The '24 Seven - Best of 24sight
Special edition - beyond the paywall - from the 24sight team
Hello, friends, and welcome to a special Best Of edition of The ‘24 Seven - 24sight’s regular rundown of the biggest stories shaping the race for the White House.
Today we’re sending out some of our finest coverage, with the paywall down.
If you like what we’re providing and believe in quality, deeply reported, journalism, please think about signing up for a paid subscription. For $5/month or $60/year, you’ll keep the lights on at our humble abodes/workspaces and keep us and our families fed. In turn, we’ll keep working the field to uncover the most important stories deciding who will run the country next year. (And a big big thank you to our paying subscribers, we have much in store thanks to your support!)
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Much love,
Tom, Pilar and Warren
1 Manafort’s Return
Exclusive: Paul Manafort advising Trump team via Winter Solstice Holdings in Palm Beach, sources tell 24sight
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort is reportedly helping the former president’s team, doing business under a company registered to his Palm Beach home, according to interviews and business filings obtained by 24sight. Winter Solstice Holdings, LLC, was formed four years ago in Delaware by Manafort’s longtime lawyer and lists his wife Kathleen Manafort as a stakeholder. Two people familiar with the organization said the company is actually his.
2 GOP Holdouts
Trump is 11 endorsements shy of getting the entire Senate GOP behind him
Notching enough primary wins to officially clinch the Republican nomination for president means Donald Trump can now charge right into the general election, but he has yet to win over nearly a dozen Senate GOP lawmakers who haven’t endorsed his comeback bid.
Endorsing Trump still not a must-do for half of the most vulnerable House Republicans
Having a target on one’s back – as is the case with the 17 House Republicans serving in districts that incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden carried to varying degrees in 2020 – is a stressful position to be in as a politician. Yet even with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee lambasting their every move and most of their GOP colleagues trumpeting Donald Trump’s 2024 comeback bid, nine of the 17 Biden-won district defenders seemingly can’t bring themselves to publicly endorse the embattled former president.
3 The Return of the Establishment
Trump makes RNC establishment great again with an eye on making money and winning
Former President Trump is making the establishment great again, handing the reins of the Republican National Committee to George W. Bush-era operative Chris LaCivita so he can install his team of veteran party officials at the GOP headquarters as they absorb it into the former president’s highly buttoned-down third campaign, according to interviews with more than a dozen Republicans familiar with the overhaul.
4 The 24sight Pod - with American Bridge president Pat Dennis
Episode 4: 'Anybody who tells you they have the solution to this is lying'
Pat Dennis has made a career out of unearthing stunning comments that the most powerful pols in the country would rather be kept private, and helped shape White House contests routinely with the lead Democratic opposition research group American Bridge. Dennis came up in the trenches, now he’s leading American Bridge’s efforts to keep President Joe Biden in the White House, and former president Donald Trump out.
5 Trump and the Club makeup $$
NEW: Trump, Club for Growth bury the hatchet
Former President Donald Trump and the head of the conservative donor group, the Club for Growth, made amends Friday night in Florida, as the de facto Republican nominee continues lining up support. Trump and Club president David McIntosh had a sharp falling out roughly two years ago, heading into the 2022 midterms, as the two split sides in the Ohio Senate primary. McIntosh and the Club backed Josh Mandel over then recent-MAGA convert J.D. Vance, who won Trump’s endorsement.
6 The State of the Union
The 24sight Pod - Episode 3: The state of this Union
Hello, friends, welcome to Episode 3 of the 24sight Pod. Tom LoBianco had a great, illuminating chat with two of the most clear-eyed observers of this moment in American politics: Bill Scher, politics editor at Washington Monthly, and Matt Lewis, Daily Beast columnist, longtime observer of the American right and
7 Coming after Spring Break: New Veepstakes rankings
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on the verge of ending the suspense regarding his next “Dirty Jobs” pick for the ticket. For now you can still Ventura guess who it may be, but on March 26th in the Bay Area of California, the veteran New Yorker and Kennedy family scion will pick from a list of celebrities to be his running mate.
Which means the RFK Jr mate boomlet will be up, and it’s back to the GOP shadow race.
Tell us where you see things standing in the Trump running mate search — and whether you think they’ll make a difference in November. Meanwhile, here’s our last ranking — a lot of new faces have emerged since then.
Ranking the would-be Trump running mates
Welcome to the Veepstakes! The 24sight.news team has the goods. It’s built on interviews with more than two dozen top Republicans, current and former Trump advisers, and ‘open source intelligence’ (aka Trump interviews and pieces from top Trumpworld figures