Nothing has improved my work and life more than my new operating philosophy: Simplify.

• I've seen such a dramatic improvement at Axios, and in my personal life, that I co-wrote a new book explaining step by step how it works. It's called "Simplify: Do 50% More with 50% Less."

Why it matters: Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Roy Schwartz and I dig deep into real-world experience and science to show you why most people waste years of their lives doing needless stuff out of habit or inertia.

• You'll learn the three-step Simplify operating system we've personally stress-tested: Confront what you do, Delete what you shouldn't do, and Amplify what brings you joy and achievement.

👀 Special offer for AM subscribers only: Preorder today and send us a screenshot, and you can join a prepublication Simplify briefing.

💡 Simplify is a method and a mindset — a set of power tools to help you kill complexity in your life and work so you can be happier and more productive.

• Smart Brevity, our first book, was about simplifying how you communicate. Simplify extends that superpower to how you lead, manage, work and live.

Why this? Simplify is a modern survival guide written for this wild, high-velocity AI moment.

• We'll show you how to "say no" ... to delete ... to skip.

Why now? AI turns out to be the greatest complexity-generation machine ever invented. It mass-produces drafts, dashboards and action items, adding to the noise and distraction that engulf us.

• Stunning stat: Research shows we spend two hours cleaning up each incident of AI-perpetrated workslop.

Why me? I'm excited for you to come along on my Simplify journey.

• You'll learn what AT&T CEO John Stankey, who has spent years taming complexity at one of the world's oldest and most tradition-bound corporate giants, meant when he told me: "Stop till they squawk."
• And a top executive told me how Meta became a "funner, faster" company.

The bottom line: Less is more. Simplify will give you more time for what matters.

👉 Bonus for AMers only: If you preorder now, you'll be eligible to join a prepublication "Ask Me Anything" with Jim and me. Email [email protected] with proof of preorder, and we'll send details.

• Preorder here.

The slightest hint of generative AI usage is fast becoming a kiss of death in creative circles, Axios' Shane Savitsky writes.

• Why it matters: It's turning into a purity test that has the potential to blow up careers and derail massive deals — and there's no desire for nuance or ability to clear your name.

Driving the news: Creator Hank Green, who has over 3 million YouTube subscribers, used the phrase "I appreciate the pushback" in a recent video. That caused some viewers to suspect that his script was AI-generated, given the phrase's resemblance to LLM response patterns.

• Green said the phrase was a non-scripted ad-lib. But he apologized in an emotional Reddit post for using AI as a research aid "to locate papers and other resources for learning about topics."
• He added his LLM use was "not healthy for me or good for the world" and said he'd take a step back from making videos.

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Axios CEO Jim VandeHei asked for midterm previews by two top handicappers: Josh Kraushaar, editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider and former Axios campaign expert, and David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.

Senate

Where it stands: 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, 2 independents caucusing with Dems (making 47 total).

• Democrats need: 4 flips to get to 51. Fifty isn't enough — the tiebreak is Republican.

The call:

• Kraushaar: Dem +2.
• Wasserman: Dem +3.

Why it matters: This mirrors what we're hearing from top Ds and Rs alike. Democrats will get close, but likely fall short of a majority.

• The big reason: They need to flip too many seats in too many GOP-friendly states like Alaska, Maine, Ohio and Texas.

House

Where it stands: 218 Republicans, 212 Democrats, 1 independent, 4 vacancies.

• Democrats need: net gain of 3 (against November's 435 seats, with the vacancies washed out) to reach 218, the majority.

The call:

• Kraushaar: Dem +15-20.
• Wasserman: Dem +15.

Why it matters: Republicans enjoy (and muscled through) a favorable map with way more Ds running in Trump-won districts than Rs in Harris-won districts. They then jammed through late redistricting changes that should hand them six to nine seats.

• Yet most top Republicans tell us there's an 80%+ chance they're toast, regardless.

📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.

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Synagogues across the U.S. are having congregants train to be volunteer security teams as antisemitic assaults hit record levels and Jewish gathering places face increasing threats, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.

Why it matters: The front doorways of many synagogues are becoming both a place of welcome and a security checkpoint — a sign of how antisemitism is reshaping Jewish life in America.

• Antisemitic attacks in the U.S. hit a 46-year high last year — the most since the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) began tracking such incidents in 1979.

How it works: Jewish security groups are layering cameras, hardened doors, tighter access rules, trained volunteers and coordination with law enforcement around synagogues.

• 7,100+ volunteers have been trained by the Community Security Service (CSS), which now protects more than 500 synagogues and events across the U.S. each week, the nonprofit's CEO, Richard Priem, tells Axios.

Yes, but: Hardening these spaces takes a psychological toll. Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in L.A. — one of the largest synagogues in North America — tells Axios that clergy are fighting to balance safety with spiritual optimism.

• "Jews, Jewish parents especially, want to feel safe," said Lebovitz, the grandson of four Holocaust survivors.

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Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall writes on Substack that Fox News is conservative, yes, but more politically independent in the second Trump era than its critics would have you believe.

• A prime example: "Fox & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones said democratic socialists are finding electoral success by reaching "people that are desperate right now."

Hall's take: "It makes the network more useful than the caricature of it suggests, because the people inside it are increasingly willing to describe the world as it is even when that description doesn't flatter the people they would prefer to see win."

• The full post.

Artificial food dyes are being increasingly stripped out of supermarket staples, driven by the MAHA movement's push against additives, USA Today reports.

• The new colorants "come from plants, algae or insects, making their supply more variable and geographically concentrated than synthetic dyes."
• And the change "can involve agricultural production, global sourcing, manufacturing capacity, packaging, storage, shipping and shelf-life testing."

🥣 Remember this: A product can be free of synthetic dyes but still high in sugar, salt or calories.

• Keep reading.

Gone are the days of a shared "back-to-school" moment, Axios' Brad Jennings writes.

• District calendars show nearly half of all U.S. schools will open before Aug. 16, according to dates compiled by MDR Education, a data company. Four in five will open before Sept. 1.
• Nearly all public schools in the Deep South open before Aug. 16. Almost none in New England do.

One reason for later starts in the Northeast: protecting summer tourism by maintaining a seasonal youth workforce at beaches, camps and other vacation hot spots.

• Explore the data ... Share this map.

Country music is having more than a moment, and the twang is transcending the South, Axios' Josephine Walker reports.

• Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" has been sitting at Billboard's #1 spot for an impressive 16 weeks, giving it unofficial song of the summer status.

Why it matters: Viral TikTok line dances, booming country music festivals and the enduring popularity of Western wear are helping fuel a renaissance that's reshaping pop culture around the world.

Between the lines: Country's crossover with rock, hip-hop and pop — amplified by TikTok and streaming — is bringing younger and more diverse listeners into the fold.

• Line dancing has "taken off," according to Kathleen Crocker, owner of 603 Line Dance in New Hampshire, which put on about 50 events last month alone.
• She credits those increasingly blurry genre lines for the surge: "A lot of people used to look at country like that twangy country music, and I think that the music has changed a little bit."

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