THE SHOW NOTES: Biden's Meltdown, Why Conservative Boycotts Work, & Explaining Economic Dissonance

Welcome! Putin met with Prighozen days after the failed Russian mutiny.

OUTRAGE: Portland is handing out "snorting kits" for drug users.

DEAD: Multiple people have died after attempting 'boat jumping' challenge on TikTok - Yahoo

WHAT: Dem bill in California would mandate judges to consider race when doling out prison sentences - Fox News

NEW: Nasdaq 100 Plans Special Rebalance To Curb Dominance Of 'Magnificent Seven' - Investors

DATA: New cars under $30,000 make up just 8% of the market’s supply - Twitter

HEADLINE: Disney World Hasn’t Felt This Empty in Years - WSJ (paywall)

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Biden’s Meltdowns

According to White House insiders, Joe Biden regularly erupts in expletive-laced outbursts against staff in a shocking piece at Axios.

What he says: "God dammit, how the f**k don't you know this?!," "Don't f**king bullsh*t me!" and "Get the f**k out of here!" are three of Biden’s go-to phrases. Current and former staffers of the Whtie House and Biden’s time in the Senate painted a picture that stands in direct contrast with the friendly-Joe persona cultivated by the Biden team.

Ouch: One former campaign and Senate aide described Biden as an "egomaniacal autocrat … determined to manage his staff through fear."

Read the full story at Axios.

Why Conservative Boycotts Worked

Megan McArdle at The Washington Post (paywall) asks the question many progressives are wondering: Why are social media-induced conservative boycotts suddenly working?

The consensus answer among progressives is that Elon Musk bought Twitter and all of the progressives fled the platform which magnified conservative outrage. McArdle argues the reality is Twitter was dominated by progressives for so long, companies like Bud Light, Target, and the Dodgers assumed mainstream America was significantly more left-leaning than it actually was and felt safe pushing uber-progressive initiatives. Here’s the paragraph that matters:

One reason boycotts fail is that major institutions generally avoid taking stances that are guaranteed to make a lot of people very mad. Yet, Twitter Brain convinced a lot of corporate bosses that controversial progressive views were actually quite mainstream. This might explain why Bud Light tried to partner with a trans influencer even though its customer demographic is roughly the opposite of Mulvaney’s “wacky Audrey Hepburn” persona — and triggered a strong enough emotional response to sustain at least three months of boycott.

Related: A parallel story by CNBC claims that Twitter traffic is tanking following the release of Threads. The Meta competitor has been flooded with 100 million sign-ups in five days making it one of the most quickly downloaded apps ever.

Explaining The Economy

The labor department reported the US economy added jobs for the 30th consecutive month in June dropping the unemployment rate to 3.6%. Additionally, the US economy is growing more than expected while inflation has dipped from a nose-bleeding level of 9.1% just a year ago.

Despite the news, Gallup’s economic sentiment tracker claims Americans have a historically negative sentiment about domestic economic conditions which matches a dueling NBC poll that claims 74% of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track.

The Guardian explains the economic dissonance by saying, “the economy is getting better overall – but overall has become a less useful gauge of wellbeing as the rich get richer, the poor grow poorer, and the working middle is under worsening siege.” Here’s the quote that matters:

The deeper reason Americans don’t feel very good about the economy is that is that the vast number of working non-college grads – some two-thirds of the adult US population – are still bogged down in dead-end jobs lacking any economic security, while struggling with many costs (such as housing, childcare and education) that continue to soar.

My take: Despite inflation cooling off, wages have considerably trailed the compounding effect of rising prices. Democrats demand that Republicans admit the Biden economy is booming, but the anecdotal experiences of middle-American families struggling to afford their grocery bill paints a drastically different picture.

🔥 Trending news:

• America Still Has an Elon Musk Problem - The Liberal Patriot

• Gavin Newsom’s orbit is growing - Politico

• Larry Nassar stabbed multiple times in altercation at federal prison: report - Fox News

• FDA needs to probe caffeine-packed PRIME energy drink targeting kids: Schumer - NY Post

• Women's labor force participation hits record high - Axios

• Warning: Student loan cliff ahead - Axios

• Randall Stephenson resigns from PGA Tour policy board over LIV deal - The Washington Post (paywall)

• on-white Moderates Are Real Democrats — Not GOP Pawns - NY Mag

• Wave of Rental Resets to Further Deplete Affordable Housing - WSJ (paywall)

• A Small City in Illinois Pays Reparations in a ‘Test Run for the Whole Country’ - WSJ (paywall)

• Hollywood studios could face two strikes for the first time in 63 years. - LA Times

• Transgender woman wins Miss Netherlands pageant for first time — and has a shot at Miss Universe - NY Post

Market snapshot: