Good morning! It’s good to be back after a week away. In critical world news yesterday, North Korea promised to stop sending huge balloons full of trash (including manure) over the border into South Korea.

2024

⚖️ Trump’s conviction changes little

Now that he’s a convicted felon, not much has changed for Donald Trump. He can still vote in Florida. And he can still run for president since "don't be a felon" isn't among the Constitution's three requirements.

He might have trouble traveling to foreign countries that ban criminals from entering their borders. But, should he win the election, that hurdle's been overcome before.

Defenders of Trump now include some anti-Trump Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney, former VP Mike Pence, and Sen. Susan Collins. None of the three will support Trump's campaign this year but they've all released statements calling his prosecution some variation of "politically motivated." They pointed out that the elected NYC district attorney who brought the case, Alvin Bragg, ran for office specifically promising to prosecute Trump.

• In the 48 hours following the verdict, Trump's campaign and the Republican Party raised $70 million from small-dollar donors.

• Now that he’s a convicted felon, Trump is making a push for Black voters in an “I feel your pain” kind of way (yes, seriously). And it might be working.

Opponents of Trump believe justice was done. President Biden said "no one is above the law" and called the justice system "the cornerstone of America." His campaign also happily raised money by pointing out that Trump is now a convicted felon. Better get used to hearing that one.

• Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said "The jury has spoken and carefully rendered a decision." Jeffries also tossed aside the idea that Trump's conviction could actually help him win the election

The opinions of voters vary (surprise surprise).

• 49% of independents say Trump should drop out of the race.

• 10% of Republicans say they're less likely to support him now. But 35% said they're more likely to back him.

• 47% of voters say the trial was politically motivated.

• 83% of Democrats say the verdict was correct.

What happens next? Judge Juan Merchan will sentence Trump on July 11, just four days before Trump officially becomes the Republican nominee at the Republican National Convention. He faces up to four years in the slammer but probably won't spend any time in jail since he has no criminal history.

• His hot new status as a convicted felon could hurt him in his other upcoming trials. Sentencing guidelines don't look so kindly upon repeat offenders. But those trials seem unlikely (at the moment) to occur before the election.

• Trump vowed to appeal the verdict of what he called a "rigged" prosecution. He'll do so in state court (and, eventually, federal court if necessary).

In related political trial news: Presidential son Hunter Biden’s federal trial on felony gun charges begins today in Delaware. He’s accused of illegally buying a gun while abusing drugs and lying about it on the federal firearms purchase form.

POLITICS

🔴 The guy who once tried to ban TikTok has more than eight times as many TikTok followers as the guy currently trying to ban it. Donald Trump just joined and quickly racked up 2.8 million followers. Joe Biden has just 340,000.

🔵 About 30% of the nation’s political ad spending since March has been in Pennsylvania. A big part of that was the Biden campaign. As part of their Pennsylvania push, Biden and Harris campaigned in Philadelphia last week and launched an initiative aiming to shore up falling support among Black voters.

⚪ West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin just left the Democratic Party and became an independent. The move won’t have big national implications, however. He’s sticking with Team D for purposes of Senate control (and is leaving office in January, anyway).

🔵 New Jersey Sen. “Gold Bar” Bob Menendez (D) is currently on trial for bribery. So he’s not running for reelection this year as a Democrat. But he has met the state’s requirements to run as an independent. If he goes through with it, he could hurt the Democratic nominee by splitting the left-leaning vote in what is a reliably Democratic state.

TRIVIA

After the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon resigned the office in disgrace. But his successor, President Ford, quickly pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed. How long, in years and months, did Gerald Ford serve as president?

Hint: It’s about half a term.

WORLD

🇮🇱 Israel: U.S. congressional leadership from both parties invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress (that's both the House and the Senate together). They delivered the invitation to Israel's embassy in Washington, D.C.

🇿🇦 South Africa: Nelson Mandela’s left-wing party — the African National Congress (ANC) — lost its parliamentary majority for the first time. But the ANC still scored a 40% plurality, so it will negotiate with a smaller party to form a majority.

🇪🇸 Spain: Spain is begging its officials to stop calling the situation in Gaza "genocide," saying the claims are merely personal opinions. Why? To avoid a flood of refugees. Spanish law requires that Spain accept refugees from genocide if they show up and demand it.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: In a policy reversal, the Biden administration will let Ukraine use U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia. The deal only affects defensive fire, however. Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, sits near the Russian border and is vulnerable to attack.

BRIEFS

• Two new giant pandas will arrive from China at D.C.'s National Zoo by the end of 2024 — at an annual rental cost of $1 million

• Wildfires near San Francisco have rapidly spread, forcing evacuations and closing part of Interstate 580

• China's Chang 6 sample-scooping rover landed on the dark side of the moon — no other country has landed there even once

• The government worries releasing audio of President Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur could spawn AI deep fakes

• Congress is considering ending the practice of making young men sign up for a nonexistent draft in favor of automatic registration

• Defense chiefs from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea announced new plans to deepen defense ties between the three countries

• Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir is the second woman ever to win the mostly ceremonial job as Iceland’s president

QUOTE

SNACKS

⚾ Baseball: Days after the school permanently shut down, Birmingham Southern made a wild run at winning the College World Series. Sadly, some annoying still-in-operation school beat them yesterday.

🧀 Cheese: Fun-loving idiots from around the world took part in a bizarre, nearly 200-year-old, winner-take-all race: tumble down a hill in England after a nine-pound wheel of cheese.

📺 Netflix: The final season of “Suits” finally hits Netflix on July 1. Can’t wait that long to see what happens? Ask your parents who watched the series finale on cable five years ago.

ANSWER

Ford was president for 2 years and 5 months. He pardoned Nixon to help heal the nation but later lost the 1976 election partly because of that decision.