Hbd week, America
Happy birthday this week to America, which turns 243 on Thursday.I’ve been an America fan as early as I can remember. I love when she does well and I’m disappointed when she falls short. I’m also always hopeful her next iconic era is just around the corner. I stan America a lot like I stan Britney, come to think of it.
To celebrate, I’ll be in Washington and I’m covering President Trump’s “Salute to America” for next week’s issue.
This week I have a dispatch from Miami and an interview with the artist who made Kamala Harris’ campaign poster. Hope you have a fun and safe Independence Day.
Yours,
The week in politics and culture
45% of Americans are “extremely proud” to be American, per a Gallup poll out today. That’s the lowest figure since Gallup began tracking in 2001. 📉
President Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea Sunday. He called it “very legendary.”
Trump is pushing for his “Salute to America” to include tanks on the National Mall, in addition to a special VIP seating area and flyover of one of the aircraft used as Air Force One.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that questions over partisan gerrymandering were “beyond the reach of the federal courts” and halted the Trump administration’s 2020 Census question on citizenship.
The voter registration group HeadCount said Ariana Grande’s Sweetener Tour is their most successful single-artist tour since 2008. Though they didn’t give specific numbers for her tour, HeadCount has registered more than 17,000 voters already this year. 💜
One activism-related detail out of the Taylor Swift-Scooter Braun feud: Braun, who manages musicians who performed at One Love Manchester and March For Our Lives, allegedly reached out to Swift to participate and she declined. That’s what Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta wrote in a note posted to the label’s website. 🎤
Activist and Parkland survivor Emma González spoke out against Madonna’s anti-gun “God Control” music video on Twitter. “This is NOT the correct way to talk about gun violence,” she wrote in a thread about the video, which features a depiction of a night club shooting.
In opening debates, candidates seek to differentiate their brands
The 2020 campaign feels like it’s finally here with last week’s first Democratic debate. Outside the debate hall in Miami, there were dueling pro-Trump and climate protests and Biden supporters handing out free “Joe Cones” from an ice cream truck (“A ‘Joe Cone’ is also what Biden wears to make sure he respects personal space these days,” Stephen Colbert joked). The Delaney sign spinners were truly a sight to behold.
With so many Democrats running, we saw candidates try to differentiate their brands and I wrote here about some of my takeaways. Sen. Elizabeth Warren entered with one of the strongest brands; her “Warren has a plan for that” message was referenced in one of her questions. And I argue Sen. Kamala Harris branded herself a frontrunner by delivering zingers and challenging former Vice President Biden while telling a personal story about school integration.
A CNN poll released Monday found while Biden’s support is at 22%, a 10-point drop since May, both Harris (17%) and Warren (15%) made gains.
And how many of you caught former Rep. Beto O’Rourke make an art reference? The Texan said John Trumbull’s “General George Washington Resigning His Commission” inspires his belief that Trump should be impeached because of what it says about precedent. The painting is one of four Trumbull paintings that’s displayed in the Capitol Rotunda. I wrote a little more about the piece and its symbolism here.
Nike reportedly pulls flag shoes after Kaepernick objections
Nike scrapped plans to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July following objections from Colin Kaepernick, according to the Wall Street Journal. The design featured the original U.S. flag with 13 stars arranged in a circle. Kaepernick reportedly said the flag was an offensive symbol because it represents the country when slavery existed.
In a statement to press, Nike said it had chosen not to release the shoe because “it featured an old version of the American flag.”
Among the politicians who came out against the move was Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), who called it “shameful” and a “terrible decision.” Ducey tweeted that he had ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to pull incentive dollars the state planned to give Nike.
The shoe is currently listed on resale site StockX and pairs have sold for as much as $2,500. If you want a cheaper pair of patriotic Air Max 1s, Nike sells a red, white, and blue shoe for men without a flag for $120.
In other shoe news, the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson is set to release a special journalism-themed pair of his shoe, the KT4 “East Bay Times,” to mark his five-year, $190 million deal.
Hi, yes, I’d like a pair for all my current and former hometown newspapers. 🙋♂️
The artist behind Kamala Harris' campaign poster is a rising political art star
The Harris campaign released a “Poster For The People” last month by artist Tracie Ching. In 2018, she did several posters for midterm candidates and made a “Kava Nope” piece that is now in the Library of Congress. She’s a rising political art star.
I talked to Ching about creating the Harris poster and what it means to her.
“One of her main taglines for this campaign is the happy warrior, so it was important that we create that feel about the candidate,” she said.
Yello Field Guide:
I started a newsletter about political branding. Here's how I branded it.
When I started Yello, all I had was a color and early ideas about an editorial mission. I knew political branding and visual rhetoric were topics I wanted to explore, and I knew Yello needed to have its own distinct identity. If you’re going to report on branding, you need to show you know what you’re talking about.
Yello Field Guide features exclusive articles for paid subscribers. Sign up: