: Urban Milwaukee, USA Today, New York Post, Raw Story and WisPolitics

Associated Press:
Rebranding the brand man, softer Trump vs. fighter Trump, regular mentions of Harris: RNC Takeaways

Discussion: Hollywood Life and Associated Press

Politico:
Trump will describe the shooting in his RNC speech. He won't mention Joe Biden.

Discussion: Forbes, Deadline, CBS News and Associated Press

Natalie Allison / Politico:
A changed Trump? Some allies detect an ‘existential’ shift after the shooting

Discussion: Notes from the Middleground, Reason, New Yorker, freebeacon.com, San Diego Union-Tribune, News18, DNyuz, NPR, Associated Press, Daily Kos and The Japan Times

Reuters:

Global cyber outage grounds flights, hits banks, telecoms, media — A software update wreaked havoc on computer systems globally on Friday, grounding flights, forcing some broadcasters off air and hitting services from banking to healthcare. — An update to a product offered …

Matt Binder / Mashable:

Elon Musk's X adds pro-Trump icons for Trump hashtags — The move comes after Musk publicly endorsed Trump — Over the weekend, Elon Musk made his support for Donald Trump official by publicly endorsing the former-president shortly after Trump was wounded in the ear by a would-be assassin during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Discussion: The Verge, Forbes and RedState

Griffin Eckstein / Salon: Elon Musk's X pushes Trump tags on all US users

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Republican National Convention Is a Trumpian Triumph — A movement that was a joke nine years ago is a party now. Its members are certain they will win. — I will make something clear before sharing some honest, perhaps startling thoughts. I did not support either …

Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:

The Zeal of a Convert — Much of the coverage of JD Vance presents has implied, if not outright stated, that Vance is a hypocrite and opportunist. How else do you explain someone who denounced Trump in a myriad of ways, and then jumped onto Trump bandwagon when struggling in his primary race?

Discussion: Politico and The Spectator World

Liz Dye / Public Notice:

Rudy Giuliani can't even fall out of bankruptcy right — His tumble at the RNC was bad. His legal problems are even worse. … If Rudy Giuliani simply would've walked into the sunset after his 2008 presidential bid, he'd probably have airports named after him by now.

Discussion: Raw Story

Hailey Fuchs / Politico:

Democratic donors begin mobilizing to raise money for Harris if she's the nominee — While acknowledging the volatility of the situation, some organizers said donors were already “lining up” to give in case Kamala Harris leads the Democratic ticket. — Allies of Vice President Kamala Harris …

Discussion: Axios and Election Law Blog