An almost Olympics-free edition:
Blacklash. With Donald Trump set to be interviewed at noon during the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago, the conference co-chair, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, is quitting in protest.
■ Writing in The TRiiBE, NABJ member Tyler J. Davis says, “It feels like our convention … is being used.”
■ Former Sun-Times columnist John W. Fountain compares the appearance to “inviting a Latin King street gang to a Gangster Disciple party.”
■ Mayor Johnson: “My administration’s values and practice are in complete opposition to … Trump’s agenda, but … city departments and agencies are fully prepared to uphold safety during his scheduled visit.”
‘A crisis of masculinity.’ Ex-Illinois Republican Rep. turned Trump antagonist Adam Kinzinger: “Trump and his type are destroying young men with lies about manhood.”
■ Reader columnist Ben Joravsky gives Trump running mate JD Vance the prize for “the year’s most insincere political apology.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman’s You Betcha newsletter.)
■ Notus: “A Democratic fixture has spent months working out a plan to move memes into action. Kamala Harris is giving them the opportunity they’d been missing.”
■ Usually fatalistic economist and self-described former “evil hedge fund guy” Umair Haque: “To everyone’s surprise, including mine, American democracy is in a good place.”
Project 2025 shakeup. The director of the Heritage Foundation’s regressive vision is out.
■ Trump niece Mary L. Trump: “Project 2025—and all of the dangerous anti-democratic plans it contains for the next Republican administration—needs to be hung around his neck like an albatross.”
■ Trump’s nephew—and Trump’s father’s namesake—Fred Trump III plans to vote for Harris.
Her race to lose. As the Democrats begin their pre-convention virtual roll call for the presidential nomination tomorrow, Harris is alone on the ballot.
■ Chicago’s denied firefighters a permit to protest during the actual Democratic National Convention.
■ Harris last night in Georgia, taunting Trump for his refusal to debate: “If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
■ Harris reportedly will name her running mate within a week.
■ Critic Bill Carter on Transportation Secretary—and possible VP pick—Pete Buttigieg’s Daily Show appearance: “Pete is flat-out brilliant on television, as every embarrassed Fox News host has learned the hard way after inviting him on as a guest.”
■ Columnist Rafi Schwartz: “The ‘Tired of All These F**king Guys’ vote is real.”
Green light. Heated: “A coalition of lefty green groups that had not publicly endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2024 are planning to formally endorse Kamala Harris” …
■ … although Politico says she’s holding a hot potato on the matter of fracking.
■ American Prospect columnist Harold Meyerson (no relation): “Crypto mega-investors and media monopolists threaten the Democrats.”
■ Military contractors, too.
■ Political analyst Nate Silver says Harris faces “one big problem”: The Electoral College.■ PolitiFact slaps a “Mostly False” rating on Trump’s assertion that Harris “wants to defund the police.”
Boeing’s new pilot. Plagued by a rash of legal and safety problems, the company’s appointed its next CEO.
■ Illinois-based tractor maker Deere & Co. is laying off almost 300 workers.
■ Popular Information: Meet the anti-LGBTQ extremist pulling the strings at Deere and other major American corporations.
■ Gov. Pritzker’s signed a bill tightening Illinois’ protections against child labor.
Can you name the anchor of the CBS Evening News? That person’s out after five years …
■ … in what CNN’s Oliver Darcy calls “a massive demotion.”
‘One of the best movies of 2024.’ Critic Richard Roeper raves about “the gloriously lionhearted and brilliantly rendered” prison movie Sing Sing.
■ Former Marvel Comics editor Roy Thomas, writing for The Hollywood Reporter on his credit in the Deadpool & Wolverine movie: “My name should have come first.”
‘Ignoring stuff you don’t like is an important life skill.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg counsels those offended by the Olympics’ opening ceremonies …
■ … who include Turkey’s repressive president, Tayyip Erdogan.