Axios Sneak Peek

July 28, 2024
Good afternoon and welcome back to Sneak. Today's newsletter is 620 words, a 2.5-minute read.
🎤 Axios House is heading to the DNC in Chicago! Join us Aug. 19 + 20 for newsworthy conversations exploring topics and issues shaping the 2024 presidential election. Check out our agenda for the week here.
1 big thing: "Weird" and "evil"
Fifteen days after former President Trump was shot on live TV, any hopes for a lower-temperature campaign seem like a faint memory.
Why it matters: Trump was sensing a blowout win until President Biden stepped aside. Now he's facing a surge of Democratic cash, volunteers and momentum.
- "I haven't changed. Maybe I've gotten worse," Trump said yesterday at a Minnesota rally. "Because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day."
- Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, "evil," "sick" and a "radical left lunatic."
Zoom in: Some of Harris' high-profile VP contenders have targeted their attacks on GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, Axios' Sophia Cai reports.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has called Trump and Vance "weird," accused them of being scared of cats and women, and worked to undercut Vance's small-town credibility.
- Between the lines: Walz told CNN today he thinks it gives Trump "way too much power" to use rhetoric saying the former president is a threat to democracy.
- "Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. And I thought we just give him way too much credit.… If you just ratchet down some of the scariness … and just name it what it is," Walz said.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Vance "ain't from here" and called Vance "weird" (sound familiar?) for his comments about drinking Diet Mountain Dew.
- Beshear partially walked back his Diet Mountain Dew comments by apologizing (though not to Vance), and he tried to attack Vance for not assisting in Kentucky flood recovery — even though Vance had donated $10,000 to the effort in 2022.
- That prompted a response from Vance spokesperson Will Martin, who told Axios: "This is the second time in two days that Andy Beshear stuck his foot in his mouth while taking cheap shots at JD Vance."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Vance reminded him of Ivy League strivers "who would say whatever they needed to get ahead.… I hope things work out a little bit better for JD Vance than they did for Mike Pence."
The bottom line: There won't be a chance to catch your breath in August.
- By Aug. 7: Expect a Harris VP nominee as the party finalizes its ballot.
- Aug. 19: The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago.
Go deeper: Harris VP contenders celebrate the excited electorate
2. Who goes where, VP edition
If Harris picks Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, below is a helpful flow chart of who would replace them.

3. Active-shooter training for Capitol Hill
A bill inspired by the Trump assassination attempt would require most House staffers to undergo active-shooter training, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
- Why it matters: The shooting has raised lawmakers' safety fears amid a general rise in threats targeting them and their offices.
Driving the news: Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.), a former police officer, introduced legislation "requiring each full-time employee of the House of Representatives to complete active shooter training during each Congress."
- "The assassination attempt on President Trump as well as the recent bomb threat called into my district office are just two examples of the startling rise of violence in the political arena," D'Esposito said in a statement.
- D'Esposito said his bill would "enhance the overall preparedness of the institution as we simultaneously reiterate our commitment to settling our differences of opinion on the debate stage, and never through violence."
4. Ad wars hit the Olympics

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