THE SHOW NOTES: Biden’s Make Or Break Day, Pelosi and Obama Turn on Biden, & The Clooney Response

Welcome! A major fight broke out in the Columbia vs Uruguay game last night.

FIRST: Vermont Senator Peter Welch is the first Democratic Senator calling for Biden to step aside.

NEW: Anger mounts in southeast Texas as crippling power outages and heat turn deadly - CNN

HEADLINE: The Congressional Black Caucus Has Biden’s Back — Publicly - NOTUS

CHINA: Why are Chinese military ships patroling near Alaska?

DATA: Inflation unexpectedly fell to 3% in June. - Fox Business

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Biden’s Make Or Break Day?

In no uncertain terms, Biden’s solo press conference tonight could very easily dictate the future of his reelection campaign. At 5:30 PM, Biden will hold his first solo press conference of the year after hosting NATO members in Washington this week.

UPDATE: The time was just changed to 6:30. A Bloomberg reporter just said of the time change, “The presser is perfectly timed to be when lawmakers are flying away from DC for a recess.” - X

Details: The event comes at the end of a long day after a long week from a President who admittedly does not perform well on tight schedules. Biden’s first "big boy press conference" (as DC is calling it) will see Biden face a group of hostile journalists who increasingly believe they were lied to by the White House. Axios says, “Don't underestimate reporters' bitterness at this White House.” More:

A natural tension always exists. But this is different: Biden has operated in a protective bubble, often hermetically sealed from tough questioning. Many reporters believe the White House hid signs of Biden's aging, and played them or badgered them when they did push on the topic.

As a Biden advisor reluctantly admitted, “The dogs are loose (tonight).”

Noteworthy quote from an unnamed Democrat: "If he performs well, it still doesn't put it to rest. He's got to do that over and over and over. That's the problem for him."

Team Biden’s Dumb Response To Clooney

George Clooney wrote a shocking piece in The New York Times (paywall) yesterday calling for Biden to drop out of the presidential race after hosting a Biden fundraiser less than a month ago.

Details: Clooney claimed the Joe Biden he watched at last month’s fundraiser “was not the Joe ‘big F—ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.” The Biden team responded with this unbelievable claim that left Jake Tapper speechless:

Context: Politico’s Playbook reports that Clooney called Obama to give him a heads-up since both men attended the LA fundraiser. Notably, Obama did not try to dissuade Clooney from writing the op-ed and an Obama spokesperson refused to add context to the claims.

More: Despite Chuck Schumer's Wednesday night claim that he supports Joe Biden, Axios reports that Schumer is telling donors he is open to someone other than Joe. Nancy Pelosi joined Morning Joe and gave a cryptic answer about supporting Biden that Politico Playbook interprets as a green light for vulnerable Dems to step forward and air their concerns. More importantly, Pelosi has been telling people in Washington that Biden can’t win in November.

The Gathering

An attendee to last year’s Gathering has reached out and asked if he could anonymously subsidize the cost of 30 tickets, since we raised the price this year and he’d like to incentivize younger Republicans coming. So, we have set aside 30 seats for younger Republicans on a first come, first serve basis. If you know a younger Republican and want to encourage them to attend this year’s Gathering, they can go here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-gathering-tickets-844832816697?aff=oddtdtcreator and use the discount code YR. Thanks to one person’s kindness, let’s finish out with some young Republicans coming. For the rest of you, here’s who we can now fully confirm:

Vice President Mike Pence
Speaker Mike Johnson
Governor Ron DeSantis
Governor Doug Ducey
Governor Brian Kemp
Governor Kevin Stitt
Governor Glenn Youngkin
Attorney General Chris Carr
State School Superintendent Ryan Walters 
Former Senator Kelly Loeffler
Senator Pete Ricketts
Senator Rick Scott
Congresswoman Kat Cammack
Congressman Kevin Hern 
Congressman Rich McCormick
Congressman Chip Roy
Georgia Speaker Jon Burns
Candidate Dave McCormick (PA)
Candidate Sam Brown (NV)

We will have some additions to the list and surprises as well coming soon.  If you’d like to come, the kick off will be the night of August 8th with Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. We’ll go all day August 9th and 10th. The event is in Atlanta, Georgia at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead. Hotel rooms are still available. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-gathering-tickets-844832816697

Watch:

From Ted Cruz

Full clip here.

Trending news:

• Michigan's Scholten becomes latest Hill Dem to call for Biden to drop reelection bid - Politico

• Top Biden advisers to meet with senators as Democratic anxieties about 2024 grow - NBC

• Act of Desperation? Biden’s Team Checks Delegates for Loyalty - Politico

• Nato vows 'irreversible path' to Ukraine membership - BBC

• On a private Zoom call, Biden’s top Jewish supporters question his ability to win - JI

• IRS collects milestone $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth taxpayers - AP

• Trump and Hungary's Orban set to meet on Thursday, sources say - Reuters

• Baltimore bridge collapse survivor details how he climbed onto floating concrete to await rescue - NBC

• Grid operator tells Californians to prepare for power conservation - Reuters

• Huma Abedin and billionaire Alex Soros are engaged - Page Six

• Trump is planning for a landslide win - The Atlantic

• UFC’s Dana White to Speak Right Before Trump at Republican Convention - WSJ (paywall)

Market snapshot: