Debate or no? Donald Trump’s sending mixed signals on his willingness to take the stage with Vice President Harris—this morning telling Fox Business Network both “Well, I want to” and then “Why should I? …Everybody knows her, everybody knows me.”
■ An ABC debate remains tentatively on for Sept. 10.
■ Hoping to land one of its own, Fox News is offering to mute the mic of a candidate (ahem, Trump) not responding directly to questions.
■ Jack Ohman takes you behind the scenes to explain how he devised this cartoon for Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle—“in 38 E-Z steps.”
‘Trump is making his 2024 campaign about Harris’ race, whether Republicans want him to or not.’ The Associated Press: “His … divisive attacks on race may emerge as a core GOP argument in the three-month sprint to Election Day.”
■ AP race and ethnicity news editor Aaron Morrison: He “doesn’t understand code-switching.”
■ Politico: “Trump and the older elements of the MAGA coalition may demand a crisper delineation of racial identity … but that’s at odds with the direction the country is headed.”
■ Columnist Dan Rather: “This guy is scared. His worst nightmare? Losing to a woman of color.”
What took so long? Axios says Trump’s Wednesday appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago was delayed more than an hour because he objected to being fact-checked live.
■ Press Watch columnist Dan Froomkin on whether the NABJ should have welcomed Trump to the stage: “Anytime Trump makes himself available for questioning by journalists, those journalists should take him up on it.”
In the hunt. Gov. Pritzker’s reportedly met twice with the team vetting Harris’ potential running mates.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: Chicago-area business leaders have sent Harris a letter rooting for Pritzker.
■ He joked on MSNBC last night that, to keep his schedule clear, he’s canceled a Lollapalooza performance Sunday with Blink-182.
■ He’s released a campaign video in which he predicts Harris is “gonna beat Donald Trump like a drum.”
■ The Lever: “Harris once championed a true universal health care plan, only to walk it back. Now, nobody knows where she stands.”
‘What happened to JD Vance?’ Public Notice columnist David Lurie compares the 2014 version and “the guy who now exemplifies the toxicity of Trumpism.”
■ A former executive director of the Florida ACLU: Vance’s “weird and un-21st-century” views of childless women matter less than “his lack of essential qualifications” for the vice presidency.
■ Men Yell at Me proprietor Lyz Lenz’s Dingi of the Week: “Everyone who hates single cat ladies.”
■ Cartoonist Marc Stopeck checks in with local cats:
Swap for the ages. In the biggest prisoner trade since the Cold War’s end, the U.S. and Russia have freed what the AP describes as “a collection of journalists and political dissidents, suspected spies, a computer hacker and a fraudster. Even a man convicted of murder.”
■ Time profiles all 24 people released by both nations.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “This deal was in the works during the weeks when the press was hounding the president and suggesting he was not fit.”
■ The deal triggered what CNN’s Oliver Darcy describes as “thunderous cheering” inside The Wall Street Journal newsroom.
■ The Journal goes “Inside the Secret Negotiations to Free Evan Gershkovich.”
■ The deal’s timing suggests Russia’s President Putin is betting Trump will lose in November.
■ A CNN fact-check: “Trump, who approved multiple prisoner exchanges, falsely claims he gave up ‘nothing’ to get Americans back.”
Who needs cash? Facing a Dec. 31 deadline, Chicago’s having trouble spending $1.88 billion in federal pandemic relief funds.
■ July’s tornadoes cost the city 6,500 trees.
■ The National Weather Service says last month here was in fact a little cooler than normal.
‘Dogs, cats and creatures galore.’ Past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel has assembled a news quiz fit for the dog days of summer.
■ City Cast’s Sidney Madden has a Chicago-centric news quiz. (Just 3/5 right for your humbled Square proprietor.)
‘The days of tapping industry giants … for multimillion-dollar paydays to take over the anchor chair appear to be over.’ The New York Times says the CBS Evening News’ overhaul acknowledges network newscasts’ audiences “getting smaller and older.”
■ Veteran media columnist Rob Feder (2022 link) notes a Chicago connection in the new lineup: “Maurice DuBois was an anchor/reporter at Fox 32 from 1994 to 1997.”
Ellapalooza. This weekend begins a series of Chicago events celebrating children’s music pioneer Ella Jenkins, who turns 100 Tuesday and who music historian Mark Guarino says “fed the musical direction of Sesame Street, Barney and Friends, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and other classics.”
■ Yesterday’s Lollapalooza performance by Chappell Roan drew what the Sun-Times describes as “one of the biggest crowds ever seen at the festival (nighttime headliners included).”
■ Axios’ Justin Kaufmann: While Lolla’s “a shining example for other festivals looking to operate in Chicago parks … it took years … to get there.”