Trump Speech Cements Control of GOP: What to Know in Washington
Bloomberg Government subscribers get the stories like this first. Act now and gain unlimited access to everything you need to know. Learn more.
Trump Cements Control of GOP
During his speech at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump basked in a moment that showed his grip on the party to be tighter than ever.
The GOP nominee began his 93-minute remarks, the longest ever for a nominee in the modern era, with calls for unity, though he later swerved into the America-first messages and off-the-cuff riffs that were hallmarks of his polarizing first term in the White House.
Trump repeatedly decried illegal immigration, characterizing the migrant crisis as “a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease, and destruction to communities all across our land.” Those lines appeared more aimed at whipping up the MAGA faithful than winning over moderates and independents. But the contours of the race have made winning over new converts seem less urgent.
The triumphant set piece for Trump made for a stark contrast with his rival, President Joe Biden, whose campaign is at its lowest moment as the candidate isolates at home due to Covid-19 while a rebellion simmers in his party that could force him off the ticket. Before Trump’s speech, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) joined calls for Biden to bow out, the second senator to do so.
Democrats, however, saw an opening in Trump’s speech, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee saying it laid bare an “extreme agenda” and Biden’s campaign hitting him for sidestepping subjects like his pledge to pardon those convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the US Capitol. Read More
Trump also used his nomination speech to take aim at Biden’s electric vehicle policies, vowing to end them on his first day in office. Read More
Additionally, he reiterated an openness for Chinese automakers to build cars in the US as a way to boost the economy. Read More
More on Trump’s Speech:
- Five Key Takeaways From Trump’s Speech at Republican Convention
- Trump Details Shooting, Calling It ‘Too Painful to Tell’
- Republicans Confident in Chances Regardless of Democratic Ticket
- Project 2025: Conservatives behind an extensive plan for reshaping the US government known as Project 2025 see it as a resource for the next presidency of Trump, should he succeed in his bid to return to the White House. Bloomberg News explains the conservative policy roadmap. Read More
- Assassination Attempt: The FBI possesses technology to access the phone of the man identified as Trump’s shooter, people familiar said. The FBI appealed directly to Cellebrite, a digital intelligence company founded in Israel that supplies tech to several federal agencies, the people said. Read More
- More Investigations: The Homeland Security Department’s watchdog is launching a third review into the Secret Service on “the extent to which the Secret Service plans and implements protective activities to ensure the safety and security of designated protectees.” Read More
BIDEN’S SCHEDULE
- The president has no public events.
CONVENTION AGENDA
- For the latest on the RNC plus a preview of next week’s Hill happenings, read BGOV’s special edition Convention Tracker.
Pressure Mounts on Biden to Drop Bid
Biden’s grasp on the Democratic presidential nomination appeared to be slipping Thursday, as he weighed increasingly public warnings from his party’s top lawmakers.
Biden surrogates insisted that he was “not wavering” and remained dedicated to running, but the pressure kept building. The president, experiencing mild symptoms, fielded phone calls from his campaign team and discussed the political crisis threatening to consume his reelection bid.
The harshest blow: a report in the Washington Post that Barack Obama told allies Biden’s pathway to victory was greatly diminished and that he believes his former running mate needs to seriously consider if his campaign remains viable.
Democratic senators in competitive races are on the precipice of calling on Biden to step aside, with the only question being when and how to announce their position, according to a Senate aide who requested anonymity to discuss internal thinking. Read More
In addition to lawmakers, some of Biden’s Cabinet members have had private discussions among themselves as to whether it’s now time for his closest advisers to reckon with him about his increasingly dim electoral prospects, according to a person familiar with the matter. Read More
New Jersey Democrat LaMonica McIver, who’s likely to join the House in September, also will be her party’s nominee in the Nov. 5 general election for a full two-year term.
- Democratic officials in the state’s vacant 10th District nominated McIver, the Newark City Council President, to fill the ballot vacancy created by the April death of Donald Payne Jr. (D), who won the June primary posthumously.
- McIver on Tuesday easily won a special Democratic primary and is a shoo-in to win a Sept. 18 special general election and then complete the remaining few months of Payne’s unexpired term.
Louisiana, where Democrats are likely to pick up a seat from Republicans under new district lines, today has the final candidate filing deadline for congressional primary-ballot access among the 50 states.
- State Sen. Cleo Fields (D), a House member in the 1990s, filed to run in the 6th District, where Rep. Garret Graves (R) isn’t seeking re-election after it was converted to a Black-majority constituency that leans Democratic.
- Louisiana’s five House members seeking re-election, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R), are favored to win again.
- In Louisiana’s open primary Nov. 5, the same day as the general election, all candidates in a district appear on one ballot. A candidate who wins a majority of the vote is elected; otherwise, the top two vote-getters will compete in a Dec. 7 runoff. Louisiana will hold separate Democratic and GOP primaries for Congress starting in 2026.
Happening on the Hill
AI Boot Camps Offer to Help Congress Navigate Hot New Technology
Academics from universities including Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Princeton are helping lawmakers develop the understanding of artificial intelligence needed to regulate the technology.
Congress Urges Postal Service to Pause Regional Sorting Plan
Some Democrats and Republicans in Congress have found something they agree on: They hate the Postal Service’s plan to process letters and packages more efficiently by shipping it out of state.
Global IT Outage Disrupts Airlines, Commutes
Airlines around the world experienced disruption on an unprecedented scale after a widespread global computer outage grounded planes and created chaos at airports.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, United, Delta, American, and Spirit all temporarily grounded flights due to the IT-system meltdown that hobbled communication between aircraft and ground-control staff. In total, there were more than 1,000 flights canceled globally. Read More
The technology outage also caused widespread disruption for commuters in New York and Washington, D.C.
CrowdStrike warned customers that its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product was causing Microsoft’s Windows operating system to crash. CEO George Kurtz said the issue has been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” according to a post on X. It’s not a security incident or cyberattack, he said. Read More
Also in the News
How Silicon Valley Embraced the MAGA Movement
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s pick of Senator JD Vance as his running mate has many in Silicon Valley rejoicing — they see the former venture capitalist as one of their own. But the tech world hasn’t always embraced Trump.
Hawaiian Electric Among Firms in $4 Billion Maui Fire Deal
Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. is among the companies that have tentatively agreed to pay more than $4 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits over the wildfires that ripped through Maui last year, according to people familiar with the deal.
Boeing Guilty Plea in Crash Case Delayed as DOJ Finalizes Deal
US prosecutors said they need more time to finalize an agreement with Boeing Co. in which the planemaker will plead guilty to criminal conspiracy in connection with two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jetliner.
— With assistance from Greg Giroux.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com; Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com; Jeannie Baumann in Washington at jbaumann@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com
Stay informed with more news like this – from the largest team of reporters on Capitol Hill – subscribe to Bloomberg Government today. Learn more.