🌊 Joe ByeDone

Anything happen this weekend? Tried one of those social media cleanses…

We would like to apologize to Hollywood for our years of mocking them for their unrealistic political storylines. At this point, Bane blowing up an NFL field and holding a major city hostage would barely make the Lifestyle section. Where’s a Gary Oldman voiceover when we need one?

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Biden Drops Out

President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed VP Kamala Harris to be his replacement

• Biden posted the letter on social media but hasn’t yet spoken. Reportedly sick with Covid, he hasn’t been seen since Friday. His letter said he’d address the country this week

• Endorsements immediately came pouring in for Harris, including from the Clintons, AOC, and potential rivals Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA), Gov. Josh Shapiro (PA), and Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg

• Yet some are campaigning for a competitive process to choose a replacement, a so-called “open convention”

Dig Deeper

• Today’s Wrap has the full story of what comes next!

KEY STORY

Tech Titans For Trump?

Several notable Silicon Valley (SV) entrepreneurs have come out in support of Trump’s election bid

• While SV has long been famously progressive, many of its highest-profile names have come out in support of Trump: They include Elon Musk, The Winklevoss Twins, and top venture capitalists Marc Andreessen, Doug Leone, and Ben Horowitz

• Analysts say that libertarian-leaning entrepreneurs support Trump’s plans to cut taxes and regulation, especially for the crypto industry and AI, and to push back on progressive social policies

Dig Deeper

• While Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t donated to or endorsed Trump, he said last week, “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life”

• “On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy”

• Zuck said he does not plan to be politically involved in the 2024 election

ROCA’S PARTNERS

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Dig Deeper

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KEY STORY

Sec. Service Denied Trump

The Secret Service repeatedly rejected the Trump campaign’s requests for extra security

• On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that four insiders confirmed the Secret Service “repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination”

• Per the Post, the Service declined to provide additional agents, weapons detectors, and other resources that the campaign had requested, citing a lack of resources and personnel

• The news directly contradicts the Service’s claims that it had not rejected requests by Trump’s campaign for more security

Dig Deeper

• A day after the attempt, the Secret Service spokesman said, “The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false”

• That spokesman has since said he may have been wrong, but the Service operates in a complex threat environment with limited resources

• Also this weekend, it emerged that the shooter flew a drone over the rally site in the hours before his attack – suggesting another failure by the Secret Service

KEY STORY

Bangladesh Riots

Violent unrest has killed 115+ people in Bangladesh

• In recent decades, a manufacturing boom has made Bangladesh – the world’s eighth-most populous nation – one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. That transformation has largely taken place under leader Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled the country since 2009

• Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan in a war in 1971. Last month, a policy took effect that reserves a third of government jobs for the relatives of that war’s veterans

• That sparked protests that turned into the country’s worst unrest in decades: Protest leaders have been arrested, 115+ protesters killed, and a curfew and “shoot-on-sight” order enacted

Dig Deeper

• Some have interpreted the unrest – the country’s worst in decades – to mean that Hasina may be losing her grip over Bangladesh amid her fourth term

• While Bangladesh is technically a democracy, she has been accused of targeting the media, political opponents, and critics

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💥 A drone launched by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen, struck Tel Aviv, killing one. While the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks on Israel, this was the first to break through

🔒 A Russian court convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage, sentencing him to 16 years in a penal colony and making him the first US reporter jailed by Russia since the Cold War. He, the WSJ, and the US firmly deny the charges

📣 Trump held his first rally since the assassination attempt, appearing with J.D. Vance in Michigan. “They keep saying he’s a threat to democracy. I’m saying, ‘What the hell did I do to democracy?’ Last week, I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump said

🎥 Rare footage captured one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes moving along a river in the Peruvian Amazon. A rights group that has been trying to draw attention to the threat loggers pose to the tribe gathered the video

🌪️ “Twisters,” the sequel to the 1996 disaster epic “Twister,” earned $80.5M at the domestic box office in its debut, shattering projections of $50-55M. The opening weekend was the year’s third-biggest, behind “Inside Out 2” and “Dune: Part Two”

COMMUNITY

🧠 Today’s question: What’s your reaction to Biden stepping aside? How are you feeling after the last week?

Reply to this email to let us know what you think!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

☝️ Wondered where that went…: Authorities returned a finger found in a pickup truck to its owner. The man to whom the finger belonged lost it and other digits while “messing around with some fireworks”

🧸 Bears have feelings, too: Florida police urge people to stop taking selfies with a “depressed” black bear spotted loitering on the side of the highway

⛳️ So back: The US’ Xander Schauffele won the 2024 Open Championship at Scotland’s Royal Troon by two strokes. American golfers have now swept the majors for the first time since 1982

🍻 Micro ale-gression: Disney has renamed “Liver Lips McGrowl,” one of its decades-old characters, after deeming it “offensive” and “derogatory” to alcoholics

🛩 A s*itty job: A flight attendant on Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airlines held up a bathroom door for the entire 16-hour flight from Hong Kong to New York City

ROCA WRAP

What Happens Next?

President Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 race. He then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot. So what happens next?

The next steps are determined by Democratic Party rules. Under those, voters don’t directly choose the presidential candidate.

Delegates – party insiders – choose nominees and typically obey their voters’ choices. But the Democrats also have “superdelegates,” a smaller group of elected officials who can vote for whomever they want at conventions.

Per party rules, Biden’s delegates are now free agents: While Biden won virtually every single one of the Democrats’ nearly 4,000 pledged delegates in the primaries, his endorsement of VP Harris does not automatically send his delegates over to her. By dropping out, his candidates go up for grabs.

There are now two paths for the Democrats to pick their nominee: 1) A roll-call vote; 2) An open convention.

The Democratic Party could decide to hold a “roll call” vote before their convention, scheduled for August 19-22. If a candidate wins a majority of delegates during that vote, they could win the nomination before the convention.

If no one wins a majority or the party declines to hold a “roll call” vote, the decision would be made at an “open convention.”  Here, delegates would debate on and choose a nominee at the Democratic convention. Qualifying candidates would make their case to the roughly 4,700 delegates and superdelegates, who would vote until a candidate wins a majority of delegates.

Another question is what will happen to the $90M+ of funds Biden’s campaign has on hand and to the tens of millions more belonging to PACs, or “political action committees,” which were set up to support Biden’s campaign. If Kamala is the nominee, she will likely get all of the money. If she’s not the nominee, the Biden campaign will be able to transfer at least some of it.

The details here will depend on how exactly funds were pledged, and donors will therefore play a major role in deciding the next candidate because the candidate has to be someone to whom donors will immediately pledge significant funds.

Currently, the party seems to be coalescing around Kamala, who has received endorsements from Biden, the Clintons, and numerous potential rivals, including Governors Gavin Newsom (CA) and Josh Shapiro (PA). Between Sunday night and Monday, Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, announced that he was considering a run, then changed his mind. 

For now, the race appears to be Kamala’s to lose, yet nothing is certain. 

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Last weekend, a leading presidential candidate was shot. This weekend, the other one dropped out in an unprecedented fashion. Does this mean the stars are aligning for a Gary Johnson revival?

Thank you for reading Roca. It’s clearer now than ever that the country needs a national cooling.

–Max and Max