CHRIS CRUCIAL: Joe Biden? Never heard of him 😶

PLUS: WaPo subscribers head for the doors!

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1. Joe Biden: Persona Non Grata

Kamala Harris will deliver what her campaign is billing as the closing argument of the 2024 campaign Tuesday on the Ellipse in Washington, DC.

According to permits filed by the Harris campaign with the National Park Service, they expect 20,000 people to attend the address.

President Joe Biden will not be one of those 20,000. Instead the incumbent will be in Baltimore to deliver an economic speech, at least according to his official schedule.

Weird!

It all comes on the heels of Axios reporting over the weekend on the distance that Harris’ team is trying to keep from the incumbent. Here’s the key bit:

President Biden wants to campaign for Vice President Harris in the last days before the election.

Harris' campaign keeps responding: We'll get back to you, three people familiar with the dynamic told Axios.

Harris' team believes Biden is a political liability at a crucial time in the campaign — but is reluctant to directly say they don't want him to campaign for her.

It's the latest example of Democrats, and even some of Biden's staff, tiptoeing around the 81-year-old president's ego and feelings….

…’He's a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward,’ said another person familiar with the situation, in a nod to Harris' campaign slogan.

Correct!

What voters have made crystal clear over the past 18 months is that they DO NOT want a second Biden term — whether it’s in the form of Biden himself or a continuation of his policies by Harris.

Which is why, if Harris loses, I believe that her interview on “The View” in which she said she wouldn’t do anything different than Biden had done over the past four years will be a major reason why.

Because Biden is not popular. The 538 average puts Biden’s approval under 39%, which is, politically speaking, disastrous.

Biden’s approval rating in Gallup is lower at this point in his presidency than every other modern president other than George H.W. Bush — and we know how that one turned out.

It’s no accident that Trump’s closing message — on TV, at least — is entirely aimed at linking Harris to Biden:

I get that it might be personally uncomfortable for Harris to steer clear of Biden in the final days of the campaign. He did, after all, pick her to be his vice president — elevating her to the position that allowed her to be in the position she is in today.

But, politics isn’t about making friends. It’s about winning. Because if you don’t win, you don’t get to do any of the stuff you want to do.

So, sure, Biden’s feelings might be hurt. That’s a normal and human response. Harris really can’t care about that right now. She has to avoid any photo-ops in the last 8 days that suggest to any undecided voter that she will be a repeat (or anything close to it) of Biden’s presidency.

Joe won’t like it. It doesn’t matter.

2. 200,000(!!!!)

Last Friday, the Washington Post announced that its editorial board would not be making an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. We later learned that decision had been made by WaPo owner Jeff Bezos.

In the three and a half days since the non-endorsement news broke, the Post has lost more than 200,000 paying subscribers — a stunning figure that amounts to roughly 8% of its entire paid subscribers base.

Here’s NPR’s David Folkenflik:

More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters. Not all cancellations take effect immediately. Still, the figure represents about 8% of the paper’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well. The number of cancellations continued to grow Monday afternoon.

A corporate spokesperson declined to comment, citing The Washington Post Co.'s status as a privately held company.

“It’s a colossal number,” former Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told NPR. “The problem is, people don’t know why the decision was made. We basically know the decision was made but we don’t know what led to it.”

The subscriber news was already bad for the Post. According to a New York Times story earlier this month, WaPo had added just 4,000 paid subscribers between January and September 2024.

That is a disastrous number for a news organization trying to find a viable business model. To lose more than 200,000 paid subscribers on top of that anemic growth is unfathomable.

It’s not just subscribers who have decided to leave the Post since Bezos announced the news organization wouldn’t endorse. Two Post columnists and two members of the editorial board have departed as well. The most high profile is longtime foreign correspondent David Hoffman who, in a letter to Opinions editor David Shipley, wrote:

I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice.

If you’ve been paying attention — and I know you have! — I have been warning about the end of mainstream media’s dominance for a while now. Me and

Taylor Lorenz

did an entire livestream about it!

Decisions like these by the Post will only hasten that decline. It’s time to start investing in people without any corporatized agenda! Journalists like me! You may not always agree with me but I promise you I am not doing the bidding of any billionaire overlord. It’s just me — doing my best to get it right day in and day out. I hope you can support me in my efforts!

3. A Nebraska Senate stunner?

If you are looking for a major Senate upset on November 5, you shouldn’t look to Texas. Or Florida. You should look, weirdly, to Nebraska.

A new New York Times/Siena College poll shows GOP Sen. Deb Fischer at 48% to 46% for Dan Osborn, who is running as an independent. That’s closer than the four-point edge for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has over his Democratic opponent in another Times/Siena poll released Monday.

Republicans have acknowledged, for about the past two months, that Fischer has a problem in a state where a Republican should easily win. Her campaign was slow to recognize the threat posed by Osborn — especially given that there is no Democrat in the race.

But, those same GOP strategists have spent the last few weeks insisting that Fischer now realizes she’s in a real race — and will win. Their main piece of evidence is the GOP registration advantage — which is considerable:

But, Osborn appears to be hanging tough — and is clearly within striking distance of the incumbent.

One sour note for Democrats celebrating the possibility of an Osborn upset: He has repeatedly stated that he will not caucus with Democrats or Republicans if he wins the seat.

“People tell me I won't get committee assignments if I don’t,” Osborn told a local station over the weekend about remaining as an independent in the Senate. “But the fact remains, the Senate rules are every senator has to be on at least two committees.”

Osborn would obviously come under massive pressure to side with one of the two parties if he is elected — particularly if his decision would determine who controls the Senate majority.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“Fox News spends far too much time promoting the Democrats, their surrogates, and their agenda.” — Donald Trump. Yes, really.

ONE GOOD CHART

Kalshi is the one of the biggest future markets in the U.S. — and had led the legal charge into gambling on American politics. Its futures market is tipped heavily in Donald Trump’s favor right now. (Robinhood announced

SONG OF THE DAY

Tyler, The Creator has consistently made some of the most interesting music in hip hop (or any other genre) over the last decade. His new album — “CHROMAKOPIA” — is out! This is the first song on the album “St. Chroma.”

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