Kamala Harris's campaign is off to a coconut-fueled start
Zander's Weekend Facts #129: Sunday, July 28, 2024
Inside this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts, Vice President Kamala Harris is running for America’s top job, and a look at what Zander’s been reading this past week. Plus, a compilation of the top headlines you need to know about from the last seven days.
Also, go listen to the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts Podcast! Download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, July 28, 2024:
The Democrats have a new presumptive nominee
It was a typical Sunday afternoon last week at 1:45 pm on the East Coast. But what would happen next would upend the U.S. presidential election in a way we’ve never seen before.
At 1:46 pm on Sunday, President Joe Biden posted a message to social media stating his intent to withdraw from the race, stating “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
While the action of dropping your candidacy for President of the United States just over 100 days before the election seemed almost inconceivable, it felt almost inevitable that Biden’s campaign could continue. The president was facing rising opposition from inside his own party after what could be argued as the worst presidential debate performance in modern American history vaulted the concerns about Biden’s fitness to run from a whimper to a full-blown outcry.
While it may have taken weeks of consistent badgering, and the feeling that he was almost forced to withdraw, it will still be seen as one of the most selfless acts ever taken by a president. While Biden probably personally believes that he can still run, and win, he eventually heeded the calls when he was presented with information that showed his chances to win reelection were almost impossible. It was likely the toughest decision the 81-year-old has ever made, but it has been validated by 87% of voters in a New York Times/Siena College poll agreeing with the president’s decision.
So exit Joe Biden… and enter Kamala Harris.
It wasn’t immediately clear that President Biden would endorse his vice president for the Democratic nomination, failing to do so in his initial message withdrawing from the race. However, the wait only lasted 27 minutes, when Biden released another social media post declaring, “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
And just to be clear, this doesn’t appear to have been planned out over days and weeks. Reporting has revealed that Biden likely only made his decision to withdraw on Saturday and told Harris of his choice on Sunday morning. Most of his staff wasn’t even told until one minute before Biden’s initial message was published on Sunday afternoon.
Yet, in the one week that the Harris for President campaign has been in existence, it hasn’t missed a beat.
As it turns out, it wasn’t just the George Clooney’s and Zander’s Facts’ of the world who were wanting Biden to drop out, and wanting Harris to take his place. In the 24 hours since Biden withdrew and Harris announced her candidacy, the Harris campaign had raised $81 million, with over 880,000 grassroots donors and 60% of those being first-time donors for this election cycle. That number ballooned to over $100 million in under 36 hours after the Harris campaign launched, with over 1.1 million donors. ActBlue, the Democrats’ online fundraising platform, raised over $250 million last week, a record dating back to at least September 2020.
Thousands of volunteers across the country signed up to assist Democratic campaigns in any way they can last week in anticipation of the forthcoming election. Prominent Democrats almost immediately coalesed around Harris as the party’s nominee, the largest of which coming on Friday with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Early polling is showing that Harris has essentially erased the gap former President Donald Trump created with Biden. Over 160,000 people joined a Zoom call that served as a rallying cry for white women endorsing Harris on Thursday night, what is being dubbed the “largest Zoom in history.”
And then of course, there’s the memes.
While the internet began turning Kamala Harris into a Gen Z sensation weeks before her campaign launched, the past week has only amplified
While there are many, perhaps the most popular has to do with an obscure moment from one of Harris’ speeches as vice president. Back in May 2023, Harris was addressing the President’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics when she went a bit off script and said this:
A portion of the clip was originally shared at the time by the Twitter/X account, RNC Research, presumably to paint the vice president in an unfavorable light. And yet, it’s done anything but.
The clip has gone viral on social media, and TikTok users are now mashing up popular songs like Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’, and even the Mario Kart Coconut Mall music, with the clip. British pop star Charli XCX took it all to another level when she tweeted on Sunday, “kamala IS brat.”
(And just in case you aren’t aware of brat, it’s the name of Chrali XCX’s new album, with a TikTok dance to one of the album’s songs, ‘Apple’, becoming one of the hottest trends of the summer. The Harris campaign’s social media account, Kamala HQ, has embraced the trend by modeling their Twitter header image after the album’s cover art and using songs on TikTok videos.) Harris herself joined TikTok on Thursday and has reached 2.9 million followers as of Saturday night.
And beyond social media, the campaign released its first ad last week:
There are 99 days until Election Day, and the Harris campaign has already reignited those seeking an alternative from Project 2025 and what would be a disastrous second Trump term. Get ready America, it’s election season. Let’s do this.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from The New York Times - How Kamala Harris Took Command of the Democratic Party in 48 Hours
What Zander’s been reading
The world is full of amazing natural sights, yet climate change is actively altering landscapes, pushing water up shorelines, and increasing the risk of dangerous weather. USA Today put together a list of some areas in the U.S. that will have to take action to preserve some popular destinations.
Check out this week’s featured article in USA Today - See them while you can: Climate change is reshaping iconic US destinations - (Apple News link)
Rapid-fire Facts
These are top news headlines from the past week in rapid-fire fashion:
Secret Service: The director of the U.S. Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned last week in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Cheatle stepped down on Tuesday, one day after testifying before Congress, where members of both political parties seemed unsatisified by her answers. Ron Rowe, the deputy director of the Secret Service and a 24-year veteran of the agency, will serve as interim director. An independent investigation is ongoing into how the Secret Service allowed the attempt on Trump’s life at a campaign rally to take place.
Benjamin Netanyahu: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States last week, including addressing Congress on Wednesday. In his address to Congress, which around 40 Democrats boycotted, Netanyahu compared the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas to the Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. while also criticizing anti-Israel protests that have taken place. During Netanyahu’s address, thousands of protestors descended on Washington, whom Netanyahu accused of being funded by Iran. Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while in Washington, also traveling to meet with former President Donald Trump in Florida.
Venezuela Election: Voters in Venezuela will head to the polls on Sunday as the country’s presidential election takes place. Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, who has led Venezuela for the last 11 years is up against eight candidates, including main opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the former ambassador to Algeria. The main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, is not on the ballot after the government banned her candidacy. Machado has been credited with unifying the country’s opposition by attacking government corruption and mismanagement.
Earth’s Hottest Day: Last Sunday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The global average on Sunday was 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit, or 17.08 degrees Celcius. Then on Monday, the record had been broken again with a global average of 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit, or 17.09 degrees Celcius. Record keeping dates back to 1940. Before last week, the previous record had been set on July 6, 2023. While July is typically the hottest month of the year globally, scientists say that heat waves are becoming more prominent due to climate change.
Delta Troubles: In the aftermath of the CrowdStrike software crash that affected computers around the globe, Delta Air Lines struggled to resume normal operations last week. The Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that it launched an investigation into Delta’s treatment of passengers after more than 5,000 flights had been canceled. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg estimated that over 500,000 passengers had been affected by the cancelations, with the federal government receiving more than 3,000 complaints. By Thursday, Delta had no flight cancelations but still had yet to return loads of lost luggage to customers.
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the top headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympics in Paris got underway last week as rugby and soccer kicked off the games on Wednesday. The opening ceremony took place on Friday, serving as the official beginning of the 33rd Summer Olympics. Already on Saturday, 41 medals were awarded across several sports, including cycling, rugby, and swimming. The U.S. and Australia are currently tied atop the medal count with five each, but Australia has three gold medals compared to the U.S.’ one. The games continue on Sunday with medals being awarded in archery, canoe slalom, cycling, fencing, judo, shooting, and swimming. Coverage of the Summer Olympics continues through the closing ceremony on August 11 on NBC, USA Network, CNBC, E!, and Peacock.
NBA Media Deals: The National Basketball Association officially announced new television media rights deals last week after months of speculation. The league signed a deal with incumbent ESPN, while also signing new deals with Amazon and NBC Sports. Collectively, the deals will pay the NBA $7 billion per year beginning with the 2025-2026 season, a total of $77 billion over 11 years. The NBA did not re-sign with incumbent TNT Sports, who is now suing the league as it alleges it has a right to match the contract that the NBA signed with Amazon. The deals also include rights to WNBA games for Amazon, ESPN, and NBC, which will pay the women’s league $200 million per year.
Canada Soccer: An investigation has been launched into Canada Soccer over allegations that both the men’s and women’s teams used drones to spy on their opponents. Canada’s women’s soccer head coach Bev Priestman, along with two assistants, were sent home from the Olympics after a drone belonging to members of the Canadian coaching staff was spotted above New Zealand’s training ground last Monday. TSN reported last week that Canada Soccer has been spying for years on both the men’s and women’s sides, including during the 2021 Olympics where the Canadian women won gold. The Canadian Olympic Committee and FIFA launched investigations last week into the accusations, the latter of which suspended Priestman for one year on Saturday.
The Open: Xander Schauffele took control in the final round of The Open last Sunday, winning the tournament for the first time. Schauffele shot a 65 in the final round to finish at -9, two shots ahead of Billy Horschel and Justin Rose. Schauffele’s victory is the second in a major championship this year after having won the PGA Championship in May, the first golfer to win two majors in one year since Brooks Koepka in 2018. Schauffele’s title means all four majors this year were won by Americans for the first time since 1982. While there are no more major tournaments this year, the Olympics begins its golf competition on Thursday, with Schauffele looking to defend his gold medal from Tokyo 2020.
Future Winter Olympics: The International Olympic Committee confirmed who will host the 2030 and 2034 editions of the Winter Olympics last week. The 2030 Olympics were awarded to the French Alps, less than six years after the country is hosting the Summer Olympics in Paris. The 2034 Olympics were awarded to Salt Lake City, the second time Utah will host the Winter Olympics after hosting in 2002. However, the IOC has warned it could revoke the 2034 games if the United States continues its investigations into the World Anti-Doping Agency. The next edition of the Winter Olympics in 2026 will be hosted in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Wrapping up the Facts
Before this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts Podcast. Download and listen to the latest episode of the podcast, along with every episode of Zander’s Facts, wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also listen to every episode of the podcast on this very website. All Zander’s Facts podcast episodes are now available on zandersfacts.com under the “Zander’s Facts” tab for your enjoyment!
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The facts in print return next Sunday, August 4, 2024.
