Biden sweetens the deal for progressive critics

President Joe Biden offered his detractors, many of whom reside within the progressive activist wing of the Democratic Party (the former Bernie Bros are having a field day with the eighty-one-year-old’s mental decline), an attractive looking carrot this week.

Biden made several notable gaffes during the 2024 NATO summit in Washington, DC, referring to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as his enemy of war “President Putin” and mixing up Vice President Kamala Harris with former president Donald Trump during his “big-boy” press conference. But as more Democratic elected officials and commentators admit that Biden ought not to finish out his re-election campaign, the nation’s long-in-the-tooth leader proved he’s still got some political fight left in him. 

One of the biggest criticisms of the Biden administration from the left is that it is too “pro-Israel.” Tens of thousands of Democratic primary voters opted to register their disappointment with the commander-in-chief by choosing “Uncommitted” on their ballots, warning that they wouldn’t vote for Biden unless he pushed for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Today, though, Biden announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a “framework” for a “ceasefire.” 

“Six weeks ago I laid out a comprehensive framework for how to achieve a ceasefire and bring the hostages home. There is still work to do and these are complex issues, but that framework is now agreed to by both Israel and Hamas. My team is making progress and I’m determined to get this done,” Biden said on X. 

The celebration was short-lived as Bloomberg White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs noted, “Biden’s comments on this were meant to echo what he said yesterday — this isn’t a fresh breakthrough, I’m told.” During his press conference on Thursday, Biden said his negotiators were making progress with Israel and Hamas, but acknowledged there were still “gaps to close.” 

So why the very public announcement on X framing this as a new development? Perhaps it’s merely a shiny object for Biden’s detractors to consider coming home as he obstinately fights for his political future. 

-Amber Duke

On our radar 

STAMP OF DISAPPROVAL The United States Postal Service is raising prices on stamps for the second time in 2024. A Forever Stamp will now cost seventy-three cents apiece, up 7 percent from sixty-eight cents. The USPS said the “price adjustments” are necessary to keep the business stable as it enacts its ten-year restructuring plan. 

GARBAGE TIME New York City mayor Eric Adams announced a novel approach to handling the city’s out-of-control rat problem: trash cans. The Big Apple paid consulting firm McKinsey $1.6 million to design a basic NYC-official wheelie bin so that New Yorkers can toss their trash into the secure receptacles. 

CNN VS. RFK CNN anchor Jake Tapper is calling on Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take down a “misleading” ad that gives the perception Tapper supports RFK. Tapper claims the ad is deceptively edited. RFK previously attacked Tapper for hosting the first CNN presidential debate in June; RFK says the polling and ballot threshold for candidates to appear on stage was illegal. 

CLOSE THE GATES For the first time since 2005, a majority of Americans believe that immigration should be curtailed. According to a Gallup poll conducted in June, 55 percent of respondents said they want reduced immigration; 25 percent want current levels to remain, and just 16 percent want immigration to increase. 

Gangs of New York… and Washington …

The Biden administration sanctioned the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang this Thursday. The gang, which has wreaked havoc in countries ranging from Chile to Peru, has now established a presence in the United States, contributing to the “Venezuelafication” of streets in cities such as Washington and New York. 

“Tren de Aragua poses a deadly criminal threat across the region,” the Treasury Department said in a statement, establishing that the executive order put in place will categorize the gang as a “foreign person that constitutes a significant transnational criminal organization.”

In essence, transactions from those connected to the group will be blocked and assets potentially seized. 

Aside from the sanctions, the US government is also offering a $12 million reward for the arrest of three leaders of Tren de Aragua.

While the move is a welcome one, without a secure border and closer regional ties, tangible change seems unlikely. After all, the Venezuelan gang is not a “vertically integrated criminal structure,” as Jeremy McDermott from InSight Crime notes. They are a growing federation, a franchise of sorts. Tracking their members and assessing their intentions is a complicated task. What shouldn’t be complicated is punishing those who get caught — and maybe not letting them walk through the southern border.

–Juan P. Villasmil

The Biden family’s free beach banquet 

A spy tells Cockburn that a couple of hours before President Joe Biden’s “big-boy” press conference last night, a group of eight Biden family members showed up to eat at Mango’s, a slightly overrated “tourist trap” restaurant in Bethany Beach, Delaware, for perhaps their proverbial last supper. Despite all of those foreign business deals that allegedly ended in handouts to at least a dozen Bidens, the restaurant generously comped their meal.

Maybe even Mango’s knows that the gravy train might soon come to an end. The reservation was made by Missy Owens, Biden’s niece who managed his 2008 Senate campaign and her cousin Beau Biden’s 2006 Delaware attorney general campaign. She now works as the director of sustainability at Coca-Cola. Also present was the president’s nephew, Cuffe Biden Owens, who reportedly ordered a salad. Missy and Owens are both children of Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie. A server described the family as “nice.” 

–Cockburn

Biden campaign manipulates the media

Turns out the last time Biden was really able to handle himself in an impromptu interview may be much longer ago than we thought…

Recently, multiple different radio stations revealed they were fed questions beforehand or asked to make edits by Biden’s campaign. A few days ago, a Philadelphia radio host resigned after admitting to using questions provided by the Biden campaign. Andrea Lawful-Sanders, who hosted The Source on WURD Radio, spoke with Biden soon after the debate and asked him questions about his accomplishments, what’s at stake for this election, his debate performance and more. 

And two days ago, Earl Ingram, the host of Wisconsin-based radio show Civic Media, confessed to editing an interview with Joe Biden at the request of the president’s campaign. Ingram removed two sections of the interview, one where Biden trailed off and lost his train of thought, and another where he spoke about how his administration was the most diverse in history. 

George Cook, head content and general manager of the station that produces DeDe in the Morning, said musicians and celebrity guests often send in questions before the interview, which he tends to ignore. But “because it was the president, it was different,” he said. 

These incidents are just the most recent. According to the New York Times, more than two dozen radio and podcast interviews given by Biden reveal that he is often asked identical questions — the stakes for black voters in the election, his accomplishments, his plans for reelection, etc. 

Biden was asked about the stakes for black voters ten times in the past year, the NYT reports. 

Biden has given fewer interviews than any other president in modern history, usually with friendly interviewers rather than journalists. And if the interview included something the campaign didn’t like, they simply asked the radio station to cut those parts out.

President Biden was hidden by his staffers even when he first ran for president in 2020, so it’s no surprise that the Democratic Party has been manipulating his media appearances since then.

–Elisenne Stoller