Principals

1. The Biden rebellion continues
2. NATO summit wraps
3. CPI report
4. NATO’s China focus
5. Gaza pier folds
6. New Biden polls
7. Pod Save America host talks anti-Biden push

PDB: Ashley Judd urges Biden to step aside

Orbán meets Trump … EU finds Musk breached online content rules … Politico: Trump allies say Biden presser was best-case scenario

The Biden rebellion continues

President Biden’s Democratic opponents in Congress made one thing unmistakably clear after his press conference: They don’t care how he did, it’s time to go. Three elected Democrats — Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Eric Sorensen of Illinois, and Scott Peters of California — issued statements calling on the president to drop out shortly after he finished, putting the total number at 18. “One of the really kind of sick aspects of this moment is that we are watching every speech, every rally, every debate and saying ‘How did he do today?’” Himes said on MSNBC. “That’s just not the way to think about the presidency of the United States.” Meanwhile, Biden supporters were irritated that a substantively strong performance was eclipsed by infighting. “The sky only falls when you chip at it,” texted California Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove.

The hour-long news conference itself was a mixed bag. Biden mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” early on and at times offered rambling answers. But he was also comfortable with the terrain of foreign policy, and used it to attack his opponent (“Foreign policy has never been his strong point and he seems to have an affinity for people who are authoritarian,” Biden said of Donald Trump at one point). He took a few shots at his staff, suggesting they had added too much to his schedule and that he needed to “pace” himself. And while he was defiant about staying in the race, Biden also cracked the door open — ever so slightly — to exiting: He told a reporter that he wouldn’t reconsider running unless polling data showed “there’s no way you can win.”

A NATO summit for the ages

The NATO summit was supposed to be about alliance unity and strength. But it was overshadowed by questions — in briefings, interviews and elsewhere — about Biden’s age and political strength. French President Emmanuel Macron was put on the spot about Biden’s Zelenskyy gaffe. Journalists shouted questions at Biden about George Clooney’s op-ed during his bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who later told the BBC that Biden was “on good form.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told other leaders that those who thought Biden could still win reelection “were like people on the Titanic playing violins as the ship went down,” the Financial Times reported. One European official told Semafor’s Mathias Hammer they were worried Biden’s performance could become a distraction. But National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan insisted he heard no concerns about the president’s standing. “The focus here really has been on the substance,” he told reporters.

Housing costs finally slow down

While a key gauge showed inflation easing further during the month of June, the most important data point of all is the cost of housing, which finally saw a sharp decline, Semafor’s Jordan Weissmann writes. Fast-rising housing costs have been the largest driver of inflation over the past year, accounting for 62% of the Consumer Price Index’s increase. But last month finally delivered the relief that Washington and Wall Street had been expecting sometime this year: Measured at an annualized rate, shelter inflation dropped to 2.1% in June from 4.9% in May. It’s currently on par with 2019.

How NATO’s China language is playing in Washington

A leading Democrat praised NATO’s rebuke of China over its support for Russia, describing it as a sign of “squishy” European allies coming around to Washington’s thinking. “It’s about time,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House China committee, told Semafor. “Some of our NATO allies are a little squishy with regards to recognizing — at least in the past — the emergence of real risks associated with Chinese economic, technological, and military aggression, and they’ve sometimes looked the other way as the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in this aggression.” Krishnamoorthi argued for more collective action to crack down on Chinese legacy semiconductors exports to Russia (Biden suggested last night that European nations would curtail investments in China if Beijing continues to support Russia’s war effort). China reacted negatively to the NATO communique, describing it as a provocation.

— Morgan Chalfant

Who Made Sex Political? And Will Biden — and Harris? — Survive the Vibe Shift?

After evaluating President Biden’s strategy to shut down his critics, Ben and Nayeema delve into the culture and gender wars set to define the 2024 election. They examine recent challenges to the media-fueled myth that women can ‘have it all,’ exploring trends like trad wives, polyamory, and hot celibacy summer. They also call up Lindsay Peoples, editor of The Cut, to discuss vibe shifts, the politicization of gender, and whether the publication is putting its thumb on the scale for Kamala.

Listen now to the latest episode of Mixed Signals.

The US is packing up the Gaza pier

The US military’s troubled pier in Gaza will “soon cease operations,” the Pentagon disclosed on Thursday. Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said the military tried to re-anchor the pier to the beach earlier this week to restart humanitarian aid deliveries but failed to do so “due to technical and weather-related issues.” The pier, which cost $320 million to build, sustained damage just weeks after it was completed in May and was removed several times because of the weather. The Biden administration has nevertheless characterized the operation as worthwhile, noting that it enabled nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza. But Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who has been skeptical of the pier plans, posted on X: “How long until the White House approves a federal disaster declaration for this mission?”

Voters embarrassed by Biden, Trump

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are tied – at least when it comes to the percentage of Americans (63%) who describe the presidential candidates as “embarrassing.” That’s one result from a new Pew Research Center survey, which also shows that only a quarter of registered voters describe Biden as “mentally sharp,” while 58% say the same about Trump. In what might be positive news for the Biden camp, a national NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey out this morning finds the presidential race statistically tied (Biden actually gained one point since the outlet’s last poll). An earlier Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found 56% of Democrats want Biden to leave the presidential race following his debate performance. In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding Biden’s candidacy, the Biden campaign quietly commissioned a survey to test Vice President Harris’ strength against Trump, The New York Times reported.

Why Democrats’ favorite podcast turned on Biden

Since President Biden’s debate performance, the three high-profile hosts of Pod Save America have been among those within the Democratic Party publicly calling on Biden to step aside in the election. Semafor’s Max Tani spoke with one of them, Tommy Vietor, who said the group is speaking out “because the stakes are so high.” “My concern is we all watched the debate and saw how bad it was, but Biden’s subsequent off teleprompter interviews and performances have also been bad,” he said. “And we cannot grade him on a curve.” It’s an unexpected position for three former Obama aides who helped elect Biden in 2020, and Vietor acknowledged that it’s made things challenging for his relationships. “I personally feel badly doing something that hurts my friends,” he said, but added that “it’s about the future of the country.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to speak with President Biden before this weekend.

Playbook: Biden’s allies rejoiced at last night’s performance and see it as another sign Biden won’t be stepping aside. “I don’t know how congressional Dems will view this but Lord, the man ain’t going,” one former senior Biden administration official said. “And if the congressional members really want to win, they will drop it.”

WaPo: Ahead of Biden’s trip to Michigan, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said the president should leave the 2024 race. “Debate performance aside, many have been asking for a candidate who is a pro-cease-fire, anti-genocide candidate,” he said. “I think President Biden should listen to the American people, especially if he’s a president that wants to prevent the unraveling of American democracy with a potential second term of Donald Trump.”

Axios: Well-connected Democrats who are veterans of the Obama and Clinton administrations are plotting behind the scenes to get Biden to step back from the race.

White House

• President Biden is campaigning today in Detroit and will travel from there to Rehoboth Beach.
• Vice President Harris will be in Philadelphia tomorrow to deliver a speech at an event hosted by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote.
• There’s been a conspicuous lack of organized support for Biden during the current crisis over his candidacy, Democrats told Semafor, with no large joint statements or major press conferences to counter the growing opposition.

Congress

• The House voted to block the Biden administration’s Title IX changes in a party-line vote.
• Four Republicans voted with Democrats to doom an effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress.
• Republican Reps. Michael McCaul and John Moolenaar wrote to the White House requesting an intelligence assessment of Microsoft’s partnership with Abu Dhabi’s G42.
• Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., filed for a recount of the results for his primary contest against Donald Trump-backed state Sen. John McGuire.

Courts

Donald Trump’s attorneys have asked the judge who oversaw his hush-money trial in New York to toss his conviction and dismiss the case, saying the trial was “tainted” by evidence that should not have been permitted because of the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

On the Trail

• Actress Ashley Judd, who visited the White House earlier this year to help roll out a national suicide prevention strategy, is out with an op-ed in USA Today urging President Biden to step aside in the presidential race and let another candidate run as the Democrats’ nominee. “The defense of our cherished rights and freedoms, the moral imperative that we do better by more people, and our bodies, cannot be left to voters who see and are frightened of the consequences of President Biden’s obvious limitations, or who are now not going to vote,” she writes. “We take the risk of an off night and minimize the warning signs at our gravest peril.”
• Former President Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi have spoken privately about Biden and his campaign, with each expressing concern about the increased difficulty for the president to beat Donald Trump. — CNN
• Democrats are preparing a counter message for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week, with attacks on the party’s possible agenda and Trump.
• Two Biden campaign officials hosted a call with 14 Nikki Haley supporters Wednesday night from around the country. Some were local leaders and served on her state leadership teams. It didn’t go well. One Haley voter was quoted as saying they “saw Jan. 6th, so I can’t vote for Trump. But I also saw June 27th, and I’m not sure I can vote for Biden,” referring to the presidential debate two weeks ago. — Axios
• Trump “is, quite simply, unfit to lead,” The New York Times said in an editorial. The paper said the “once great” Republican Party “now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great.”
• Wisconsin-based progressive talk-radio network Civic Media said it agreed to two edits to its interview with Biden before it was broadcast last week, which the station said was below “journalistic interview standards.”
• Melania Trump is expected to attend the RNC next week.
• Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, fresh out of prison, plans to be at the RNC on July 17, and may get a speaking role, Semafor’s Gina Chon reports.
• Tech investor and All In podcast co-host David Sacks will address RNC and speak on the economy at the event, his spokesman said.

National Security

• The US and Germany foiled a Russian scheme to kill Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmettal, which produces the 155mm artillery shells that are vital to Ukraine’s military. — CNN
• The US designated the Tren de Aragua of Venezuela as a transnational gang that it says “is expanding throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
• The US, Canada, and Finland are preparing to share icebreaker shipbuilding expertise in anticipation of increased demand as Russia and China make more aggressive moves in polar areas.

Foreign Policy

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country will meet its NATO defense-spending committee by 2032.
• The Israeli military admitted it failed to defend Kibbutz Beeri on the Gaza border in its first publicly released investigation into the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but it did not hold individual commanders into account without key questions being answered.
• Kenya’s embattled President William Ruto sacked nearly every member of his cabinet following weeks of youth-led protests across the country.

Economy

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain late Thursday met with the union’s executive board to discuss their options if President Biden loses to Donald Trump in November. — Reuters

Media

ABC News denied it was considering removing host George Stephanopoulos from the air after he was caught on video earlier this week telling a passerby on the street that he didn’t think President Biden was up for a second term.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time rejected one of President Biden’s judicial nominees. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., sided with GOP committee members to vote down US Magistrate Sarah Netburn over her recommendation that a transgender inmate convicted of child sex abuse be transferred to a women’s prison.

What the Right isn’t reading: Supporters of an abortion rights initiative on the Arizona ballot in November have sued a Republican-led legislative panel that is seeking to include language in a voter pamphlet that calls the fetus an “unborn human being.”

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Steve Scalise is the House Majority Leader. He represents Louisiana’s 1st congressional district.

Marianne Williamson is a former Democratic presidential candidate.