Attention to the Unseen

The New York Times reports: The Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday that he had told President Biden it was time for “a serious calculation” of his standing in the presidential campaign and that remaining in the race could imperil much of Mr. Biden’s legacy as president. “I said that whatever he does, I’ll always respect what we’ve done together,” Mr. Sharpton said in a phone interview. “I was not one to push him out of the race, but he needs…

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Politico reports: Democrats in Michigan cut off a vulnerable House Democrat from a major part of campaign operations after she called last week for President Joe Biden to step down from the ticket. Officials reversed that decision Thursday, after facing questions from POLITICO. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a first-term Democrat who flipped a traditionally Republican seat in 2022, was booted last week from a coordinated effort between the Biden campaign and the state party to elect candidates up and down the…

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Teen Vogue reports: The backlash to progress is often swift. The response to the 2020 protests for Black lives and against police brutality — what may have been the biggest mobilization in US recorded history — was stunning. A bright spark of resistance and the expression of long-held frustration was met with suffocating state repression: arrests, beatings, prosecutions, and calls for more police funding from the highest levels of government. With the 2024 presidential election on the horizon, authoritarianism in the…

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The Associated Press reports: Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him. The new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that…

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The Los Angeles Times reports: Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who is running for U.S. Senate in California, is calling for President Biden to drop out of the presidential race, he said in an exclusive statement Wednesday to The Times. Schiff, who is heavily favored to win his Senate race, cited “serious concerns” that Biden can beat former President Trump in November. He is the latest Democrat to call for the incumbent president of their own party to end his…

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Politico reports: One House Democrat anxious about President Joe Biden’s effect on the 2024 campaign recently sought out guidance from a trusted party leader: Nancy Pelosi. This lawmaker, who represents a swing seat and was granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said Pelosi asked detailed questions about congressional district-level polling and was “very receptive” to concerns that Biden couldn’t win in November. The member ended the phone call with the distinct impression that Pelosi believed Biden should exit the presidential…

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ABC News reported on a Zoom call Biden held with House Democrats on Saturday: [Colorado Democrat Rep. Jason] Crow questioned Biden’s mental fitness and if his age is a “national security risk.” The president was “defensive” in his responses, sources say. A member described to ABC News the exchange was “hard to watch” and detailed how Crow referenced voters’ concerns about Biden being “at the helm when they go to sleep at night.” The conversation became personal when Biden mentioned…

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By Andy Kroll, ProPublica, and Nick Surgey, Documented This story was originally published by ProPublica. Sen. J.D. Vance, whom Donald Trump named as his vice presidential running mate Monday, told a group of influential young conservatives in a closed-door speech in 2021 that they should stand up for “nonconventional people” who speak truth, such as Infowars founder Alex Jones. “If you listen to Rachel Maddow every night, the basic worldview that you have is that MAGA grandmas who have family…

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The New York Times reports: Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is running for Senate, warned during a private meeting with donors on Saturday that his party was likely to suffer overwhelming losses in November if President Biden remained at the top of the ticket, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Schiff’s remarks at the meeting. If Mr. Biden remained, not only would he lose to former President Donald J. Trump, he could be enough…

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CNN reports: The public calls from Democrats asking President Joe Biden to bow out of the presidential race have quieted in recent days, but private efforts to nudge the president and his top aides continue, several Democratic sources told CNN. Among the efforts, these sources say, are repeated memos from a seasoned and respected Democratic pollster, Stanley Greenberg, sharing his take that Biden is on track to lose the election – and in a way that does deep damage to…

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Axios reports: The Democratic National Committee is quietly steaming ahead with plans to technically nominate President Biden weeks before the party’s convention next month, Axios has learned. Why it matters: It’s the latest effort by Biden’s team to stamp out the Democratic rebellion that’s been pushing for the president to step aside since his bad performance in the June 27 debate. Once Biden receives votes from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates, it will become exceedingly difficult to remove him from atop the Democratic presidential…

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