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# Jul 6

Does the abortion ruling highlight issues of management at the White House?
President Biden (L) convenes a virtual meeting with governors to discuss efforts to protect access to abortion on July 1. (MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE)
President Biden (L) convenes a virtual meeting with governors to discuss efforts to protect access to abortion on July 1. (MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE)

The Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion landed June 24. Its broad contours were known since a May 2 leak. President Biden’s tepid initial policy response left liberal Democrats incredulous and angry. He ramped up his attacks on the decision. The Left still wants more action from him.

Now comes CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere, turning what many Democrats see as the administration’s strangely meek counter to a largely foreseen judicial earthquake into a broader tale of Democratic complaints and concerns about Biden’s White House.

Here’s the crux of Isaac’s piece: “Top Democrats complain the President isn't acting with — or perhaps is even capable of — the urgency the moment demands.”

But this is the paragraph that stood out to The Daily 202: “Two dozen leading Democratic politicians and operatives, as well as several within the West Wing, tell CNN they feel this goes deeper than questions of ideology and posture. Instead, they say, it gets to questions of basic management.”

Ideology is one thing. No one expected Biden, who ran as a moderate in 2020, to push for defunding police or Medicare-for-all, positions he repeatedly repudiated. And the razor-thin Democratic majority in the Senate is regularly a viable culprit for stymying liberal priorities the GOP opposes in lockstep.

But questions about competence are dangerous ground for any president to be on, particularly with large majorities of Americans saying the country is on the wrong track, just months before midterm elections. That may be especially true because Biden ran as an affable insider who would use skills honed over decades to defeat covid and restore the economy.




 
Here — anonymously sourced, to be sure — are some of the missteps Isaac identified in Biden’s response to the abortion ruling:

“White House counsel Dana Remus had assured senior aides the Supreme Court wouldn’t rule on abortion that day. A White House press aide assigned to the issue was walking to get coffee when the alert hit. Several Democratic leaders privately mocked how the President stood in the foyer of the White House, squinting through his remarks from a teleprompter as demonstrators poured into the streets, making only vague promises of action because he and aides hadn't decided on more.”

“Then, Biden’s July 1 meeting with governors to talk about their efforts to protect abortion rights was planned so last minute that none of those who attended came in person, and several of those invited declined to rearrange their schedules to appear virtually.”

‘WE UNDERSTAND THAT FRUSTRATION’
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not return an email from The Daily 202 asking whether Biden felt he had the right team in the West Wing and was satisfied with the flow of information to his desk.

But in her briefing on Tuesday, Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s handling of gun violence, pointing to the (modest) bipartisan law he recently signed. She also insisted he responded quickly and forcefully to the abortion ruling and teased the possibility of new, unspecified, executive actions. And she reinterpreted a question about Democratic frustration with the White House.

“We understand that frustration,” she said. “What we saw the Court do almost two weeks ago should be frustrating, should be infuriating, and should have everyone angry — not just women, because this is not just about women’s rights.”

FIGHTING SPIRIT
From a different page in the same hymnal, my colleagues Ashley Parker and Matt Viser reported Tuesday about Democrats fretting at least as much about the size of the fight in the dog as the size of the dog in the fight, and turning to leaders with more bark and bite.

“In the view of many distraught Democrats, the country is facing a full-blown crisis on a range of fronts, and Biden seems unable or unwilling to respond with appropriate force. Democracy is under direct attack, they say, as Republicans change election rules and the Supreme Court rapidly rewrites American law. Shooting sprees are routine, abortion rights have ended and Democrats could suffer big losses in the next election,” they wrote.




 
Ashley and Matt tapped into activist scorn for Biden’s response, which regularly centers on a plea for Americans to vote Democratic while second-guessing other options as potentially unworkable.

“‘There is a leadership vacuum right now, and he’s not filling it,’ said Adam Jentleson, a Democratic consultant and former top adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid of Nevada. I sympathize with the argument that there’s very little they can do legislatively. But in moments of crisis, the president is called upon to be a leader. And when people are feeling scared and angry and outraged, they look to him for that, and they’re not getting much.’”

And that, Ashley and Matt, has led some Democrats to gravitate to the more combative tone they’re hearing from party electeds who may or may not have aspirations to higher office, like J.B. Pritzker, Illinois’ Democratic governor or California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

And their rhetoric, in turn, seems to echo the tone of one Mallory McMorrow.

 
	
What’s happening now
Former White House counsel Cipollone to testify before Jan. 6 committee
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

“Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone will testify Friday morning after receiving a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, according to people familiar with the matter,” Josh Dawsey reports.

“It’s unclear what limits there may be on his closed-door testimony, which is scheduled for about half a day, according to one person familiar with the matter. The session will be videotaped, but there will be some limits on what he will testify to regarding direct conversations with former president Donald Trump.”
Demand for workers remains strong despite mounting economic gloom
“Employers posted 11.3 million job openings in [May], down from a peak of 11.8 million in March and 11.4 million in April, but still well above pre-pandemic levels, according to a report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Roughly 4.3 million Americans quit or changed jobs in May, reflecting a job market where workers continue to have the upper hand,” Abha Bhattarai reports.

China accuses U.S. of ‘technological terrorism’ as chip curbs grow
“Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian lashed out at Washington after Bloomberg News reported the US is lobbying allies to stop the sale of mainstream technology essential for making a large chunk of the world’s chips, expanding a years-long campaign to curb the country’s rise. He didn’t say whether China planned any retaliatory measures in response to the move,” Bloomberg News reports.

Highland Park suspect’s father sponsored gun permit application, police say
“The Illinois State Police confirmed on Tuesday that the father of the Highland Park parade shooting suspect sponsored his son’s application for a gun permit months after relatives reported that Robert E. Crimo III had threatened to ‘kill everyone,’ and that authorities had ‘insufficient basis’ to deny the application,” Reis Thebault and Timothy Bella report.

 
	
Lunchtime reads from The Post
‘Nothing feels safe:’ Americans are divided, anxious and quick to panic
Fireworks burst on the National Mall above the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol building during Independence Day celebrations in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)
Fireworks burst on the National Mall above the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol building during Independence Day celebrations in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

“In deadly assaults and harmless bursts of celebratory explosives, a divided nation demonstrated this holiday weekend just how anxious and jittery it has become, as the perennial flare of fireworks saluting American freedom reminded all too many people instead of the anger, violence and social isolation of the past few years,” Marc Fisher reports.

 
… and beyond
Gov. Beshear turns over White House ‘privileged’ emails on Chad Meredith judge nomination
“Gov. Andy Beshear’s office reversed course Tuesday and turned over a June 23 White House email that confirms President Joe Biden intended to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal district judge in Kentucky,” the Louisville Courier Journal's Joe Sonka, Michael Collins and Joey Garrison report.

Gun violence in America: A long list of forgotten victims
“Compared to much of the developed world, America is a murderous country. The United Nations estimates the U.S. homicide rate is three times that of Canada, five of France, 26 of Japan. According to some studies, there are more guns in America today than there are people. But if Americans often see the country’s streets as ever more dangerous scenes of public mass killings, the reality is more complicated,” the Associated Press's Michael Tarm and Brynn Anderson report.

“While mass murders soak up the vast majority of the attention, more than half of America’s roughly 45,000 annual firearm deaths are from suicide. Mass shootings — defined as the deaths of four or more people, not including the shooter — have killed from 85 to 175 people each year over the past decade.”

 
	
The Biden agenda
Justice Dept. sues Arizona over requiring proof of citizenship to vote
President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army veteran Maj. John Duffy, who fought in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House on Tuesday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
President Biden awards the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army veteran Maj. John Duffy, who fought in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House on Tuesday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

“Democrats have lambasted House Bill 2492 as another of the state GOP’s long-standing efforts to restrict voting and make it more difficult for some residents, including naturalized immigrants, to take part in elections,” David Nakamura and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report.

What it says: “The bill requires voters to provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers, on a federal voter registration form. It also mandates that county officials cross-check voter registration rolls with citizenship records and disqualify those who are not listed as a citizen in the databases.”
Treasury examines climate effect on insurance availability
“The Treasury Department is growing increasingly concerned that climate change is making property insurance scarce in disaster-prone areas and is looking at launching the first nationwide assessment of insurers’ financial exposure to climate risk. The Federal Insurance Office sent a preliminary email Thursday to insurance regulators in all 50 states asking what data they have that would show insurance coverage, liabilities and losses for each ZIP code in their state over the past five years,” E&E News's Thomas Frank reports.

‘Be absolutely furious’ — Dems want more from Biden after Highland Park
“Perhaps no issue better encapsulates the Biden administration’s viewpoint and tactics than how it has chosen to tackle the epidemic of gun violence. The president makes no secret of his bolder legislative ambitions … But those efforts have been stymied by Republicans in Congress, and he has had to balance dueling demands: righteous indignation of fellow Democrats and the plodding, incremental progress that comes with bipartisan compromise,” Politico's Christopher Cadelago and Jonathan Lemire report.

G-20 meeting may lead to wider divisions over war in Ukraine
“Unlike in recent leader-level meetings with NATO partners and other like-minded partners, [U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken] will find himself among diplomats from countries wary of the U.S. approach to Ukraine and concerned about its impact on them,” the AP's Matthew Lee reports.

 
	
The future of Amtrak, visualized
“Amtrak’s plan for the 140-mile route from New Orleans to Mobile, Ala., is one of 39 new routes the railroad is pursuing as part of its plan announced last year to reach dozens more cities and towns. The aspirations coincide with Washington’s priorities for more rail and alternate modes of transportation, supported by the bipartisan infrastructure law President Biden signed last year. The measure includes $66 billion for the nation’s ailing rail network,” Luz Lazo reports.


 
	
Hot on the left
How much will it cost to police abortion?
“With states unable to print money, trade-offs would have to ensue. Money spent for the War on Abortion will have to, at some level, come out of other parts of the budget. This means either less money spent on other parts of criminal justice—white-collar crime units, perhaps, or improved conditions in correctional facilities—or other forms of social spending. In addition, forcing pregnant people, particularly low-income ones, to carry children to term could increase safety-net spending, whether they keep the child or send it into the foster care system. Being denied an abortion can also trigger significant physical and mental-health issues that require care. So just as an elaborate abortion surveillance state is funded, potentially taking away from welfare spending, more welfare need could arise,” Toby Jaffe writes for the American Prospect.

 
	
Hot on the right
The insurrectionists’ clubhouse: Former Trump aides find a home at a little-known MAGA hub
Rioters stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Rioters stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

“Last summer, while most of official Washington was still reeling from the historic assault on the Capitol, a clubhouse for Trump White House exiles hosted a bash that all but toasted the insurrectionists and plotters responsible,” Grid's Maggie Severns, Jason Paladino, Steve Reilly, and Anya van Wagtendonk report.

“‘Hot Gulag Summer,’ held at the nondescript Capitol Hill town house leased by the Conservative Policy Institute, advertised Jan. 6, 2021-themed cocktails, including the ‘Capitol Attaquiri,’ ‘Insurrection on the Beach’ and the ‘Mostly Peaceful Mojito.’”

The invitation
“We’re all going to be sent to the gulag eventually. We might as well party and get to know each other before we are all ‘reeducated.’”


Jul 06, 2022	View in browser
 
New York Playbook logo
BY ERIN DURKIN, ANNA GRONEWOLD AND GEORGIA ROSENBERG

Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy put their signatures on an agreement yesterday to split initial costs for the long-stalled plan to dig new train tunnels under the Hudson River.

It’s a small but important step. Their predecessors for years failed to gain federal funding activation amid continuous squabbling over what was fair in cost-sharing agreements and acrimonious relations with the Trump administration.

Officially, the memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday covers Gateway “Phase One” — the Portal North Bridge and the Hudson tunnels. The governors agreed that the states would evenly split the local share.

According to Hochul’s office, the Port Authority’s total commitment for Phase One is $2.7 billion. The Federal Transit Administration will offset 60 percent of the new bridge cost with grants and the remaining $772.4 million will be split evenly between both states. For the rest of the Hudson Tunnel Project, the good neighbors will also go 50-50 on local shares.

Hochul called it a critical step forward. “By signing the Phase One Memorandum of Understanding, we are establishing the framework to get this project over the finish line and are making good on our promise to modernize the state's transportation infrastructure and create a mass transit system worthy of New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.

Murphy said the agreement “marks a pivotal milestone toward the completion of the most significant transportation project not just in New Jersey, but in the entire United States.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it’s probably because he’s been prodding everyone on this for a while now.

“I’d told the governors of New York and New Jersey unless they came to an agreement quickly we’d not be able to procure federal funds for the first round of funding. … I salute the governors of New York and New Jersey for coming to an agreement,” he said in a statement. “It solidifies the 50 percent federal, 25 percent New York, 25 percent New Jersey framework that I negotiated with then Secretary of Transportation [Anthony] Foxx.”

Now Gateway heads to the next phase, which is “to detail the parties' responsibilities with respect to delivery of the Hudson Tunnel Project and move forward in the federal project review.”

IT’S WEDNESDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold

WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany with no announced public schedule.

WHERE’S ERIC? Co-hosting a “Kitty Hall” event with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, meeting with the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, holding a swearing-in ceremony for Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Commissioner and Administrative Law Judge Asim Rehman and hosting the first of a series of “Community Conversations on Public Safety.”

 
STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

 
 
	WHAT CITY HALL'S READING
“New York City quietly closed half its COVID-19 testing sites as omicron rebounded this spring,” by Betsy Ladyzhets for Gothamist: “Despite the resurgence of COVID-19 this spring, there are now fewer options for free PCR tests in New York City. A Gothamist analysis of municipal data found that the number of NYC Health + Hospitals testing sites were cut in half citywide from mid-February to mid-April — from 270 sites to 144 locations — leading to fewer hours of testing availability. This shrunken landscape includes both brick-and-mortar clinics as well as mobile testing vans. Practically speaking, these trends meant that New Yorkers had 15% fewer hours to get a free PCR test — given more than 10,000 hours were available the week of February 14th, when the omicron surge was waning, versus 8,500 hours the week of April 18th. By this part of the spring, the coronavirus was rebounding again, driven by newer versions of the omicron variant.”

“Just One Staffer Remains in Key City Affordable Housing Office,” by THE CITY’s Yoav Gonen: “The city agency tasked with developing affordable housing has just one full-time employee in a critical unit that funds projects, government records reveal, down from six — part of a larger staffing shortage that’s hobbling construction and code enforcement. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development also has three out of 10 deputy commissioner slots vacant, even as Mayor Eric Adams attempts to advance a sweeping new affordable housing agenda. Documents obtained by THE CITY show that the department’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is so short-staffed that the unit — which finances the creation of hundreds of low-rent apartments annually — has had to take extraordinary measures to keep its work going.”

“Aide to Mayor Adams robbed by armed duo in Brooklyn,” by Daily News’ Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy and John Annese: “An aide to Mayor Adams was robbed by a pair of armed men in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, police said. Chris Baugh, 33, was confronted by the robbers about 10:30 a.m. at the corner of Hudson Ave. and York St. in Vinegar Hill while he was heading to pick up his city car — and implored the thieves: ‘You don’t want to do this. I work for the Mayor,’ according to police sources.”

“ NYC Mayor Eric Adams cracks down on phony paper license plates,” by New York Post’s Reuven Fenton and Sam Raskin: “Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday announced the second Big Apple crackdown on paper license plates and so-called ‘ghost cars’ in as many years, charging that phony tags are used by scofflaws who commit other crimes. ‘When you see people using these paper plates, many times they are doing something illegal. There’s a correlation between the illegal [operation] of a vehicle and not only possession of a gun, possession of narcotics, possession of a suspended license,’ Adams told reporters in Queens. Using bogus paper plates — a tactic often employed to try to avoid tolls or being tracked down — is a misdemeanor, and those who do so risk being slapped with a fine of between $65 and $200 and being towed, a police official said.”

	WHAT ALBANY'S READING
Hochul signs thermal utility measure, advanced building codes bill, by POLITICO’s Marie J. French: Utilities will be able to build and own geothermal heating systems that serve multiple buildings under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor also signed a bill to tighten new building codes and appliance efficiency standards to help cut costs for consumers and reduce emissions. Hochul heralded the measures as putting New York on a path to achieving its climate goals and said the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions, would not deter the state. … New York has a goal of slashing emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050. The draft plan to achieve those cuts requires big energy efficiency gains and a virtual elimination of burning gas for building heat.

“New York COVID cases rise 15% as omicron BA.5 subvariant spreads,” by USA Today Network’s David Robinson and Mike Stucka: “New York's weekly tally of COVID-19 cases increased nearly 15% last week, as the omicron BA.5 subvariant fueled outbreaks on Long Island and in New York City while upstate counties remained at low risk of infection and hospital strain. New York reported 41,642 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending Sunday. That's up from 36,317 cases the previous week. New York ranked 21st among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

ANALYSIS: “ Report documents growing use of ‘related companies’ by New York’s nursing home operators,” from Empire Center’s Bill Hammond: “New York’s nursing home operators are increasingly outsourcing expenses to separate companies that they also own or control, a trend that poses challenges for state policymakers, according to a new report from the Empire Center. Drawing on financial data gathered by the state Health Department, the report analyzes the growing use of ‘related companies’ in the nursing home industry. The report, authored by the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, finds that 72 percent of the state’s for-profit nursing homes did business with one or more related companies in 2020. The transactions totaled more than $1 billion, or 16 percent of their operating expenses. The related companies reported $306 million in net income, or two-thirds of the owners’ overall profits for the year. The practice is growing fast: Related-company spending by New York nursing homes jumped 164 percent between 2011 and 2020, the second-largest increase of any state.”

#UpstateAmerica: Buffalo’s Great Northern grain elevator is again in peril of being razed after a Supreme Court judge OK’d a demolition order.

 
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	FEELIN’ 22
CAMPAIGN WATCH: Congressional hopeful Carlina Rivera scored a coveted labor endorsement in the crowded race for NY-10, which straddles Brooklyn and Manhattan. A branch of 1199SEIU, the large union representing health care workers, will throw its weight behind Rivera Wednesday morning, her campaign announced. The organization has a long history in Democratic politics, and helped propel then-candidate Bill de Blasio from fourth place to victory in the 2013 mayor's race. In this cycle, its leadership selected Rivera over de Blasio, who is competing for the same open congressional seat.

Rivera's team noted her relationship with the union, forged during her time chairing the City Council's Committee on Hospitals during the pandemic. In a statement, she called its members "among the frontline heroes that have taken care of New Yorkers throughout the pandemic." In addition to the ex-mayor, Rivera faces Rep. Mondaire Jones, Assemblymembers Yuh-Line Niou and Jo Anne Simon and attorney Dan Goldman in the Aug. 23 primary. Given Jones' and Goldman's early fundraising advantages and de Blasio's near-universal name recognition, Rivera will need 1199 to help her reach voters unfamiliar with her. — Sally Goldenberg

“Dan Goldman raises $1.2 million in a month for open NY-10 race,” by City & State’s Jeff Coltin: “Former lead counsel in the first impeachment of Donald Trump, Dan Goldman, has raised $1.2 million in a month in the race for the 10th Congressional District – an impressive pace for the competitive open seat featuring other big names. That came from more than 2,100 individual contributions, and none of it is self-funding by Goldman, a wealthy heir and former assistant U.S. attorney – though the campaign says he hasn’t ruled out spending his own money. Goldman’s team shared that info exclusively with City & State ahead of the campaign finance filing deadline on July 15. Other candidates for the race in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn will be chasing Mondaire Jones’ fundraising, since he had reported $2.9 million on hand, as of March 31. And Jones is likely to report another huge number.”

“Langworthy gains backing of key House conservative group in battle with Paladino,” by Buffalo News’ Robert J. McCarthy: “In a sign of increasing national focus on the 23rd Congressional District, a top conservative figure in the House of Representatives on Tuesday announced key support for Nicholas A. Langworthy in his Republican primary contest against Carl P. Paladino. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, chairman of the House Republican Study Committee in the GOP caucus, said he would support Langworthy, giving the candidate new ammunition for bolstering his conservative credentials in the heavily Republican district. The new support could also help Langworthy attract significant contributions from conservatives around the country.”

	AROUND NEW YORK
— At least 50 people were shot across New York City over July Fourth weekend.

— The NYPD relaxed the fitness requirements to become a city cop amid a wave of retirements.

— New York City is climbing back toward pre-pandemic tourism numbers.

— The partner of former Yankees and Mets pitcher David Cone, Taja Abitbol, has been accused of starting a fire to get on “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

— The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany paid $750K to a Saratoga County man in the first of the organization’s settlements under hundreds of Child Victims Act lawsuits.

— The state has begun mailing out Homeowner Tax Rebate checks.

— Suffolk County police are investigating a potential hate crimes incident at a Long Island mosque.

— Six men who say they were abused during their post-9/11 confinement at a Brooklyn detention center are splitting a $98,000 settlement.

— Doctors, doulas and reproductive health advocates are preparing for more abortion seekers to arrive in New York City.

SHOOTING PUTS PRITZKER IN THE SPOTLIGHT — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was supposed to be marching in a parade on Chicago’s South Side yesterday but instead found himself on the national stage in the middle of another gun tragedy.

A mass shooting 30 miles north in suburban Highland Park had Pritzker speaking to a community stunned and shaken by the assault on a July 4 parade. Seven people were killed and more than 30 reported injured after more than 70 rounds from an AR-15-style gun sprayed the crowd.

“If you are angry today, I’m here to tell you to be angry. I’m furious. I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun violence,” Pritzker said at a news conference while authorities searched for the shooter. “While we celebrate the Fourth of July just once a year, mass shootings have become our weekly — yes, weekly — American tradition.”

Democrats see this type of passion and energy as the response needed to galvanize voters for the midterms and in 2024 as questions continue to percolate about whether President Joe Biden can channel the angst and anger coursing through his party.

It’s not what Pritzker, a first-term Democratic governor and billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel chain, had anticipated his job would be when he was elected in 2018. The governor had an idea he’d be carrying the flag on policy, not consoling constituents in crisis.

As with handling daily press conferences during the pandemic, Pritzker has learned to “manage for the moment.” It’s a phrase his staff uses. It goes beyond policy and politics and requires transparency in facing the public about the crisis at hand.

Before Monday’s shooting, Pritzker found himself managing the uproar over the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The governor talked about marching with his mother in abortion rights protests.

The cynics will say it’s all a dance leading up to Biden one day stepping away from the ballroom floor of politics. Pritzker says he’s only concerned about his reelection in November, but it was hard to ignore the speech he gave to New Hampshire Democrats last month.

Though Pritzker’s Republican opponent in November will say otherwise, the governor to a great extent hasn’t fumbled his first term and will be remembered for managing the moments of the pandemic, promoting abortion rights and, now, calling for tighter gun control measures.

Pritzker’s challenge is managing Illinois while trying to bring the rest of the country along with him.

During the pandemic, Illinois was an island of low Covid-19 cases surrounded by states with skyrocketing infections. The Land of Lincoln is a haven in the Midwest for those seeking abortions after state lawmakers codified it.

Even the gun debate has Illinois virtually on its own in the Midwest. But for all the laws the state has enacted — banning ghost guns and expanding background checks, most recently — they do little when residents can skip over to Indiana to buy all the guns they need.

So Pritzker is working to take his fight national, as the 2024 whispers grow louder and Democrats look for other up-and-coming politicians to articulate their energy and anger about the state of the country.

“JB’s been what Democrats desperately needed in this moment both tactically and message-wise — playing hardball in the Republican primary and turning guns and abortion back on the extremists,” says Eric Adelstein, a Chicago-based political strategist who has consulted for former President Barack Obama, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Democratic National Committee. “He’s showing a blueprint Democrats would be wise to follow this fall and in ‘24.”

FIRST IN NIGHTLY
NEWSOM VS. DESANTIS — Here’s a sneak peek at tomorrow’s lead story in POLITICO from our colleagues Jeremy White and Gary Fineout, previewing more serious 2024 chatter:

“Forget Donald Trump versus Joe Biden. The biggest prelude to 2024 might just be the escalating back-and-forth between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis.

“The governors for California and Florida have hurled insults about each other’s leadership and policies during most of the Covid-19 pandemic. But now Newsom has ratcheted up the conflict by taking almost daily pot-shots at his Republican foils such as DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Most recently, Newsom dropped more than $100,000 on a new ad airing on Fox News that tweaked DeSantis in his home state.

“Fox-watching Floridians won’t likely switch their voter registration or move to California after seeing a TV spot in which Newsom warned them ‘freedom is under attack in your state.’ But the ad is producing a frenzy of national coverage that boosts Newsom’s profile while allowing DeSantis to sharpen his attacks on Democrats ahead of a possible 2024 White House bid.

“The fight highlights how two young governors have captured the attention of their respective parties: On one side is Newsom, a progressive and telegenic leader who survived an attempted recall. On the other is DeSantis, who is often heralded as a more disciplined Trump but who also has a penchant for populism and a refusal to back down from a fight.”

Check out POLITICO’s homepage first thing tomorrow morning for the rest of the story.

 
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AROUND THE WORLD
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attends a meeting.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attends a meeting. | Pool photo by John Sibley

BORIS ON THE BRINK — Prime Minister Boris Johnson was left fighting for his political life after two senior Cabinet ministers, including his chancellor, quit today. Nightly spoke with POLITICO EU’s London Playbook author Eleni Courea to break it down. This interview has been edited.

For those who haven’t been following U.K. politics closely, what’s going on with the U.K. government right now? Why are top officials resigning? 

For months Boris Johnson’s government has been in a state of crisis, rocked by scandal after scandal. Now it finally looks like it’s in its death throes. Two of Johnson’s most senior ministers, his chancellor and heath secretary, have resigned today with a blast at his integrity.

This is not an isolated scandal, but the final straw has proven to be No.10 Downing Street’s handling of a scandal surrounding one of its chief enforcers, Chris Pincher. Pincher resigned last week after being accused of groping two men after a night of heavy drinking at a private club. POLITICO London Playbook reported on Friday that Johnson had been aware of longstanding sexual misconduct allegations against Pincher when he appointed him to a senior role overseeing party discipline in February.

How has Johnson been responding to all of this? How is the public responding?

Johnson has already replaced his chancellor and health secretary and appears determined to fight on for as long as he possibly can, despite a slew of resignations and calls from previously-loyal MPs for him to quit. An overnight snap survey by YouGov suggested that seven in 10 members of the British public, and more than 5 in 10 voters who backed the Conservatives in 2019, now believe he should resign.

What does this mean for Johnson’s political life?

If he continues to refuse to resign of his own accord, there are mechanisms his own MPs are looking at to oust him. Pretty much everyone in British politics, including many of Johnson’s own allies, believes we are approaching the end of his days in power.

If you want to learn all the insider details from our United Kingdom colleagues, sign up for Eleni’s London Playbook. 

BLOW TO GLOBAL COVID FIGHT — The World Health Organization program for the fast-tracking and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics is likely to close in its current form in the fall, according to two individuals familiar with the matter.

The program, known as the ACT-Accelerator, is a collaboration among the WHO, governments and global health organizations that works to ensure equitable access to Covid tools. It faced significant obstacles to get vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, but it eventually succeeded in shipping over one billion shots. As Covid cases have declined from the height of the pandemic, ACT-A has struggled to secure funding with only Germany, Norway, Sweden and Canada promising the requested financing this year, write Erin Banco and Ashleigh Furlong.

The most well-known ACT-A initiative is the vaccines pillar COVAX, which aims to ensure shots are distributed around the world, particularly in countries that can’t afford them. An end to the current project raises questions about how the global health community, including the WHO, will continue to fund the fight against Covid.

WHAT'D I MISS?
— Supreme Court decision prompts Maryland governor to lower gun license barriers: Gov. Larry Hogan announced today he has directed the State Police to suspend its “good and substantial reason” standards for the issuance of licenses to wear and carry firearms. Hogan, a Republican, said his decision was the result of a Supreme Court ruling last month striking down a century-old law in New York that gave the state broad authority to deny access to permits allowing residents to carry a gun outside the home.

— Judge won’t block law banning most Mississippi abortions: As attorneys argued about abortion laws across the South today, a Mississippi judge rejected a request by the state’s only abortion clinic to temporarily block a law that would ban most abortions. Without other developments in the Mississippi lawsuit, Jackson Women’s Health Organization will close at the end of business Wednesday and the state law will take effect Thursday.

— Griner’s wife says Biden hasn’t responded to letter: “I still have not heard from him. And honestly, it’s very disheartening,” Cherelle Griner told “CBS Mornings” in an interview. Brittney Griner wrote to Biden on July 4, “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.” The WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist has been detained in Russia since February on cannabis possession charges.

— New Jan. 6 Trump documentary footage revealed: POLITICO has exclusively obtained a trailer for Alex Holder’s “Unprecedented,” the British filmmaker’s upcoming Discovery+ docuseries about the Trump family. The new video highlights the Holder’s unique access to the former president and his family, and includes unseen footage of Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, each of whom is shown in outtakes from their sitdown interviews.

Rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

— Georgia grand jury subpoenas Graham, others close to Trump: The Fulton County special grand jury is looking into possible criminal interference in the state following the 2020 elections. According to the subpoena, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made two calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the weeks following the 2020 election in which he asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” It says Graham would be “required” to appear July 12. Others subpoenaed include Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.

— NBC pundit, public health expert Vin Gupta in line for top Biden administration spot: The pulmonologist and frequent NBC and MSNBC guest is the leading candidate to become the FDA’s principal medical adviser. The search for a top adviser comes as the FDA has taken a central role in efforts to battle the pandemic, ease a shortage of infant formula and protect abortion access. But the agency has stumbled repeatedly in its messaging on those issues to the public and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

— Biden prepares action to reshape Trump’s tariffs on China: The administration is likely to announce action to lift a narrow set of tariffs on Chinese imports this month, said three industry officials and former federal officials with knowledge of administration plans. The decision comes as the White House continues to seek ways to tame historically high inflation outside of actions by the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

 
Industry Leaders at One-Day Tech Event on July 21: The American dream is a MerITocracy – powered by policy and technology as they relate to education and workforce, global competitiveness, security and privacy, and citizen services. On July 21, join tech industry visionaries from Dell, Google Cloud, DocuSign, and Consumer Technology Association, in addition to Hill and Biden Administration leaders as they discuss the future of tech innovation, regulation, and outcomes for America at MeriTalk’s MerITocracy 2022: American Innovation Forum. Sign up here.

 
 
NIGHTLY NUMBER
$99.55

The closing price of crude oil today, the lowest it’s dipped since April 25.

PARTING WORDS
OUT OF OFFICE — Thom Tillis and Chris Murphy’s work on a once-in-a-generation gun safety bill began thousands of miles away from the Capitol, in the Western Balkans.

The North Carolina Republican and the Connecticut Democrat barely knew each other at the time and had no predetermined reason to link up, especially on an issue as vexing as gun violence. They don’t sit on the same Senate committees. They’re from different regions. And less than two years ago, Murphy was even fundraising on behalf of Tillis’ Democratic opponent.

Their swing through Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in April changed all of that, writes Andrew Desiderio.

Known as a congressional delegation and abbreviated in Hill-speak to CODEL, the trip took Tillis and Murphy away from the Capitol’s often vicious partisan culture and built them a relationship that proved, as the Republican explained, pivotal to the gun deal.

On CODELs, “we’re working 12- and 14-hour days, we’re sometimes traveling two or three hours from country to country,” Tillis said in an interview from Spain’s capital, the site of another overseas delegation to this year’s NATO summit. “And that just gets you into a position where … you build that trust and you build that familiarity, [and] that serves as a basis for getting accomplished what we did.”

Many facets of official Washington can look impenetrably bureaucratic to the voters who send lawmakers there, and in some ways CODELs are no exception. But there’s a reason the trips are referred to as a “secret weapon” in a gridlocked capital: For more than a half-century, visits intended to reassure allies about goings-on in the U.S. have also helped members of Congress foster rare human connections that can shape future policy — even on issues unrelated to foreign affairs.

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AMERICAN FIREWORKS
A guy ate 63 hot dogs and there was a mass shooting. America. The hot dog eating contest is reserved for the 4th of July, but we get the fireworks all year round. We got independence from England, but we can't get independence from our remarkable lunacy when it comes to gun laws, where the freedom to parade around carrying killing machines trumps the freedom to attend an Independence Day parade with your family. "The man suspected of killing at least six people and injuring more than 30 others Monday morning during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park planned the attack for several weeks before he climbed a fire escape ladder and fired on the crowd from the roof of a building ... dressed as a woman in order to evade detection." The gunman was able to get off more than 70 rounds with a gun obtained legally.

What do you call deadly gun violence that mars a peaceful family outing in America? The norm. In Chicago alone, 71 people were shot and 8 killed in 4th of July weekend violence. But don't sling mud at the Mud City. While some people call Chicago Chi-raq due to its high crime rate, mass shootings are a hallowed American tradition from which we never take a holiday. Fourth of July weekend marred by violent shootings across US.
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2
TRACK RECORD
"While some fret over data maintained by period trackers and other specialty apps, the case against Fisher shows that simple search histories may pose enormous risks in a post-Roe world." WaPo: Texts, web searches about abortion have been used to prosecute women. Bet you never thought you'd have to open an incognito browser or use a VPN to search for health care.

+ "Google says it'll start automatically deleting visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, and other potentially sensitive locations from users' location histories in the coming weeks."

+ Patients head to Indiana for abortion services as other states restrict care.

+ A return to a more traditional time? Hardly. Benjamin Franklin gave instructions on at-home abortions in a book in the 1700s.
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3
THE GRIDDLER ON THE ROOF
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. But it's more mild than the rest of the house. "At the end of April, when the daytime temperature crossed 113 °F, most residents of Nagla Tulai sought succor in the hot winds blowing outdoors. Since northwest India first began to see alarming temperatures, local governments have been advising people not to go out in the sun if they can help it. But Nagla Tulai is one of the few Indian villages yet to be electrified. That means no fans, no coolers, and no air conditioners for its 150-odd households. Instead, the women of Nagla Tulai have taken their cooking to the rooftops. There they sit for hours stuffing tinder into their clay stoves to keep them burning even as the sun breathes fire at them from above." Imagine cooking over an open fire on the roof as a way to cool off. MIT Tech Review: No power, no fans, no AC: The villagers fighting to survive India's deadly heatwaves.

+ Sydney floods burden 50,000 around Australia's largest city.
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4
DRAW BRIDGE
"What if Voldemort was a member of Green Day? What if there was a McDonald's in Mordor? What if scientists sent a Roomba to the bottom of the Mariana Trench?" You don't have to wonder anymore. A new AI program called Dall-E turns text phrases into art. And that art has the internet buzzing. NPR: When machine learning meets surrealist art meets Reddit, you get DALL-E mini.
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5
EXTRA, EXTRA
Slow Motion Disaster: "Moscow's seizure of the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk province came at a steep price. The critical question now is whether Russia can muster enough strength for a new offensive to complete its capture of the Donbas and make gains elsewhere in Ukraine. 'Yes, the Russians have seized the Luhansk region, but at what price?" asked Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst in Ukraine, noting that some Russian units involved in the battle lost up to a half their soldiers.'" (As a layperson doing a lit review, here's what I've noticed as a trend in stories about the invasion. Russia makes slow gains. Experts critique their poor performance, planning, and effectiveness. Russia makes more slow gains. It's also notable that Putin doesn't care about human losses. He cares about maintaining power and money.) Plus, Brittney Griner made an appeal to President Joe Biden: "As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I'm terrified I might be here forever."

+ Nepalm Leaf: "Phuc, who now lives in Toronto, said she hoped that the world would learn 'how to live with love, hope and forgiveness ...If everyone can learn to live like that we don't need war at all." Vietnam 'Napalm Girl' gets final burn treatment in Florida 50 years later.

+ Traffic Signals: "Supply-chain snarls, raw material shortages, and record-setting inflation are turning the simple act of buying a car into a war of all against all, and there's no relief in sight. Could the electric-car market collapse under its own weight?" Nick Bilton: How Crazy Prices and Yearslong Wait Times Could Doom the Electric-Car Experiment. (I don't think it can doom the E-xperiment because so many automakers are shifting gears. But it's slowing the car market to a crawl. And I happen to need a new car and my wife and kids aren't buying the supply chain excuses...)

+ Secret Society: "A drumbeat of revelations from the House Jan. 6 committee has revealed two dueling identities of the Secret Service under former president Donald Trump — gutsy heroes who blocked the president from a dangerous plan to accompany rioters at the Capitol and political yes-men who were willing to enable his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election." No one covers the Secret Service like Carol Leonnig in WaPo: Jan. 6 showed two identities of Secret Service: Gutsy heroes vs. Trump yes-men. (Those seem to be the two identities of Americans in general.)

+ Fault of Our Stars: Nick Kyrgios has dominated the Wimbledon buzz. He's a jerk on the court. And now he's headed for another court. Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nick Kyrgios charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
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6
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS
"I always go to IHOP first thing in the morning. I get a pancake stack with strawberries, bananas, honey, and anything I really want on there and I'll demolish that. About two hours later, I'll get a wee snack of my choice. Lunchtime is a burger or a double burger and chips. I'll repeat that meal three times in a day, so I'll have three burgers and chips in a day—that's when I'm in America a week before comp. My last meal of the day is usually something with pasta because it's extra starchy and it'll sit in your belly and digest slowly. Then maybe some chocolate cake at night." The Real-Life Diet of Tom Stoltman, the World's Strongest Man.

+ Do you love board game nights, going to Disneyland without kids, and watching teen dramas on The CW? Then you might be a kidult.

+ Remember RadioShack? It's now a crypto company with wild tweets. Of course it is.

Tech and macro
No-one knows what the macro environment will do, but it won’t be good, and that flows through to tech. This week Meta told staff to prepare for ‘fierce headwinds’ and slower hiring, while Klarna, the biggest BNPL provider, is apparently raising at a $6.5bn valuation, down from $46bn last summer. FACEBOOK, KLARNA

Crypto contagion 
Crypto built its own defi version of capital markets, and now it’s having its own version of a capital markets crash, complete with margin calls, bank runs, frozen withdrawals, cascading collapses and, perhaps, some buyouts. FTX has been playing the Warren Buffet role picking up scrap. I always looked at this space and wondered where the 20% yields were coming from and what underlying economic basis they had, and presumed that the answer was both very complex and very simple, and that the simple answer (‘nowhere, nothing’) would be the one that mattered.  That absolutely does not mean there aren’t valuable ideas here, but there are a lot of bag holders. LINK

US tech and abortion
The USA is still absorbing its Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion, and some consequences are ripping through tech. One one side, there are lots of questions about what data might be collected that could be used in prosecutions, and Google has said it will auto-delete any location data it picks up when people visit abortion clinics (will that stand up to a court case, though?). On the other, Meta has policies banning pharmaceutical sales (for fairly obvious reasons), but those caught people offering ‘morning after’ pills. No-one knows how this will work, and since tech is now part of society, social questions get expressed in tech. GOOGLE, META

Hackers-for-hire targeting law firms?
Reuters has a big story on a network of Indian paid hacker companies that target law firms on behalf of their opponents in trials. LINK

TikTok data
TikTok is ramping up its ad business, which so far has not been nearly as large as its reach would suggest, but plans to hit $12bn this year. 

However, there is a returning fuss over the fact that Chinese employees still have some level of access to user data, despite promises made in the past. One of the FCC’s Commissoners said on Twitter that Apple and Google ‘should remove it’ from their app stores, which is a weird policy vector. As I wrote the last time this was a story, focusing on TikTok seems like the wrong level of abstraction: there will be plenty more non-US social networks, many of them Chinese, and if that’s a problem then the US needs a privacy law that covers the issue, not just one company. ADS, FCC

Crypto KYC
The EU agreed rules intended to extend anti-money laundering and market manipulation rules to crypto transactions. As ever, this is all about the detail: if you apply AML to money (and we do) and you’re using crypto as money, or trading it, then this is logical. But… how do you do KYC on transfers between individuals, and how does that align with privacy laws? And NFTs and actual crypto software are exempt, but how will that be defined? The challenge in regulating any fast-moving space is that you risk banning half the cool stuff by accident while baking in existing market structures. LINK

Ads with everything 
More in merchant media: Deliveroo is doing ads. As ever, first party ‘consented’ data, surface area and a low margin business where ads might make a big difference to the bottom line. LINK

Snap+ subscriptions
Snap’s subscription offer (somehow these are all called “+”) launched: a collection of extra features for $4/month. There’s a vision of the future in some quarters where we move to this from ads (thoughI have no idea how that scale to half a billion users). LINK

Ideas
The EU has a policy paper about the metaverse. A decade too early.  LINK

MKBHD on TikTok. LINK

E-commerce returns are so expensive to process that some stores will even pay you not to return things. LINK

T-Mobile is building an ad business with user data. LINK

Is Apple failing at modems? LINK

Mercedes-Benz on the electric future (and the unions). LINK

Fedex is closing down its mainframes and moving to the cloud, epecting to save $400m a year. Old tech has a long halflife. LINK

Outside interests
Frederick Douglas: “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?” LINK

The Stanford Obis project - Google Maps for the Roman world. LINK

A Japanese woodcut print of a dogfight. LINK

Everyone’s favourite economics paper this week: when Queen Victoria went into mourning for Prince Albert, the London ‘Season’ shut down, the aristocracy had to marry out and political influence shifted. LINK

Market data
What were the economic effects of GDPR? Neutral-to-good for big companies, negative for smaller ones (regulation is good for incumbents, as ever). LINK

A useful report on e-commerce advertising. LINK

US newspaper circulations in 2022. LINK