TOTI: Hot Harris Summer
It’s been about two days since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala, and it’s full steam ahead on the Coconut Express.
The campaign’s $81M in the first 24 hours set the record for any presidential candidate in history.
Or, to put it in my language:
The polling is also on the up:
To kick off the campaign, VP Harris made her first visit to the campaign’s headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware:
A recurring theme of this TOTI, as well as those before and after it, is that Republicans are too brain poisoned to know how to effectively campaign against normal human beings anymore. Exhibit 1 of [too many to count]:
And then there was also this.
I Googled him so you don’t have to:
So there’s that.
She also held her first rally today in Wisconsin since the announcement.
Over here online, the unearthing of old videos continues apace:
Resistance wine moms (complimentary) are BACK.
For better or for worse, it’s a stan culture campaign on both sides now:
I’ve sacrificed so many hours and brain cells to the Internet and even I (especially I) cannot predict when or how online culture will percolate into the mainstream and have real world effects. A few weeks ago, brat was just that album I still needed to listen to to keep up with the gays. 💚
What is inevitable, though, is the hypershort lifespan of memes. And you gotta move on before it moves on from you! If that lifespan is a bell curve, surely we’re coming down the other side now. But we can have fun along the way!
Then of course there’s Katy Perry, who doesn’t realize she wasn’t ever on the plot to begin with:
When the culture has moved on from the coconuts and the reality of campaigning in this broken country sets in, we’ll always have these explainers:
Post-publication edit to today’s TOTI:
Perfect time to pivot to policy.
On what will likely be one of the most significant issues affecting youth turnout, Harris is already signaling a shift to Biden’s left:
Online, there has, predictably, been some lefty resistance to Kamala given her law enforcement background. But, reflecting both the massive shift in culture since 2020 and the increased focus on beating Trump across the center/left side of the political spectrum, it’s gaining way less traction than certainly I expected.
On the very opposite end of the Democratic spectrum, even Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman — who was ridin’ with Biden until the bitter end — is falling in line.
With the convention adrenaline definitively subsiding, Republicans are straight up scrambling.
Bro, what.
Just in general, JD Vance is proving to be maybe not everything Republicans had hoped.
First Secretary Mayor Pete, now Governor Tim Walz, Democrats are going on the offense:
Speaking of Midwestern white guys, the veepstakes is heating up! Based on my super scientifc Twitterometer, Andy Beshear’s stock has been going up:
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro remains a (the?) front-runner, but the more progressive wing of the party is starting to make some noise about his staunch support for Israel and charter schools.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and husband to Gabby Giffords is emerging as another front runner, though some are pointing out his challenges with labor, in an election where unions are already front and center:
But, at the end of the day, the guy is still an astronaut.
My vote?
Obviously we all have the presidential race on the brain, and that’s so important. But as a culture, we can’t lose our recipes. So thank you to The Onion for saying what too many have not had the courage to say:
What was I gonna do, not hold you all hostage at the end of my newsletter to talk about Glen Powell? If you feel it, chase it, baby.
There’s one issue tearing the country apart with the ferocity of an F-5 tornado:
Spoilers for movie-of-the-summer Twisters ahead
They cut the kiss from the end!
An unexpected villain emerges in this story:
