Good morning.
Tension among Democratic party members rose once again after the White House announced on Wednesday that Joe Biden had tested positive for Covid and would be cancelling events to self-isolate at his home in Delaware.
A number of senior party members are both publicly and quietly urging Biden to step aside in the presidential race, doubting his ability to relieve voters’ concerns about his age and beat Donald Trump in November.
Who is calling on Biden to step aside? Adam Schiff, the influential US representative from California, is the most well-known lawmaker to publicly say Biden should quit. Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that the former house speaker Nancy Pelosi told Biden that polling showed he could not beat Trump, and ABC News is reporting that Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader and the most senior Democrat in Congress, had told Biden in a meeting on Saturday that it would be better for the country and the Democratic party if the president ended his re-election campaign. A spokesperson for Schumer called the ABC report “idle speculation”.
David Axelrod called voters’ concern about Biden’s age a “legitimate concern”. Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, spoke to the Guardian in Milwaukee about Biden’s chances of re-election. “It’s a very hard case to make that anyone should be elected president in the United States at the age of 82, not for political reasons but for actuarial reasons,” Axelrod said. “This is the hardest job on the planet. It takes a lot out of you. It’s a legitimate concern that people have and that concern has been intensified by what happened at the debate. I don’t think anything that’s happened has relieved that concern.”
Are any Democrats calling on Biden to stay in the race? In Milwaukee, Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and a party grandee, said Biden would be confirmed as the Democratic nominee by virtual vote between 1 and 7 August, before the Chicago convention. The former White House chief of staff Ron Klain said: “Based on working in two campaigns against Trump I am unchanged in my view that Joe Biden is uniquely capable of defeating him – that’s my gut view based on experience.”
What does Biden say? Biden has repeatedly said he is up to the job, telling one interviewer he will be the nominee “unless I get hit by a train”. On Wednesday, his social media team posted a tongue-in-cheek message on X about his Covid status.
I'm sick
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 17, 2024
of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 17, 2024
And if you agree, pitch in here.https://t.co/V93cYUUFQu
JD Vance takes the stage at the Republican national convention
On the third day of the Republican national convention, JD Vance accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination with an at times divisive pitch to re-elect Donald Trump.
“In Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice-president who never forgets where he came from,” Vance said. “And every single day for the next four years, when I walk into that White House to help President Trump, I will be doing it for you, for your family, for your future and for this great country.”
What else is happening at the Republican national convention? The Teamsters president, Sean O’Brien, became the union’s first leader in history to appear at the convention. On Wednesday, the Teamsters’ social media account attacked its own president in a now-deleted tweet, saying “unions gain nothing from endorsing the racist, misogynistic, and anti-trans politics of the far right”.
In other news …
US senator Bob Menendez is refuting early reports that he told allies he was considering resigning from Congress after a jury in New York found him guilty of 16 federal charges, including accepting bribes of cash, gold and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen.
US prosecutors have formally appealed the federal judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to throw out the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of illegally stashing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and elsewhere after leaving the White House in 2021.
The former CIA director Leon Panetta decried security failings around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, particularly given reports of Iranian threats to the former president.
Stat of the day: extreme heat is responsible for more weather-related deaths in the US annually than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) currently does not recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters, despite 2,300 people dying from extreme heat last year. Fourteen state attorney generals are urging the federal government to declare extreme heat and wildfire smoke major disasters, as millions throughout the country face excessive heat advisories and large swaths of the western US and Canada battle ongoing wildfires.
“The likelihood of high-severity extreme heat and wildfire smoke events is increasing due in part to climate change,” wrote the Arizona attorney general, Kris Mayes, in a letter submitted to Fema on Tuesday. “We urge Fema to update its regulations to prepare for this hotter, smokier future.”
Don’t miss this: what caused 77 healthy whales to die on a Scottish beach?
Last week, 77 pilot whales died after washing up on a beach on the Orkney island of Sanday and getting stranded – almost one year after a mass stranding of 55 whales on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides led to all but one of those whales dying. Scientists believe mass strandings are increasing exponentially – in the numbers of animals and events – and are working to find out why.
… or this: Palestinian restaurateurs in the US
Over the last nine months of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Palestinian restaurants have found themselves thrust into the spotlight in a new way. Three Palestinian restaurateurs spoke to the Guardian about their experiences representing Palestine while feeding people.
“I think humanization is a big factor of being Palestinian. We’re not necessarily given the benefit of the doubt that we’re human; we have to prove that we’re human,” said Kamal Kamal, a co-founder of Baba’s Pantry in Kansas City, Missouri. “Food plays a role in that because it’s a direct nourishment of the body and soul. When you serve food, people walk away with a better understanding and a connection that they would have never had.”
Climate check: how unprecedented floods in US are straining small businesses
With the climate crisis causing heavier and more frequent floods across the US, small businesses are suffering. One in four (27%) small businesses say they are just one disaster away from shutting down, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.
“In the past two years, businesses experienced disaster damages and closures not only in higher-risk states like Florida and California but also in Vermont, Iowa, Minnesota, Kentucky, Colorado,” said Benjamin Collier, a professor at Temple University’s business school. “These events have been devastating.”
Last Thing: the power of proprioception
Proprioception is the body’s sense of where it is in space. It’s what helps high-level athletes take a penalty without looking at the ball, but it’s also what lets you touch your nose with your eyes closed, push open a door without shoving it too hard, or adjust your gait when you hit an unexpected root on a trail run. Sometimes referred to as a sixth sense, improving or maintaining our proprioceptive ability is key to our quality of life as we age. The Guardian spoke to a number of physiotherapists on how to test and train for better proprioception.
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