This is gonna hurt. ABC News has 2020 audio of Donald Trump calling Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz an “excellent guy.”
■ Air National Guard Lt. Col. and ex-Illinois Republican Rep. turned Trump antagonist Adam Kinzinger: Republican attacks on Walz’s military record are “not only false but also disgusting.”
■ Digging into the past, The New York Times concludes Walz’s sudden rise to prominence was no accident.
■ Pod Save America cohost Dan Pfeiffer to Republicans: “Good luck turning the gun-owning football coach into a member of the Squad” …
■ … but the Heated climate newsletter sees “an oily stain” on Walz’s green resume.
■ Steve Martin’s turned down the opportunity to play Walz on Saturday Night Live: “You need someone who can really nail the guy. I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”
Trump to take questions. For his first public appearance since Kamala Harris became the Democrats’ candidate for president, he’s promised a news conference this afternoon at 1 p.m. Central.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Trump is … getting stranger and stranger.”
■ Axios: Feeling the heat of a Democratic surge, Trump is reverting to the mean.
■ Daily Show correspondent Josh Johnson is flummoxed by Trump’s new slur for Harris: “It feels racist, but why?”
■ Harris brought a Detroit rally to a standstill to stare down Gaza war hecklers.
‘Democrats are in a much happier place.’ Daily Show host Michael Kosta: “They’re like, ‘Why do my hands keep banging together like a seal?’”
■ Economist—and, you know, traditionally something of a doomsayer—Umair Haque: Harris and Walz are “modeling hope, not just talking about it. … And that’s … Sort of a Big Deal.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi details how and why she helped push Joe Biden out of the race: She saw his campaign placing “rose petals” on Trump’s path to a victory.
■ Contrary to a popular take, columnist Eric Zorn complains that “this presidential campaign season is too damn short.”
‘If you believe it’s about to disappear or that Trump won’t use any of it, I have some swampland in Florida for you.’ Law professor Joyce Vance counsels not taking seriously news that publication of a book with ties to the regressive Project 2025 and Trump running mate JD Vance (no relation) has been delayed until after the election.
■ JD Vance has been stalking Harris’ campaign …
■ … prompting historian Heather Cox Richardson to observe that “he came across as … desperate for attention.”
■ Politico: Vance’s TikTok account “is barely breathing.”
Ready to choose? Chicagoans can now request a ballot to vote by mail in November’s election.
■ Here’s the form.
Welcome, Democrats. As the party’s convention approaches, Chicago magazine offers a tour of Chicago sites associated with Barack Obama.
■ The city’s theaters have some special shows, too.
■ Axios Chicago surveys seven of the city’s vacant eyesore buildings.
■ Chicago’s landmarks commission is weighing owners’ request to demolish a former auto dealership turned (now former) nightclub where 21 people died in a 2003 stampede.
Unlivable apartments, desperate tenants. Injustice Watch finds “thousands of lower-income renters in Chicago … trapped in unsafe buildings, forced to pay rising rents, even as many landlords are allowed to shirk their responsibilities to keep buildings safe, warm and free of rats.”
■ The underlying research: Decades of court data, 2.3 million records analyzed.
Shoplifting spike. CWBChicago says reports for that crime have hit a 22-year high.
■ Speaking of theft: The Illinois Lottery today marks the 50th anniversary of its first drawing.
‘The sheriff has failed.’ Gov. Pritzker is calling for Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell to quit in the wake of an officer’s shooting and killing of Sonya Massey in her own home.
■ Evanston’s on edge after three shootings in 24 hours.
Not so reliable. The author of CNN’s Reliable Sources newsletter, Oliver Darcy, has left the network—putting the newsletter’s future in doubt.
■ His final Wednesday evening edition—which made no mention of his departure—left a turd on the desk of CNN’s corporate overlord …
■ … and then, this morning, he announced the launch of an independent email newsletter where he’ll continue that work.
■ The Ankler spotlights a startup’s real offer that sounds like a Black Mirror episode: A free 55-inch TV—if you agree to always-on ads and the surrender of your viewing data, including how many people are watching.
‘Failing mainstream media, part 2,000,003.’ Reader Michael Rosenbaum writes about a story linked from yesterday’s Chicago Public Square, regarding Missouri Rep. Cori Bush’s primary loss: “I see there was a third candidate who pulled votes … but there’s no discussion of it. I see how much support [the winning challenger] Bell got from AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], but there was undoubtedly heavy spending from pro-Squad groups and I could not find a comparison of total spending for each side. The AP story you linked does not include vote totals, just a description of the horse race. … Running an election report without citing the count is like reporting on a baseball game without mentioning the score.”
■ He shares a more detailed report from The Wall Street Journal.
■ A Tribune editorial condemns Bush for “unhinged rhetoric” in her concession speech—“if you could call it that.”
‘Square (and especially the Friday quiz) is a very welcome arrival in my inbox.’ — An encouraging note this week from a reader and supporter of this service.
■ For as little as $1, just once, you can join the ranks of those who keep Square coming.
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