What Biden’s press strategy tells us about the state of the media
Plus: Melania’s selling a pendant for Mother’s Day
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
What Biden’s press strategy tells us about the state of the media
This minor league baseball team is in a trademark dispute with the National Park Service over its logo
Melania’s selling a pendant for Mother’s Day
Scroll to the end to see: the next great government logo, for the American Climate Corps 🌎
What Biden’s press strategy tells us about the state of the media
White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend was preceded by a juicy Politico story detailing an alleged beef between the White House and the New York Times.
“Biden’s people think they’re ‘entitled.’ The Times says ‘they’re not being realistic,’” Politico reported. But there’s another factor that could explain why President Joe Biden hasn’t yet done a sit-down interview with the Gray Lady.
*gets in real close to the mic and whispers, like Biden does* It’s because he doesn’t need them.
No disrespect to Wordle, sorry, I mean the New York Times (“I forgot they do stuff in addition to puzzles,” comedian Colin Jost joked Saturday at WHCD. Rude.), but speaking to our nation’s paywalled paper of record isn’t likely to move as many swing voters as more unconventional media appearances could.
That, of course, doesn’t mean an interview with the Times isn’t worth doing, and for the record, I do believe the president should give more interviews to the press. But just as former President Donald Trump can ignore Fox News because the network’s viewers are largely already in the bag for him, Biden can get away with ignoring the New York Times and other newspapers because most of their readers already support him.
An NBC News poll released Monday found 70% of U.S. adults who said newspapers were their primary source of news and information about presidential candidates preferred Biden compared with just 21% for Trump.
The poll shows a strong correlation between what voters read or watch and their preferred candidate. No wonder the media diets of potential jurists in Trump’s criminal trial were so heavily scrutinized. While Biden dominates among newspaper readers and national network news viewers, Trump’s strongest category is among people who don’t follow political news.
Those blissfully unaware of all this *gestures vaguely at everything* are probably more content than I, but they aren’t following the details of Trump’s criminal trials, nor are they keeping up with his plans for a second term, which Trump told Time could include pardoning those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, abandoning our allies if he didn’t think they were paying enough for their own defense, and closing the White House pandemic-preparedness office. Those who don’t follow political news support Trump 53% compared to 27% for Biden.
In a culture burnt out from politics, that’s a strong position for Trump to find himself in. No wonder Biden sat for an interview last week with Howard Stern.
In the wide-ranging interview, Biden spoke about Roe v. Wade, losing his son Beau, and former President Barack Obama asking him to be his running mate. Stern said Trump (who attended his wedding, btw) should be disqualified from running because of his 2021 phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State asking him to “find” votes.
“That’s the end of the debate,” Stern said. “You don’t get to run if you fix an election.” Biden responded saying, “this is not your father’s Republican Party.”
As Biden seeks to reach voters who don’t consume traditional media, don’t be surprised to see him pop up in other unconventional places. Biden on “Hot Ones” when?
This minor league baseball team is in a trademark dispute with the National Park Service over its logo
All this story needs is a dog that plays baseball and takes his team to the league championship and you have the makings of an animated children’s film for conservatives.
The Glacier Range Riders, a minor league team based in Kalispell, Montana, uses an illustrated arrowhead with double Rs as one of its logos. The team was hit with a protest filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year by the Department of the Interior. The DOI argued the team’s logo could create confusion with the National Park Service’s own arrowhead logo. Now the team is fighting back.
Though the patent office disagreed that the Range Riders’ logo would create confusion and approved the team’s logo for use, the team says the park service has filed a notice of opposition and the fight continues.
“The arrowhead represents the strength and resilience of this land,” Range Riders president Chris Kelly said in a statement. “We will fight for our ability to use it in our branding to bring together our communities, as well as the ability for it to be freely accessible to other organizations.”
In a hearing last month, former Interior Secretary and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) grilled current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland over the dispute and cited examples of other teams that used arrowhead logos including Kansas City and high school teams.
“The Interior Department suing a family-owned minor league baseball team is the worst case of federal overreach and predatory litigation by the government I have ever seen,” Zinke said in a statement. “This is why people outside the beltway don’t trust the bureaucrats inside the beltway.”
The Range Riders were founded in 2022. The park service said in its complaint the team said it was inspired by Glacier National Park when it unveiled its logo, according to the Associated Press.
Melania’s selling a pendant for Mother’s Day
Melania Trump is mother for this.
As her husband faces a criminal case for allegedly making hush money payments, including one to an adult actress he had an affair with while his wife was pregnant with their son, the former first lady is selling a Mother’s Day pendant.
Trump designed a customizable $245 “Her Love & Gratitude” necklace “to honor all mothers,” according to her website. The 1-inch flower pendant is made from three hearts that can be custom engraved with up to 12 characters per heart, and the adjustable chain is made in gold vermeil. The purchase comes with a limited-edition NFT and a portion of the proceeds go to Trump’s Fostering the Future initiative for scholarships for children in foster care.
The former FLOTUS, who lost her own mother in January, told moms to take care of themselves in an Instagram post promoting the jewelry.
“As mothers, we are inclined to honor our mothers on Mother’s Day, but we must also be mindful of ourselves,” she wrote. “Our families and children enjoy greater stability when commemorating motherhood while concurrently prioritizing self care.”
Trump turned 54 last week and her husband wished her a happy birthday outside court. Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s former chief of staff, told CNN his comments were just a “performance for voters” and that the couple “actually weren’t really birthday people, like that wasn’t a big deal to either of them.”
“It had nothing to do with her,” Grisham said, calling the former president’s comments “so beyond inappropriate” since they were made “on the way into a trial where they are talking about alleged affairs, not one but two, that he had.”
Have you seen this?
The American Climate Corps designed the next great government logo. The team behind the logo started by studying the original Civilian Conservation Corps logo, with its central landscape and tree iconography. Designers eschewed the corporate vibes of many government logos and avoided an uber-patriotic red, white, and blue palette, which data has shown the next generation doesn’t really embrace. [Fast Company]
How online donations are fueling the election. Politics is increasingly nationalized, and members of Congress who once relied on local contributors can now rake in money from across the country. [Politico]
Donald Trump has never sounded like this. No major American presidential candidate has talked like he now does at his rallies — not Richard Nixon, not George Wallace, not even Donald Trump himself. [New York Times]
An original “Hope” poster by Shepard Fairey could fetch over $300,000 at auction. There are just three originals; Heritage Auctions is offering one of them in its May 14 Modern and contemporary art auction, with an opening bid of some $250,000 (which, with the house’s fees, would already be $312,500). One of the others was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., while the other is in private hands. [Artnet News]
Trump’s campaign has an official seal of approval and it’s asking for a 5% cut of all fundraising to use his name and likeness. Trump has opened up a new revenue stream. In a letter, Trump’s campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita ask “all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump's name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations” with his joint fundraising committee. [Yello]
History of political design
“One good way to decide this election” print ad (1976). After Playboy published an interview with Jimmy Carter in which he admitted he "committed adultery in my heart many times,” then-President Gerald Ford’s campaign ran this ad in 350 small-town newspapers in 32 states.
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You're an idiot! I think Biden has been a little bit busy from the coup to take over the government by Republicans to getting ZERO help from the SC, DOJ or people like yourself! It's because of Biden that we're still free enough to say anything we want. Don't forget that little fact! ✌️💙