Principals

1. The looming DNC protests
2. US retail sales
3. Harris’ vision
4. Eric Adams talks Harris
5. IRA, two years on
6. Trump hires Lewandowski

PDB: Walz, Vance agree to debate

Ceasefire talks resume in Doha … NYT: Secret Service agents moved from Biden’s team to protect Trump … Ukraine faces trouble on eastern front

Here come the DNC protests

Between 30,000 and 40,000 pro-Palestinian, anti-war, and left-wing protestors are planning to march on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday, Semafor’s David Weigel reports. The city is looking to keep them a half-mile from the event; Faayani Aboma Mijana, a spokesperson for demonstrators, told Semafor they’re petitioning to be “within sight and sound” of attendees. Other groups are preparing for clashes with police: “Make bruises from Chicago police batons the 2024 back to school Fall fashion!” reads promotional material from one. Don’t expect a repeat of the chaotic 1968 Chicago convention, Weigel writes: The city is far better prepared this time. But the bar is also lower for activists to draw attention and drive outrage — in the smartphone era, even minor confrontations anywhere in the city can quickly go viral.

Strong US retail sales surprise

US retail sales outperformed expectations, allaying concerns about a possible recession, and driving stocks higher. Sales rose 1% in July after slowing down the previous month, representing the largest increase in more than two years. Cars saw a particularly big bump. “What hard landing?” one analyst asked Bloomberg. Walmart also posted strong sales for its second quarter and boosted its profit forecast for the year. “We have not seen any incremental fraying of consumer health,” Walmart’s chief financial officer said. Jobless claims, meanwhile, dropped to their lowest level since the beginning of July.

Harris on the economy

Harris will lay out her economic vision in North Carolina today, which includes proposals to build 3 million new housing units in her first term, offer a tax incentive for builders of properties serving first-time home buyers, and give up to $25,000 in assistance for first-time home buyers. Harris and President Biden held their first joint event since the shake up at the top of the ticket on Thursday. The event was officially intended to tout the administration’s drug-pricing victory — an agreement between 10 drug manufacturers expected to save $6 billion in its first year on drugs that help treat cancer, diabetes, heart disease, among others. But it was more like a rally celebrating Biden’s years of service and Harris’ new position as the Democratic nominee for president. The crowd of 2,300 broke out in a chorus of “Thank you, Joe!” chants. Notably, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore received the second-largest applause, followed by chants of “48! 48!” signaling there is, at least locally, an appetite for the rising star to run for president in the future.

— Kadia Goba

NYC mayor says Harris should keep talking like a cop

New York Mayor and former NYPD captain Eric Adams has some advice for Vice President Harris: Keep talking like a cop. “The Democratic Party has a tendency to run away from public safety, but it is a very attractive criterion and is a very attractive part of your resume,” Adams, who made public safety a huge part of his 2021 campaign, told Semafor’s Kadia Goba. “I think that she’s really using that as front and center, and that’s really, really impressive.” Adams also said Harris erred by downplaying her experience as a prosecutor during her first presidential campaign. Thus far, Harris has largely reached for her prosecutorial record to talk about Donald Trump, but she runs the risk of alienating liberal voters by leaning too much into her law enforcement background.

Why isn’t the Trump campaign hack newsworthy? Eight years ago, Wikileaks dumped a trove of emails before the public, leading to revelations about Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speeches and John Podesta’s secret to a great risotto. Today, we’re not sure if any amazing recipes are part of the Trump campaign hack because The New York Times, Politico, and The Washington Post have all declined to report its contents. Ben and Nayeema explore why these two campaign hacks are receiving totally different media treatments and why people are mad at Ben for celebrating today’s editorial restraint. Plus, Mixed Signals talks with Christina Reynolds, a Democratic operative and two-time victim of digital hacks. Catch up with the latest episode of Mixed Signals.

The IRA’s staying power

As the Inflation Reduction Act marks its second anniversary, an unlikely group of politicians are emerging as a major obstacle to Donald Trump and JD Vance’s plans to gut it: Republican mayors. The IRA’s architects engineered its long-term survival by providing reasons for a broader range of people to tap into the tax credits than might otherwise, the most obvious of whom have been leaders of Republican-majority states. But a less appreciated climate constituency is tax-exempt entities — including municipal authorities — which suddenly have access to a source of free money for renewable energy and EV tax credits. It could be an increasingly damaging point of tension between the Trump campaign, which argues the IRA is essentially a handout to China, and an influential cohort of local leaders in critical swing states. “What I want to tell Vance and Trump is that this is very beneficial for us,” Mark Messer, Lebanon, Ohio’s Republican mayor told Semafor’s Tim McDonnell.

Lewandowski joins Trump campaign

Donald Trump brought in a handful of veteran aides — including his 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski — into his campaign, but don’t call it a shakeup. Lewandowski, a controversial figure who has drifted in and out of Trumpworld, will serve as a senior adviser. The campaign also added Tim Murtaugh, Alex Bruesewitz, Taylor Budowich, and Alex Pfeiffer. “Those close to the campaign say the new hires are not a shakeup, but rather a buttressing of the campaign’s leadership roster in the crucial last few months,” Politico reported. Nevertheless, the new hires came after Trump, frustrated with the campaign, was asking allies if he should make staff changes, per The Washington Post. Trump insisted Thursday it wasn’t a sign of a shift but “a sign of we want to close it out,” calling campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita “fantastic.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: NRCC Chair Richard Hudson warned House Republicans that they need to ramp up fundraising and stay on message if they want to keep the House in November. “We still have a great shot to grow our majority. But the Democrats are at the gates — hauling in hundreds of millions of dollars in the last few weeks. If we’re going to accomplish our goal of growing our majority, I need you to want it,” he said on a conference call.

Playbook: Former Clinton adviser Doug Sosnik predicts that Nikki Haley voters will matter in November because “[d]isenchanted Republican voters were key to the Democrats’ success in the 2022 mid-term elections in the battleground states.”

WaPo: Tim Walz is viewed more favorably than JD Vance, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.

White House

• President Biden said he supports new elections in Venezuela, after the leaders of Brazil and Colombia urged the same. The White House later walked the comment back.
• Biden is signing a proclamation today to designate the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument in Springfield, Ill.
• Biden announced that Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., would lead the US delegation to the opening of the Paralympic Games in Paris, while Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will lead the US delegation to the closing ceremony.

Congress

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been meeting with the small Democratic task force that was convened to push back on Project 2025, and the group is planning to hold forums on Capitol Hill when Congress returns in September. — The Hill
• The bipartisan leaders of the House select committee on China asked the Commerce Department to investigate a Chinese company that makes Wi-Fi routers to determine whether they pose a risk to US national security.

Outside the Beltway

Universities are changing policies on protests and developing programs to have more constructive debates in a bid to ensure calm on campus. — WSJ

Courts

• Donald Trump is pushing to delay his September sentencing in his New York hush money case until after the November election.
• New York Mayor Eric Adams has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of a corruption probe. — NYT

Polls

• Donald Trump leads Vice President Harris 45% to 43% in Michigan when third parties are factored in, according to a new AARP poll.
• Democrats trust Harris more than President Biden to address climate change, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
• The Cook Political Report shifted the Nevada Senate race from “toss up” to “lean Democrat.”

On the Trail

• Tim Walz’s 2006 congressional campaign lied about his 1995 drunk driving arrest. — CNN
• Walz and JD Vance agreed to debate one another on Oct. 1 in a forum hosted by CBS. Vance also proposed a second debate on Sept. 18, but the Harris campaign rejected that idea.
• President Biden decided to bow out of the presidential race not because he didn’t think he could beat Donald Trump, but because remaining in the race would “wage an intraparty war that would run counter to the fabric of who he is.” — NYT
• The Secret Service greenlit a plan to better protect Trump at events outdoors, including using bulletproof glass to protect him onstage. — WaPo
• A super PAC backed by Elon Musk is ramping up its spending. — Bloomberg
• Harris’ sister Maya Harris is helping her campaign informally and will not assume a formal role. — NOTUS

National Security

The Biden administration said the UK and Australia have comparable export-control systems, a step required to allow technology sharing and for the AUKUS defense alliance to move forward.

Technology

The Commerce Department will give Texas Instruments $1.6 billion in grants under the CHIPS and Science Act to help the company build three new facilities in Texas and Utah.

Foreign Policy

• White House national security spokesman John Kirby called Russia’s sentencing of a Russian-American woman to 12 years in jail for a donation for Ukraine “vindictive cruelty.”
• Ukraine is using weapons provided by Western governments, including the UK, US, and Germany, as part of its ongoing incursion into Russia, Semafor’s Mathias Hammer reports.
• Ukraine claimed full control of a key Russian town next to a Russian gas terminal, the first such success in its surprise offensive into Moscow’s territory and a potential way for Kyiv to curb one of Moscow’s sources of income — WSJ
• Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to houses and cars in a village in the occupied West Bank, leaving at least one person dead in an attack a White House spokesperson said was “unacceptable and must stop.”

Big Read

New York Times reporter Natasha Frost downloaded hundreds of pages of content from a WhatsApp group started by Jewish creative professionals and academics in Australia after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to The Wall Street Journal. Frost shared them in January with the subject of an article she previously worked on, and that content ended up with Pro-Palestinian activists. A doxing campaign against the Jewish group has continued since. The Times said “appropriate action” was taken against Frost, who shared the content without its “knowledge or approval.” Frost, who is still at the Times, said the document’s “dissemination and misuse happened entirely without my knowledge or consent …I deeply regret my decision.” Australia’s government is expected to soon introduce anti-doxing legislation.

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: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer wrote to Meta and Google demanding information for an inquiry into whether the companies censored content related to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

What the Right isn’t reading: Former Trump White House official Russell Vought was secretly recorded discussing preparations for a possible second Trump term.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Morgan Chalfant

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

Karen Tumulty is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. Sign up to receive texts from her as she hits the campaign trail.

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