The '24 Seven - 2/27/24
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.
If you were up late last night, you may have caught a pivot point in the race …
1 Up Late
President Joe Biden joined Seth Meyers Monday ahead of today’s primary contest in Michigan. Biden used rampant concerns about his age to level an attack against former President Donald Trump, “You gotta take a look at the other guy. He’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name.” (Trump called Melania Trump “Mercedes” in his speech at CPAC last weekend, apparently referring to his former top White House aide Mercedes Schlapp.)
The hit comes after mounting concerns among Democrats that Biden’s age, and repeated slips and gaffes, are hurting his re-election chances — marked by special counsel Robert Hur’s declaration that he wasn’t seeking charges against Biden for taking classified from the White House because he viewed Biden as old and weak.
2 Michiganders
Michiganders (Michiganians? Michiganiacs?) are voting today in the Republican and Democratic primaries. Biden and Trump are both expected to win easily. With today’s primaries locked up, the political world’s focus has been on protest votes against Biden and for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Biden’s supporters are fighting against the left and Arab and Muslim groups pushing for voters to select “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s continued support for Israel and inability negotiate a ceasefire in the Israel/Hamas war - now closing in on its fifth month.
Related, from the home of the American auto industry: CBS News’s Robert Costa spoke with Biden and UAW President Shawn Fain for a piece which aired over the weekend. Fain, a native of Kokomo, Ind., talked about coming up in the labor movement and his own struggles collecting unemployment while raising a young family.
3 Chesebro pundit
Speaking of Michigan, CNN published an eye-popping scoop Monday detailing former Trump adviser Kenneth Chesebro’s alleged lies to Michigan investigators regarding his efforts to overthrow the 2020 election results. Chesebro is facing racketeering charges in Georgia for his engineering of the “fake electors” plan, in which pro-Trump electors were submitted to Congress as part of the effort to undo the 2020 election.
Chesebro told Michigan investigators that the fake electors plan was a backup option in case the Trump campaign won any of its legal challenges. But CNN’s ace investigative team reports uncovered the secret Twitter account Chesebro ran (@BadgerPundit) which explicitly told supporters, falsely, that then-Vice President Mike Pence could count the fake electors and arbitrarily declare Trump president (no vice president has that power.)
The Detroit News has reported extensively on the fake elector plot in Michigan and resulting charges against the 16 fake electors.
4 Trump Trials
Trump is appealing the $454 million civil fraud judgment against him, the AP reports. Meanwhile New York Attorney General Letitia James is continuing to tweet/X out the accruing interest on the penalty. (The AP has this useful tracker of Trump’s many criminal and civil cases.)
Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who filed the first criminal charges against a former U.S. president (and helped cement Trump as the de facto Republican nominee in the process) is seeking a gag order to forestall Trump from attacking witnesses and intimidating jurors.
5 Money out
Americans for Prosperity, the long-running Koch brothers political operation, dropped its support for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley after her loss to Trump in South Carolina Saturday. Now, NBC news reports the group is moving into the battle for the Senate, spending $1 million to support Republican David McCormick in Pennsylvania and $600,000 for Republican Sam Brown in Nevada.
Last summer, as Trump was en route to dominating the Republican primary and a multitude of candidates were vying for slivers of support, Republicans and conservative operatives were already talking about this dynamic - that mega-donors who used to invest in presidentials were writing off the 2024 race and looking to spend more in governors and Senate races across the country.
6 Veepstakes
The Daily Caller is up with a piece about South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago Monday. Noem is a favorite among Trump’s base of voters (she topped the CPAC straw poll of possible Trump running mates, along with former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy.)
In case you missed it, here’s the 24sight rankings of the possible Trump running mates from last week, one source noted Noem’s staying power in Trump’s Apprentice-style running mate runoff. Noem’s at number 3 on the list, Carson’s first, Scott second. Making the post free here, paying subscribers got the first look last week. (If you dig our reporting and want to help independent journalism, a growing field among the waves of layoffs, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription - $5/month - $60/year.)
7 High Court Social Media
The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday regarding state laws that bar tech companies from banning users — the laws were passed after Twitter and others banned Trump and others in response to the January 6th attack on the Capitol, which was fueled by disinformation and calls to action on Twitter and multiple other digital platforms.
AI and tech policy reporter
Ben Powers will be interviewing professed Chris Geidner later this afternoon for the 24sight pod — look for plenty of insights into one of the most important dynamics this cycle, how and what information voters receive - in this case via social media.