| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Ben Weyl
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President Joe Biden walks off stage at a commercial break during the presidential debate with former President Donald Trump on June 27 in Atlanta. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP | What up, Recast fam! The Supreme Court grants Donald Trump some immunity for acts committed while president as it sends special counsel Jack Smith’s case back to trial court for further proceedings. And Trump ally Steve Bannon reports to federal prison in Connecticut to serve a four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena. First, we continue to track the fallout from Biden’s debate performance. The president’s top surrogates continue their united front, describing Joe Biden’s debacle of a debate performance in Atlanta as problematic but not disqualifying for a presumptive Democratic nominee that’s delivered so much for the American people. The campaign is desperately trying to replace the image of Biden appearing feeble and at times disoriented on stage before some 51 million people with more robust images of a commander in chief who is up to the task of running the nation for another four years. A defiant Biden delivered prime-time remarks Monday evening — his first from the White House since the halting performance against Donald Trump — to rail against the Supreme Court, which earlier in the day granted his Republican rival presidential immunity for some of the actions he took in allegedly attempting to subvert the 2020 election results. “The American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy on Jan. 6 makes him unfit for public office in the highest office in the land,” Biden said. “Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the ... presidency to Donald Trump.” Biden — again reading from a teleprompter, much like he did at his post-debate rally in North Carolina on Friday — took no questions, including those by the assembled White House pool who shouted the inevitable query about whether he would drop out of the race. The president’s aides maintain he intends to stay in the contest.
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However, one longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, granted anonymity to speak freely, wasn’t so certain. They suggested that Biden should be able to resist calls to step down for now. But if more polls come out like the one released by CBS News over the weekend — which showed that nearly three-quarters of registered voters don’t believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president — it may be difficult for the party to remain behind him.
Democrats know those questions will not subside before Biden’s name is placed into nomination at the party’s convention next month. Still, so far, the Democrats that The Recast has spoken to believe the president can survive. Wes Moore, the first-term governor of Maryland and rising star in the party, acknowledged the president’s debate performance is not one that can be defended. |  Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks beside Biden at a May 29 event in Philadelphia. | Evan Vucci/AP | He also suggested the path forward was for the campaign to change tactics and not continue to shield the president from the public and the press; instead it should put Biden in more situations where he can engage and win over voters. “The answer is not going to be to put the president away,” Moore said. “The answer is going to be to continue to have him out there. We continue that, the president's going to win.” Notably, Moore’s comments came in between campaign stops he was holding in Wisconsin, a critical swing state in November. Biden, meanwhile, was holed up with members of his family and inner circle at Camp David as calls continued to ratchet up for him to step aside. At 45, Moore is the youngest Democratic governor and the only Black governor in the nation. He’s also considered by many in the party to be a potential future presidential candidate. However, when asked if he was receiving calls to be ready in the event of a brokered convention in Chicago, he dismissed it as an impractical hypothetical. “I don't think it's a useful exercise to spend our time thinking about the what-ifs,” Moore demurred, before pivoting to address the so-called Democratic bedwetters predicting the president’s demise. There are others in the party who are looking to turn the page. James Carville, the famed strategist who helped Bill Clinton win the presidency in 1992 continued to be one of the only Democratic stalwarts openly calling for Biden to step aside if the party wants to win in November. |  Biden arrives to deliver remarks Monday at the White House. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP | “The country is clamoring for change. And what are we going to offer them? The same stuff?” Carville said Monday on CNN, suggesting that some Democrats and those in Biden’s inner circle are having “their judgment clouded by love” of Biden. “Man I really like President Biden, but the country wants something new — let ‘em have it.” We’ll certainly keep tabs on how this all plays out. All the best,
The Recast Team
| | | KAMALA’S CAMEO AT THE BET AWARDS
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POLITICO screenshot/Video by BET | Vice President Kamala Harris wants you to know she’s down for the people and though she is a heartbeat away from the presidency, she’s still got some street cred. In a pre-recorded segment at this weekend’s BET Awards, the veep spoke through a faux FaceTime exchange with the show’s host Taraji P. Henson about the importance of voting in the 2024 election, including to protect reproductive rights. Harris also dropped a few lines that inflamed some on the right. The first was in response to a question from Henson, who remarked that she knows the vice president has been traveling across the country, speaking with voters, asking: “What are you hearing?” “Yeah girl, I’m out here in these streets,” Harris said, adding that “there is so much at stake in this moment.” She then references a line from rapper Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us” when talking about conservatives who are working to strip away access to abortion. “Many of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists — as they say — they not like us.” “No, they not,” said Henson, who like Harris, graduated from Howard University. Henson also serves as a board member on the White House Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Elon Musk posted on his X website that the vignette was “Toenail curling level of cringe.” It appears to be a mixed bag on whether this hit or not, with some people tweeting out the video, which was labeled “paid for by Biden/Harris,” seemingly in support, while others suggested she was pandering to Black people to get votes.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Vice President Kamala Harris, seen at a Las Vegas rally Friday, had to occupy the role of good soldier immediately after the debate. | Ronda Churchill/AP | Not So Heir Apparent — Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear and even Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have all been bandied about as possible replacements atop the Democratic ticket should Biden step aside. Less so is the woman already on the ticket — Harris. POLITICO’s Eugene Daniels, Jennifer Haberkorn and Myah Ward break down how this ain’t sitting right with the vice president’s allies. Biden’s Cocoon — The president has a small team of advisers that have worked to effectively wall off the president as much as possible, shielding him from the media and outside advice. Check out POLITICO’s latest about how the president’s team was well aware of his growing limitations long before his debate meltdown. Is She the Future of Progressivism? — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, well it’s hard to put her in a box. She’s Latina and blue-collar, but also a staunch supporter of Israel while casting votes that rankle her left flank. More from POLITICO’s Natalie Fertig.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS Jenni Rivera, the Mexican pop singer and icon was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on what would have been her 55th birthday. Rivera tragically died in a plane crash in 2012. Speaking of music, Will Smith is out with a new track, "You Can Make It," which he performed on the BET Awards.
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| Comedy legend Eddie Murphy sits down for a rare podcast interview with The New York Times. And to the world of sports, LeBron James gets his long-held wish: to play with his son Bronny, who was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft. We offer a couple of pieces exploring how nepotism played a role… and whether we should care. One from USA Today, another from AndScape… TikTok of the Week: Black jobs
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