Three generations. One conversation. For this special Father’s Day episode of @NextUpHalperin, I’m joined by my father, @morthalp, and my son, James, to talk about family, fatherhood, and the lessons that stand the test of time. Plus, NewsNation’s @LelandVittert shares the inspiring story behind Born Lucky and the extraordinary impact of his father’s love and determination. Happy Father’s Day!!!! Please download, subscribe, and share wherever you consume podcasts. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1Oa… YouTube: piped.video/UOSg_NKZqaE?si=X2lP…

An email I just got from a very smart person, who is now smarter, unfortunately because of the assassination of Charlie Kirk: “I used to think of Trump Derangement Syndrome as just people losing their minds about him specifically and knee jerk hating everything he said or did or enacted. But I now realize that Trump Derangement Syndrome has made people lose their ability to tell the difference between right and wrong.”

CNN and MSNBC are not taking the remarks of Erika Kirk live??? It takes a lot to surprise me. This is shocking. The BBC is taking it live!

For the first day, I refused to believe that anyone was actually going on social media to celebrate Charlie's murder. Then I realized there was in fact some of it, but I assumed it was a very small amount. Now I see how naive I was. What is wrong with someone who would do that?

BREAKING NEWS: Multiples sources outline the apparent state of play on Biden at this time: * plans to announce withdrawal from nomination as early as this weekend, with Sunday most likely * Jon Meacham polishing up remarks * Biden with NOT resign the presidency * Biden will NOT endorse Harris * open convention with Harris and about 3 others * super delegates will not be allowed to vote on 1st ballot * Harris is vetting at least four possible running mates, including Andy Beshear and possibly Shapiro More on this fluid situation at 6pm ET LIVE on YouTube @2waytvapp piped.video/live/PGfTut14i40…

Photos like this one are on display throughout the arena.

Seriously, @delta??!?

Spotted at @LambeauField for @packers @Bengals cc: @charliekirk11 @AndrewKolvet @TPUSA

In the transition and beyond, Donald Trump will adhere to no norm he doesn’t f-ing want to adhere to, on background checks, ethics rules, or pre-inauguration interactions with foreign leaders or anyone else with whom he wants to speak.  And rather than being deterred by the tut tutting of pointy-headed academics, bureaucrats in sandals and beads, and the scolds in the Dominant Media and left-wing DC advocacy groups, Trump is instead encouraged and delighted by the opposition.

The mood on Air Force One is said to be somber as they fly towards Arizona. Normally, when a president goes to a friend’s funeral, only a few others on the plane knew the person who died. In this case, virtually everyone on the flight not only knew Charlie but had a close relationship with him. From the president to the most junior staffers, this is a heavy day.

Plenty of Democrats are steadfast in their defense of the conduct of their party’s members of Congress in the chamber last night during Donald Trump’s speech, mostly justifying what was done in protest by pointing to the president’s own conduct and policies. Here is a different and striking perspective from a Wide World of News reader, a (now) former Democrat who gave me permission to print her email, without the sender’s name: Hi Mark, I watched the speech last night and 2 Way this morning. I’m a Democrat, my immediate family and siblings are Democrats, we didn’t vote for Trump. Last night for me was my breaking point. I watched with my husband as fellow Democrats (ironically wearing pink for women) sat there either stone faced or seething with disgust while the family of Laken Riley was honored and a young boy with cancer became an honorary secret service agent. I’m switching parties. It’s been coming for awhile, but that was the moment for me. I have a young family member that was the victim of assault, I have family in law enforcement, we have all been touched in some way by cancer, and I have not been able to come to terms with what I witnessed from Democrats last night. It was surreal. It was like an episode of Scooby Doo where they pull off the masks and show you who the villains are. I literally couldn’t sleep last night. I can’t believe I’m saying this. But I’m done. As a woman, a mother, as a HUMAN, I’m just done. When I heard Nicole Wallace’s heinous remark I said to my husband “who are these people?!” They don’t represent me anymore, or who I am. I can finally admit to myself that despite my personal dislike of Trump, I begrudgingly admit I support some of what he is actually doing. I can’t think of much I support that the Democrats have been doing for a long time, and frankly I don’t even know what they stand for now except the right to choose ( which is no longer enough) and men having the right to invade what were once my personal spaces. I admit… I actually smiled when I saw the First Lady. I cried when the boy hugged the secret service agent. I realized I have so missed this quintessentially American feeling of pride. Pride for my fellow citizens, pride for my country. I’m flabbergasted at myself but it feels like a relief to admit all of this. I can’t say I’m MAGA…. but I know now after last night I am no longer a Democrat. Lastly, love the Morning Meeting, love Meghan and if the Democrats were more like Dan, I could say I still was one.Get some rest! Best, REDACTED

Just asking.... What TV anchorman is spending his evening sliding into folks' DMs on X with petulant messages, in a futile attempt to head off a growing firestorm that is powered by receipts?

More outrageous liberal media bias: After years of cheering on the Left/Dominant Media attempts to stifle/punish conservative speech and cancel the lives of those they didn’t like, now the Washington Post and New York Times news desks are positively outraged that the Right is using the same techniques to punish those who have publicly spoken out against Kirk since his murder, often cheering. All of a sudden, free speech rights are sacrosanct and organized efforts to get someone cancelled are unacceptable. Amazing.

Note from State Farm Stadium: 3 different folks have now approached me to say they recognized me from Charlie Kirk's program. All three live in the Phoenix area and knew Charlie personally. All three said the same thing: Even as he grew in power, influence, stature, and responsibility, Charlie always tended to his relationships with them, always supported their work, and always made clear how much he valued the friendship.

Talks about a golf legend's junk one day, works the @McDonalds fryer & drive thru the next... Say what you will about @realDonaldTrump -- there has never been a president or presidential candidate like this.

Utah Speaker of the House announces endorsement of @realDonaldTrump. Says @DonaldJTrumpJr played a big role

Here is one factor that those who say the @mattgaetz nomination is dead are not considering: Every Republican Senator has donors, friends, staffers, constituents, and (in some cases) kin who want something from the incoming Trump administration, especially jobs. You think that the Trump White House is going to help out any Senator who comes out against Gaetz? That isn't even Politics 101; that is Politics 1.

"Trump is no Republican," writes John Danforth, in an extraordinary @washingtonpost op-ed that concludes thusly:

Please read my statement below.

Americans can now be divided into two groups: 1. Those who watched @MrsErikaKirk on Sunday and realize what it means. 2. Those who didn't see it. The divide is less political and more about understanding the current moment for the nation, humanity, and the mysterious capacities of the soul and spirit.

Super Democrat Bill Daley, who has been close to Joe Biden since his 1988 campaign & was a Biden ally when Daley served as chief of staff to Barack Obama, tells me of the family pardons: "Disgusting -- seems to confirm what was said about the Biden family for the last 4 years”

.@CNN , on a program that advertises itself as featuring the best objective reporters, had one on this morning who asserted w/o reservation that @realDonaldTrump doesn't care about ending the Ukraine war to stop people from dying -- that it is 100% about vanity to get a Nobel Peace Prize. And that Trump doesn't really care about violence/crime in DC except as a political issue. These claims went fully unchallenged.

Right now, even many @JoeBiden loyalists & nonpartisan doctors are having a lot of private conversations that are quite pointed and skeptical. So one question is how much of this will be openly talked about in the media Monday. One place I can assure you it will be very openly discussed is "The Morning Meeting" on @2waytvapp at 9am ET. Projection: If the intention was to make it less likely that the Bidens would be accused of lying & engaging in a coverup built on falsehoods during his presidency, well, the impact might be 180 degrees of that.

It's also a day to be thankful that Ivanka didn't marry Tom Brady.

As of now, this is the most important tweet of the day. Don’t go overboard but…..

Honored, delighted, pleased as punch to be joining @megynkelly & her new network: hollywoodreporter.com/busine…

Quote to me from @LaCivitaC of the Trump campaign about @davidplouffe claims that 1) the Madison Square Garden event turned undecided voters towards Kamala Harris and 2) the profile of the remaining undecideds is better for Harris than Trump: “What the hell is he going to say? He’s losing? Fact of the matter is David can’t do anything but bullshit until Tuesday because we are kicking his ass. The only thing the Harris campaign has functional at this point is a bullshit machine that is dutifully repeated by the legacy media as if fact.” More on all this on “2WAY Tonight” at 6pm ET on @2waytvapp piped.video/watch?v=J1IEDpSi…

Pretty binary options: 1. There was a massive coverup by the Biden White House to keep the president's undiagnosed cognitive decline from being exposed. OR 2. There was a massive coverup by the Biden White House to keep the president's diagnosed cognitive decline from being exposed. If it is (1), which it is at a minimum, it is very politically damaging to Joe Biden, his administration, and his campaign. If it is (2), it is right up there w/ WMD & Russia-gate in its historic implications. Would the Biden family, seeing the decline, really leave him undiagnosed? This is why the story of the moment is the search for (2).

I mean, I can *act* surprised if you want me to.

Yes, despite what the ignorant haters want to say, Biden was not supposed to endorse Harris that first day. In fact, many around the VP didn't want him to endorse out of concern that it was going to hurt her "she's earning the nomination" narrative. After I broke the story, Biden came under enormous pressure to endorse the day he dropped out, and he succumbed to that, deeply setting back the efforts of those who wanted Biden out and someone besides Harris to be the nominee. So when I reported that Biden was getting out and NOT endorsing, it was accurate. Journalists never like their reporting to impact events but, in this case, mine did. And haters gonna hate hate hate.

I interviewed Charlie Kirk one day before he was murdered. The conversation lasted nearly 40 minutes on my @MegynKellyShow network program @NextUpHalperin We talked about Charlotte, his trip to Asia, the future of the country, and why he was so pumped up about his college tour starting the next day in Utah. And, of course, about his @SouthPark cameo. So much of what was great about this man was on vivid display. Listen to the interview or watch it here: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3k3… YouTube: piped.video/watch?v=hmsWJ5LV…

How in the hell has Zelensky still not learned how to play Trump?  Coming out against his comments before any meetings?  He should award Trump the highest award in Ukraine and talk about building Trump Tower in Kiev.

Filled.

Here is "The Morning Meeting," on which I report what my sources are saying: If the trajectory of early voting continues like it is now (IF IF IF), we will know on Election Day that Donald Trump has won, even before the polls open. piped.video/watch?v=9VXg7dCV…

For Democrats, the media, and some Republicans, this will make @FmrRepMattGaetz seem like John Ashcroft.

This dog is cute & service, companion & emotional support dogs= best souls on Earth.Point was,on long flt Delta sat dog apart from its owner

Ok. Everyone take a deep breath. @KamalaHarris prospects in PA, GA, and NC rely on a. big urban turnout b. big suburban turnout and vote share c. not being completely wiped out in rural Right now, even the campaigns can't say conclusively that Team Harris is failing on these essentials. However, Republicans claim between early vote and what they are seeing so far on same-day voting, they will win all three states, maybe somewhat comfortably. There are no "exit polls" coming anytime soon that will settle this debate. Please just be patient and wait for actual vote and more robust boiler room reports. IF Republicans are right about where those three states are headed, this election could be over by midnight. BUT it is not fair to tilt "reporting" or vibes in that direction. Let the voters decide. There's no rush. We know from Florida 2000 that there is a lot of value to one side to be seen as the "winner' without actually being clearly the winner. The media should NOT play that role or make that mistake with ANY state. Be patient. Let the voters decide.

Congratulations to @MeghanMcCain @bdomenech !!!! people.com/meghan-mccain-pre…

Look for some significant Trump personnel announcements in the next 24 hours, including a big national security job for @TulsiGabbard , plus (maybe in this news cycle but maybe a bit down the road) a big job for @RobertKennedyJr (Senate confirmable?), and Trump finally pulling the trigger on the economic team, with major jobs for Bessent, Lighthizer, and McMahon

This is one of the most bewildering moments in the decade-long reaction of the Resistance. They seem to look at the construction photos as if they show the wreckage of Trump purposefully bombing an orphanage.

James.

Democrats and the Dominant Media can stay in a heightened sense of panic over Trump’s “threats” of mass deportations and massive tariffs, but have these folks not studied the Maven of Mar-a-Lago at all? He threatens this stuff to combine the leverage gained with American might to force change through speaking loudly and carrying a medium-sized stick. These policies will only go into place, albeit with semi-crude calibration, for as long as needed to get the desired results. Trump will almost certainly pull back before Big Business screams decisively about too many lost workers or too many closed markets.  Trump doesn’t want deportations for deportations sake or tariffs for tariffs sake; he wants results that, yes, make America safe and rich again. And rather than being deterred by the tut tutting of pointy-headed academics, bureaucrats in sandals and beads, and the scolds in the Dominant Media and left-wing DC advocacy groups, Trump is instead encouraged and delighted by the opposition.

The twin efforts going on on X now to (1) get @SenRickScott the majority leader slot & (2) get @DaveMcCormickPA seated are as coordinated as they are impressively fierce & robust.

Public service announcement to Red America: Please stop saying on X that “it’s over,” that Trump will definitely win. Even Mar-a-Lago doesn’t think that!! There are positive signs for both sides. The early vote & Electoral College options can certainly make Reds optimistic; maybe even a Trump landslide is possible. But if Trump ends up losing it doesn’t mean the election was “rigged” or “stolen,” and claiming “it’s over” now doesn’t change that. Prepare to win OR lose, in every respect. But stop saying “it’s over.” That isn’t good for you or for America.

From “conspiracy theory” to “we could not find it out until after the election” to “everybody knew” in the blink of an eye. It would be funny if it weren’t so serious and such a blow to the credibility of my profession

What to ignore on Election Day: 1. How long your cousin's dentist waited in line to vote in New Jersey -- and what your cousin says that means for turnout nationally. 2. What Drudge says about the first wave of exit polls. 3. What cable news says about the first wave of exit polls. 4. The first four times @JohnKingCNN says where the vote is still out (but DO pay attention to the subsequent 540 times...). 5. The pre-10pm ET spin of the campaigns about how they are "hitting their marks" and "making their goals." 6. Texts and emails throughout the day with the subject line "what are you hearing?" (This only applies to me.)

Over to you @GavinNewsom @realDonaldTrump in Oval to press: ""I know Gavin very well. He’s an incompetent guy with a good line of bullshit.”

On "2WAY Tonight," I raised the issue if it was the morally right thing to do for Team Trump to take the steps it has against General Milley. Got this note from a member of the @2waytvapp community in reply, published here with permission (cc: @ChrisLaCivita ): As a Marine who served for 9 years, all during Vietnam, I can tell you Millie telling the Chinese he would warn them in advance if we were going to attack them was wildly wrong and bordering on treasonous. Not to mention he was the architect of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that got my brother Marines slaughtered and billions in weaponry literally abandoned to our enemy was grossly incompetent. Referring to his former Commander in Chief as a “fascist” is forbidden by the UCMJ even as a retired General, particularly as his statement had weight in the election given his title and prominence. You are not allowed to slander your civilian Commander as a senior officer, retired or not. So I see nothing immoral about holding him accountable. He used his rank to play politics and lost, let alone having abandoned troops under his command. He has no grace in my book. You won’t find many Marines who would disagree with me. I’m pretty wired into them.

Per a close DC observer to the Wide World of News on the @PeteHegseth nomination: Goals of the week were three fold: 1) AVOID THE FAILURE OF A NOMINEE PAST: Matt Gaetz hated Senators, and couldn’t even bring himself to pretend otherwise. Instead, a likeable and engaging Pete blitzed multiple Senators in their own offices face to face, so they could meet him, hear his plans, and answer every question. Then those Senators told their colleagues he has a DoD vision and qualities they could support. This boosted Senate backing, and didn’t let control of the nomination shift to The Town’s nonstop bitching and the downfall doom mongers in the media. 2) WIN DC FIGHT CLUB? BREAK THE FIRST RULE: Nominees are always told to say nothing publicly during their confirmations. That’s just the DC version of assisted suicide. A mute nominee barraged by hostile reporters tempts any President to just go ahead with a mercy killing once he decides you’re weak or going to lose. Being out front strongly on your own behalf while not trashing Senators or their process shut down the Senate Kevorkians while showing the President and his team strength, courage, and grit. 3) CAPTURE THE MAR A LAGO FLAG: Fighting through the rough terrain of Palm Beach with a forward deployment of credible voices to the President that Pete is a great nominee in much better shape than he had been hearing—Senators and other key influencers—helped turn the volume up for Pete and drown out voices pushing other names. A unified offense for Pete against a fragmented set of alternatives found success. BOTTOM LINE? HATERS GONNA HATE HATE HATE…Pete ends the week without any Senator saying no. There are many more meetings and a ton of work left to do, but his nomination is very much alive. He can fight on, and fight to win. Get the newsletter daily by becoming a member here: walkingduck.com/mark cc: @JDVance @JasonMiller @normcoleman

NEWS: On the record quote from Spencer Zwick, main fundraiser for Paul Ryan now & Romney in 2008 & 2012, on move to replace Trump now

Imagine if the Dominant Media covered past bare knuckles, cynical, political gerrymandering by Blue states the way they are covering the bare knuckles, cynical, political attempt by Texas Republicans.

I will just note without judgment or comment all of these Trump people publicly taking themselves out of consideration for jobs they have been told privately they are not getting (but that they wanted) is a DC Classic act as old as the grease in the fryer at Old Ebbitt Grill.

If you work at a news organization where one of your colleagues was a propagandist dedicated to doing everything possible to beating one party’s presidential candidate and you stay publicly silent about that person’s efforts, you have to explain *why* in order to have credibility. And, hilariously, the same propagandist is back at his job and ignoring the biggest scandal in America media history — WHICH IS ON HIS EXACT BEAT!!!!

Over breakfast at Penn State this morning I talked to a Pittsburgh-area mental health professional who says her business has already started booming with new Democratic patients.

Classic "2 things can be true at the same time": 1. Investigations/prosecutions can be generated by the White House as revenge for Biden-era lawfare. 2. The folks in question are guilty as charged, with facts and precedents in some cases MORE legit than the Trump probes.

A question that answers itself: Why is nearly the entire White House press corps (rightly) united to protest the Trump White House exclusion of the @AP from coverage opportunities based on content choices — and/but the same folks were absolutely silent when the Biden White House did the same thing to @nypost ? cc: @JuliePace @EmmaJoNYC

****WORLD EXCLUSIVE**** Shortly after Kamala Harris announced a new book about her amazing campaign for the presidency, a source gave me a copy of many pages from the galleys of the tome. Over the next few days, I will be publishing here chapters from the book, which is due out September 23, and then the full outline. In homage to Hunter S. Thompson, I will roll the chapters out serially, over time. MANDATORY CREDIT: MARK HALPERIN’S WIDE WORLD OF NEWS CONCIERGE COVERAGE NEWSLETTER” Chapter 1: The Elevator There are 43 buttons in the West Wing elevator. I counted them three times on the morning I decided to run. Forty-three gleaming plastic squares, each one a portal to a sub-basement full of secrets, regrets, or fluorescent lights. I pressed “G” for “Gulag”—what we called the press office when the polling dropped below 39%. It was 6:12 a.m., and someone had already spilled cold brew on the nuclear football. Not metaphorically—the actual briefcase. My Chief of Staff looked me dead in the eyes and said, “We’ll have to replace the football.” I asked if we could just tell people it had transitioned. She didn’t laugh. ⸻ The decision to run for President wasn’t so much a decision as a medical event. A thrombosis of ambition. A blood clot of destiny. One moment I was pacing in the Roosevelt Room practicing my “sincerely amused” laugh for a TikTok Q&A about mental health apps, and the next I was speaking in tongues to the ghost of Walter Mondale. Joe had vanished. Not died. Not resigned. Just… slipped into a pocket universe somewhere between Scranton and senility. They found his shoes in the Rose Garden. Still tied. No footprints. Just a pile of Werther’s wrappers and an open classified folder labeled “VERY SENSITIVE – NO JOKES.” The Secret Service filed a missing person’s report, and the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against reality. It fell to me. ⸻ People think power feels like flying. It doesn’t. It feels like vomiting. But very privately. Into a platinum toilet you didn’t ask for, in a bathroom so large you can’t find the sink. I had 107 days. One hundred and seven chances to impersonate lucidity. I learned that the line between “Commander-in-Chief” and “celebrity mental breakdown” is thinner than a CNN chyron. One morning I woke up convinced I was Angela Bassett. Another, I tried to ban time zones. For “equity.” Ron Klain texted me the peach emoji. No explanation. Twice. I still don’t know what it means. But it haunts me. ⸻ My campaign manager, Julio—26, polyamorous, identifies as a sentient art installation—told me our strategy was “vibe-forward.” I asked what that meant. He said, “We’re running on mood, not message.” I nodded solemnly, then spent four hours Googling “mood-based governance.” In our first week, we lost Montana. Not the primary—the state. It seceded to join the European Union. Ursula von der Leyen personally welcomed them. By Day 10, my approval rating was listed on Zillow. ⸻ And yet, I kept going. Because every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. Hillary. Hovering like a thundercloud with a headband. She whispered, “Win or die, bitch.” And then she vanished in a puff of expired Chardonnay. ⸻ This is not a story of triumph. It is a story of motion sickness. Of beige hotel rooms and interns named Kai. Of crying on hot mics and clapping for things you hate. It’s the story of a woman asked to save a country that couldn’t remember her job title. This is 107 Days. Hold your applause. You’ll need both hands to cover your face. ---- It was a Friday. Always is. The kind of Friday where you open your inbox and know, instinctively, that democracy has thrown up in its mouth. I was Vice President of the United States, a title I wore like an inherited sweater—too big, slightly itchy, tolerated for family photos. I had spent three and a half years giving speeches that nobody watched, cutting ribbons at EV charging stations, and explaining to foreign dignitaries what exactly it was I did. The President of Guatemala once asked me, deadpan, “Do you run anything?” I smiled. But now, suddenly, I did. --- The elevator was empty when I stepped in, which felt like a metaphor even at the time. My phone buzzed. Julio, my campaign manager, again. I ignored it. The elevator doors shut with a soft sigh. I pressed “G.” It did not move. CNN was playing on the little screen above the floor indicator. No sound, just a chyron: **BREAKING: Biden to Address Nation, Speculation Mounts Over Reelection Plans** The photo they used of him was old. Too old. From the first campaign. His eyes still had outlines then. Back when we all thought this was temporary. A one-term bridge to… something. We just hadn’t agreed on what. Julio texted again: *He’s doing it. Today. 3PM. He’s out.* I stared at the screen. The chyron changed. **Kamala Harris Seen as Frontrunner—But Does She Have the Juice?** --- The thing is, we’d known this was coming. Of course we had. Biden was 82. He had more stumbles than statements by that point. Aides began pre-writing his speeches using algorithms trained on his 2008 soundbites. He gave the same anecdote about Amtrak 11 times in one month. But knowing something is coming doesn’t mean you’re ready for it. You don’t prep for the Titanic to hit the iceberg. You just dress nice and pretend the champagne isn’t warm. The real moment wasn’t the announcement. It was the silence afterward. --- At 3:06 PM, Biden stepped up to the podium, flanked by Jill and the ghost of Democratic viability. His voice shook slightly. “I have decided not to seek a second term,” he said. “Not because I can’t win—but because I shouldn't.” I’ll say this for the man: he always knew how to lie with grace. By 3:09, MSNBC was already running retrospectives. By 3:11, the Atlantic had published a piece titled *“The Kamala Moment?”*—note the question mark. By 3:13, my phone had 94 texts. Most were from people saying some version of “you’ve got this,” which is what people say when they’re terrified you don’t. By 3:30, Julio had arrived at my office. He brought cold brew and a Google Doc labeled “POTUS 2025 — Messaging Reset.” “Madam Vice President,” he said, “you are now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.” I looked up from my desk and said, “Jesus Christ.” “Yeah,” he replied. “That’s trending too.” --- You’d think there’d be a process. A meeting. A ritual. There wasn’t. Just a void that needed filling and a party too scared to say the other names out loud. Newsom had too much hair. Whitmer too much Michigan. Pete too much Pete. Nobody wanted to run. Nobody wanted to lose. So they said, “It’s Kamala’s turn.” Like this was a fucking DMV line. And I did what you do in this town when handed a disaster wrapped in a résumé boost. I smiled. I nodded. And I said, “Let’s get to work.” --- Work, as it turned out, meant sitting in the Situation Room 36 hours later trying to pronounce “Houthi” while aides explained how many aircraft carriers we had left in the region. Spoiler: fewer than we needed. More than we could afford. I was briefed on the economy, which was technically “stable,” in the way that a man on fire is technically alive. I gave a press conference. I thanked the President. I said “honored” six times. I did not say “inevitable,” but I saw it reflected in every journalist’s eyes like a dare. --- That night, I went back to the Vice President’s residence and sat in the dark for a long time. My husband brought me tea. I didn’t drink it. CNN was still on. Now the chyron read: **Harris Launches Campaign: “America Is Ready”** I hadn’t said that. Not those exact words. But it didn’t matter. The campaign had begun. The trap had sprung. And I was now the headline on a machine that needed feeding. --- At midnight, I opened Twitter. The top trending topic was **#PresidentKamala.** Right below it? **#GoodLuckWithThat.** To be continued....

Professor, In a Tom Sawyer kind of way, I appreciate your trying to bait me into revealing what I was pitched. I'm old school, in the sense that I don't report things that are not confirmed. And, in the case of the Trump pitch, it seemed false to me from the earliest scrutiny. In addition, I am quite confident that you don't want to live in a world (or a presidential cycle) in which all the unverified and provocative stories about BOTH presidential candidates are just splashed out there in the last few days of the campaign. Because, trust me, there are stories about BOTH being pitched that would dominant the news cycle, even if false, and have an even bigger impact if true. That's not the way this should work, even in an era that, rightly, calls for elites, including media elites, to practice rigorous transparency.

Soul searching requires a soul.

I'm told by several sources that the deal also contains a commitment by @LeaderJohnThune to give the Democratic Senate caucus a bag of magical beans, as well. So the agreement is not as one-sided as some have said.

Trump is not picking people like @mattgaetz & @PeteHegseth for the cabinet to drive @AdamSchiff & Co. nuts -- but it will certainly have that effect.

There's nothing "populist" abt starting admin w/ demonstrably false statements at CIA wall/WH podium meant only for POTUS ego/image.

Trump did not pick @mattgaetz to be attorney general to drive @jaketapper nuts -- but it is certainly having that effect.

WHEN JOE BIDEN WILL ANNOUNCE HIS RETIREMENT The decisions Joe Biden faces now as he moves to end his presidential campaign and his career are personally and professionally painful for him. Based on my reporting -- and having covered and watched Joe Biden for decades -- it is pretty clear what is happening. Nancy Pelosi is forcing Biden’s hand. She’s gone out of her way so far to make this process as painless for him as possible.  But she knows him well enough to know that he is one of the world’s worst and slowest decision makers, someone who will delay as long as possible before picking a path among unattractive options.  Which means she will do whatever it takes now to get the right forcing  mechanisms in place. The rainbow coalition of new members of Congress coming out against Biden today is another series of turtles on fence posts. The message is clear: Do what needs to be done now, Joe, or the level of pain will be ratcheted up. Amongst the many paradoxes and ironies in play now are that these new applications of pain will produce more of the kind of embarrassments and humiliations that are amongst the most painful aspects of this experience for the president. And, another paradox, those feelings make Biden less likely to be willing to reach decision day, because they make him angry.  So Pelosi will likely have to break him fully to get him to act; a little pain won’t work. Biden faces many decisions now, not just the tentpole choice to end his fourth and final presidential campaign. Should he endorse or not endorse Vice President Harris?  The plan was for him to not endorse, in order to create the appearance of Harris earning this on her own and creating distance between her and her unpopular boss. But some Harris advocates, many women, were infuriated by my reporting of Thursday and say it would be disrespectful of Biden not to give his veep his full-throated backing. And part of Joe Biden, who feels strongly that his record as president is amazing, is probably pissed that it is even an issue that anyone in Harris World would not think she would benefit from his backing. Then there are the other subsidiary decisions and Biden’s determining what role he wants to play in them. Who wlll Harris pick as her running mate? Should pressure be applied to keep anyone else from challenging her for the nomination? How will the convention program be structured to give appropriate homage to a president with the patriotism and spirit of sacrifice strong enough to step away from the job he loves? On the last point, Joe, Jill, and Hunter know that whatever promises are made now, when the time comes to actually schedule and execute the four days in Chicago, once Joe is no longer the presumptive nominee, he loses the capacity to keep changes from being made that will raise the profile of the new ticket and lower his. And, of course, despite the conversations and events of the last few weeks that have led Biden to understand what he must do, he still in his bones and heart and gut believes he is the best and only person in the party at this point who can beat Donald Trump. When I reported Friday that Biden would make his announcement as early as this weekend, I did so because that is what my sources said. But, for all the reasons above, I was deeply skeptical it would happen that quickly. Joe Biden, like the Congress he served in for so long, religiously follows Halperin’s Third Rule of Capitol Hill: No decision is made until it absolutely must be made – and sometimes not even then. But in this case, the clock is ticking and Nancy Pelosi feels that intensely. But/but Joe Biden is still grappling with the practicalities and psychology of all of this, and doing it as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory, who now also has Covid, a son who is facing both possible prison time and a second criminal trial, and a pressure campaign that is a nightmare for him. Over the balance of July, Joe Biden can do this his way or Pelosi’s way, the hard way or the easy way, the way that limits embarrassment or the way that stokes it. When and how the announcement will be made is contingent on all the factors above, and many more. Veteran Biden and Pelosi watchers know this: Joe Biden will put this announcement off as long as he can, and it is Pelosi’s role to get it done in time. How those two strong wills end up interacting is what we will all be watching.

Charlie Kirk

I am in in Glendale, Arizona today for an extremely important moment in American political history: “Building a Legacy: Remembering Charlie Kirk,” a service at State Farm Stadium honoring his life and legacy. Following the event, I will host a live, virtual conversation with the @2waytvapp community, a chance for all of us to share impressions, thoughts, and feelings about the event and this man. This will be a conversation like no other — reflecting on Charlie’s impact, his legacy, and what it all means for the future of American politics, society, culture, and more. Charlie was, along with everything else, a big fan and supporter of 2WAY and the concept of building authentic community on our platform. There will of course be a lot of coverage all over cable, the internet, and social media of the service, but this will be the only place to have a 2WAY conversation, with all that that represents. I will share my impressions from being here in Arizona and inside the stadium — and will be eager to hear what you all experience around the country and the world. 👉 Stay tuned to my Substack and this account for the exact time and links you’ll need to join. We will stream live also on X and YouTube. Let’s gather as a community to reflect on this historic person and historic moment together. - Mark

Amazing that almost only statements of re-affirmation of support for @realDonaldTrump today are from religious conservative leaders.

I asked @MattNegrin to count — and name — Trump's hand gestures from last night's rally. He counted 73. amp.twimg.com/v/17026bc3-554…

It's the oldest story in presidential politics: girl gets FBI director; girl loses FBI director; girl gets FBI director back.

There are 2 kinds of ppl on Twitter.Those who think Diet Coke is poison that makes you fat. And those who know it is the Lord's finest work

"Bob Mueller is a man of integrity...not a witch hunt" -- @SenJohnThune on @Morning_Joe

That both makes no sense and isn't factually true.

As seen on @TuckerCarlson in the fall of 2024: "Mark Halperin....now believes Donald Trump is likely to win. If that happens, Halperin predicts the psychological collapse of the Democratic Party — 'the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country.'” piped.video/watch?v=vV_WDBqE…

Will McAvoy returns to address Clinton v Trump. Written by @MattNegrin, directed by @Griffin piped.video/ik3JTaj21eo amp.twimg.com/v/f798e0e4-d6c…

The various reactions to what just happened tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about EVERYONE.

.@CNN @MSNBC along with/ @FoxNews all taking @JDVance live

If Trump supporters went to Bernie or Hillary events & behaved exactly the same way protesters do @ Trump events, how would media cover it?

Seems Steve Bannon is not super impressed with @KamalaHarris chances of winning:

Nikki Haley’s first reaction to a reported Tim Scott endorsement of Donald Trump. cc: @ShaneGoldmacher

On the one hand, President Trump's schedule has been thrown out the window, with more delays and more events almost certainly to be added. On the other hand, this Knesset event is incredibly well produced, like a Hollywood movie + a Reagan state of the union address -- great visuals, strong speechwriting, compelling pacing.

Words @KarlRove applies to @realDonaldTrump in @WSJ column: un­fair, un­seemly, stu­pid, vin­dic­tive, im­pul­sive, short­sighted

Well, no disrespect to the @NFL but this day matters more, @AndrewKolvet

Social media & cable commentators tempted to justify what Trump said or deflect to another topic should think twice. And think again.

NEWS: 2 sources say the Commission on Presidential Debates is moving towards unilaterally (w/o consulting the 2 campaigns) declaring that the 2nd prez debate will be conducted remotely b/c of @realDonaldTrump COVID @debates

NH @realDonaldTrump event tonight ain't small.

There are 2 kinds of ppl. Ppl who have had back pain & those who haven't. Those in the 2nd group are the most fortunate ppl on earth.

Team Pelosi will keep ratcheting things up, until Joe, Jill, and Hunter cry "uncle. " Now Seth Moulton says the president didn't recognize him -- another turtle on another fence post. The paradox is that the more Pelosi & Co. use tactics to humiliate Joe, the more this vain, proud, biggest-chip-on-the-shoulder man gets his back up. He works out, he thinks he still has it, he will not be bullied. But the donors, members, and most of his own staff have already made up their minds. And he indicated he had also. nypost.com/2024/07/19/us-new…

At what point will Trump go from being delighted w/ how well Pence is doing to being annoyed at people saying Pence is better than Trump?

Happy birthday, America! From all of us at @2waytvapp and “The Morning Meeting”

Between today and Wednesday, the three Harris-Walz principals (Kamala, Tim, Doug) will be doing events in NH, MN & VA, the 3 Blue states Trump seemed to have put in play right before Biden got out. (No NM or NJ….yet). Coincidence?

.@realDonaldTrump has re-written the prez campaign rule book again & again & come out on top. He's doing it again now. #artofthedeal

I am shocked (not surprised, shocked) & disappointed that @hughhewitt of all people would do an interview like this w/ the authors of "Original Sin," perpetuating the fiction that Biden's decline was not apparent to anyone w/ @cspan long before the private events of the fall of '23 that Hugh focuses on. No mention of Rep. Jackie Walorski!!??? Hugh, who loves chronologies, knows that happened in '22. The danger here is pretending that liberal reporters were not part of the attempt to cover things up to help Biden effectively gives the media permission not to come clean and do better in the future. Yes, Democratic pols' silence is a story, as are the specific incidents described in the book in which some Ds privately saw more examples of Biden's decline. But suggesting that those moments were somehow a revelation is patently false. The ONLY challenging question Hugh asked the authors was why they didn't write in the book about all the conservatives who saw and spoke about the truth for years. Their replies (not enough room in the book!) were equally absurd. I get trying to help a pal sell books, but there is a higher obligation we all have to tell the truth about what happened here, including about journalists who still can't explain why they stayed silent to hurt Donald Trump when we ALL knew the truth.

If an angry & defiant @JoeBiden tries to hold on by running out the clock, @SpeakerPelosi will have to raise the pain quotient to unimaginable levels. Veteran Pelosi watchers believe that is what she will do, starting as early as today.

Amazing stuff from @TerryMoran on whether @ABC is biased against @realDonaldTrump cc: @seanspicer @danturrentine Were we biased? Yes. Almost inadvertently, I’d say. ABC News has the same problem so many leading cultural institutions do in America: A lack of viewpoint diversity. When I joined ABC News in 1997, it was basically run by white men. (I have nothing against white men; I am one.) That management structure lasted for a long time, way too long. But over the last decade or so, the company made an effort to hire and promote journalists from a much wider diversity of backgrounds and life experiences. That changed ABC News, for the better: changed our conversations, changed our perceptions of stories and events in the country and around the world, changed our coverage. For me, the job got a lot more interesting, and more fun. But there was one way ABC did not change and did not diversify. It is no secret. There are hardly any people who supported Donald Trump at ABC News—or the other corporate/legacy/mainstream news networks. And this is bound to impact coverage, not so much out of malevolent bias (that’s the cartoon version peddled by Trump, Brendan Carr and online MAGA), but more out of what is a kind of deafness. The old news divisions don’t hear many of the voices of the country, because those voices aren’t in the newsroom. Yes, news teams go out with a microphone and a camera and accost people at Trump rallies; but to me that often comes off as weirdly anthropological and inaccurate, kind of like trying to understand nature by visiting a zoo. You don’t really see a tiger at the zoo, just a version of a tiger. Now, this might sound strange coming from me. The manner of my…accelerated…departure from ABC News has earned me a reputation in many quarters as a raging, anti-Trump firebrand. So be it. I don’t take back or regret a syllable of the post I wrote about Stephen Miller and Donald Trump that got me fired by ABC. I think it was an accurate, fair, and true description of those men. But inside the newsroom, I had a reputation of trying to get colleagues to see the other side, to walk a mile in the shoes of MAGA, to acknowledge the democratic forces that have made Donald Trump the dominant political figure of our time. So, yes, from my perspective, the old news networks are biased.

One person not tired of winning (a/k/a getting all these premium exclusive interviews) is @BretBaier

Number of days without @realDonaldTrump answering White House press questions it takes for liberal writers claiming to be objective media reporters to grow suspicious and raise questions: 2 Number of days without @JoeBiden answering White House press questions it takes for liberal writers claiming to be objective media reporters to grow suspicious and raise questions: 200 cc: @DrewHolden360

9 years in, The Trump Show still is what it was in 2015.

As I said about @JDVance before the debate 1. As New Englanders would say, he's wicked smaaaht 2. As Arkansans would say, he can talk the owls down from the trees As for @Tim_Walz , there is a great Minnesota expression that describes him......

Peak Trump

Trump benefits so much from the ignorance of his opponents, specifically their ignorance about him. TDS causes the Blues to dismiss the truth about what Trump does well, thus underestimating him and inadvertently helping him. The two "points" you make about Trump are simply factually wrong. I'm not saying you should agree with him. But you will keep losing to him if you keep denying how he does what he does.