The '24 Seven - 2/26/24
The top seven stories shaping the race for the White House
Hello, and welcome to The ‘24 Seven - a daily roundup of the top seven stories shaping the 2024 race for the White House. If you see something I missed or have suggestions, drop me a note - 24sight@substack.com.
The talking points say “come together”, but the state of politics feels more like “Unity” …
1 Burn Book
The premier chronicler of the digital era, Kara Swisher, is out with her memoir “Burn Book.”
Nobody has done more to shape the modern discord than the tech titans who made the mass media platform which dominate how Americans receive their information (and rampant conspiracy theories.) E.g. one of the foremost purveyors of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which led an armed man to shoot up a Washington pizza restaurant, remains one of the most influential online figures on the extreme right — fueled by a
And nobody understands those tech titans better than Swisher.
Speaking of, the Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that could easily upend the existing order of digital media titans. … 24sight will have some original reporting on that this week, keep it tuned here.
2 ‘Scuttlebutt’
Hey friends, I’ll be hosting a chat for paid subscribers here start at 12p ET Wednesday. Bring your questions, I’ll bring the intel.
3 Influencer
Semafor’s Maxwell Tani has this wild read about two of the top presidential candidates’s (Trump and Kennedy family scion Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) efforts to win over Southern California Instagram star Jessica Reed Kraus — wining and dining her, even bringing on a catamaran with surfing star Kelly Slater.
4 Split party 1
South Carolina actually delivered a surprise Saturday night. Trump won, that was always expected, but his margin was not as strong as the polling showed heading into the race. Put one way, he trounced former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 60-40 percent. But the flipside of that coin is she keeps winning large pluralities of Republicans who won’t support their party’s last president.
This is the fourth primary win in a row for Trump, who has now swept every early nominating state contest, in which the former president has said it’s time for the primary to end and come together for him. And yet Haley is still running, and a large chunk of the party will not support Trump.
(Catch my roundup of what it all means from Saturday night on Fox LiveNow with Andrew Craft, Ian Masters’ Background Briefing and my in-studio analysis in the moment with Sirius XM’s Steve Scully! Tune in this week for my interview with Politics, Politics, Politics podcast host Justin Young. And check out our very first 24sight podcast from CPAC last week! More coming on that front … )
5 Split party 2
Speaking of divides, the race now heads to Michigan tomorrow (Tuesday). The Republican National Committee has officially recognized former Rep. Peter Hoekstra as the head of the state party, but deposed former chair Kristina Karamo will be leading a competing convention to allot delegates to the Republican nominating convention.
The starker rift however seems to be among the Democrats, where some on the left have been pushing Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in tomorrow’s primary as a means of protesting Biden’s continued support for Israel in the ongoing war there. The Israel/Hamas war has exposed a deep rift on the left, with many progressives pushing for a ceasefire.
Related: former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman and longtime Trump adviser Ronna McDaniel announced she was stepping down as Republican National Committee chairwoman, Maggie Haberman scooped Monday morning.
6 Hunter Biden
Axios’s Alex Thompson interviewed Hunter Biden days before he speaks to House lawmakers. The president’s son and the subject of , talked extensively about his need to stay sober as a “recovering addict” as the Biden campaign continues to fight for the “future of democracy.”
This comes two weeks after former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, was arrested and accused by federal prosecutors of spreading Russian disinformation accusing Biden and his son Hunter of pay to play schemes. A federal judge last week ordered that Smirnov be re-arrested amid worries he may flee the country.
7 Washington’s Farewell
Departing Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., will read George Washington’s farewell address from the Senate floor at 3 p.m. (H/T Playbook.)
In 1783, Washington famously, rebutted a request to become a de facto king (and established the peaceful transfer of power as a bedrock of the democratic republic) when he resigned his commission as commander in chief. Thirteen years later, in 1796, Washington left office of his own accord, declining to seek a third term in office.
In his farewell address to the fledgling nation, the first president warned both against political parties rising as a and against the U.S. picking sides and establishing permanent alliances with foreign countries.