👀 Axios AM: Biden leaps left

🐫 Happy Wednesday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,688 words ... 6½ mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Copy edited by Bryan McBournie.

👟 Situational awareness: For $299 a pair, a Trump-licensed company is selling sneakers with a photo depicting the assassination attempt — complete with blood on his cheek and his hand raised in a fist. Keep reading.

Since his disastrous debate last month, President Biden has embraced a laundry list of left-wing policy proposals, strong-armed the party's nomination process and still tried to limit spontaneous, unscripted moments.

• Why it matters: It's saved his candidacy — for now, Axios' Alex Thompson and Andrew Solender write.

Biden's moves have kept top Democrats from stampeding away from him — even as many remain privately uneasy with the 81-year-old president staying at the top of the ticket and serving another term.

• Amid worries he could lose and drag down Democratic House and Senate candidates with him, just 20 Democrats in Congress have called on him to step aside.

That's partly because of promises that Biden — long a centrist Democrat — has made to his party's progressive wing.

• Biden said this past week that if he's re-elected, he'd call for legislation to cap landlords' ability to hike rent prices, push for a large-scale elimination of medical debt, and pursue other plans that have been applauded by progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
• Biden's chosen leadership at the Democratic National Committee also is pushing to use an electronic roll call to lock him in as the party's presidential nominee weeks before its convention begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.
• The sooner Biden is technically the nominee, the sooner he can quash the push to replace him.

🔎 Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) told Axios the president is teasing many policies the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants — which he said is "not a complete coincidence," based on where Biden is now drawing support.

• Sanders penned an effusive op-ed in the New York Times for Biden's re-election over the weekend, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been publicly supportive.

The influential Congressional Black Caucus also has largely been enthusiastic in its support.

• That's given Biden a lifeline with lawmakers representing two of the most important parts of the Democratic Party's base.

Keep reading.

MILWAUKEE — Last night's official convention theme was "Make America Safe Again," a focus on crime and border security. It was really "Rivals Night."

• Why it matters: The list of headline speakers — led by Nikki Haley, a last-minute addition — was loaded with Republicans whose presidential ambitions were stifled by Donald Trump during his march to the top of the GOP, Axios' David Lindsey writes.

4 takeaways:

1. Haley's cautious return. Trump's former U.N. ambassador annoyed him during this year's GOP primaries by consistently drawing double-digit results that put a spotlight on the party's anti-Trump bloc.

• Haley — who for months held off endorsing Trump — returned to the RNC to cheers, and some boos, in the most-anticipated speech of the night. She said: "I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period."

2. Clear crowd-pleasers. Two more former Trump rivals, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, delivered passionate tributes to Trump, wrapped in their own 2024 campaign messages.

• Other ex-Trump rivals speaking yesterday were Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

3. GOP's Harris hedge. Republicans frequently mentioned Vice President Harris in their attacks on the Biden administration's border policies — a sign the GOP is game-planning for the possibility that Biden could be replaced on the Democratic ticket.

4. Trump's softer side. No, seriously. A few speakers — notably Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders — told personal stories about how Trump had shown care or empathy for them in moments when they needed it.

• Lara Trump — the former president's daughter-in-law and an RNC co-chair — told a deeply personal story about rushing to turn the TV off after watching Saturday's assassination attempt live with her children.

📺 Narrative check ... Fox News all-caps Chyrons as last night's coverage began: "Energy & Optimism at RNC Reminiscent of Reagan Era ... Trump Proves He Is a Survivor & Champion ... RNC Signals Return to Era of American Greatness."

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MILWAUKEE — Inside the convention center, the GOP's forward-looking signage is impossible to miss:

• Make America Wealthy Once Again. Make America Safe Once Again. Make America Strong Once Again. And Make America Great Once Again.

Why it matters: Taking a lesson from their disappointing 2022 midterms, top Republicans are intent on running a campaign centered on this election, not the last one. But the ghosts of 2020 — and of Jan. 6 — are everywhere, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

• Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump's new running mate, has said he wouldn't have certified the 2020 election had he been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, instead of Mike Pence.
• Jan. 6 protesters and fake electors are among those serving as delegates at the RNC, including Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald, who seconded Trump's official nomination on Monday.

🔎 Zoom in: At an Axios event, Don Jr. offered a telling response when asked what scenario his father could lose to President Biden in November: "I'd say cheating."

• In a prerecorded video broadcast to the convention hall last night, Trump (who came to the hall for the second night in a row) punctured any notion that his GOP was moving on from 2020.
• "We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again," Trump said, making an aggressive appeal for Republicans to "protect the vote" by turning out in massive numbers.

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Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund has helped diverse small business owners across the U.S. overcome economic challenges with roughly $420 million.

Why it’s important: These grants have helped enable small businesses to create and preserve approximately 254,000 jobs.

Learn more.

Don Jr. told me in an exclusive interview at Axios House in Milwaukee that he wants "veto power" over presidential transition hiring if his father wins a second term in November.

• Why it matters: Trump Jr. said he wouldn't want an administration role, but instead wants to "block the bad actors."

Trump Jr. says he was fishing near his Florida home when his father was shot — and "it was 90 minutes before I even knew he was alive."

• Describing his first call with his dad after the assassination attempt, Don said: "It sort of gave me a window for some levity, and I asked [him], 'Most importantly, how's the hair?"
• "And he goes [Trump impression]: 'The hair is fine, Don, the hair is fine. Look, there's a lot of blood in it, but it's fine.'"

Watch the interview. ... More news from our conversation: Says Murdoch power "is not what it used to be." ... Demands answers on assassination attempt: "How did someone get that close for that long?"

Years of efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mend relations with former President Trump may have shown some progress following the assassination attempt against Trump, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.

• Why it matters: Netanyahu aides worry relations won't be as close if Trump wins in November as they were during his first term. Relations deteriorated after he congratulated Biden for his victory in the 2020 election.

They were encouraged, however, that after Netanyahu sent Trump a video condemning Saturday's assassination attempt, Trump posted it on Truth Social.

🖼️ The big picture: Netanyahu allies have met with Trump on at least four occasions over the past three years to try to repair ties.

• One went so far as to bring a copy of Netanyahu's book to Mar-a-Lago and read passages praising Trump, according to a Netanyahu aide.
• "But every time we thought we managed to put this behind us, we discovered that it didn't work and that Trump was still angry," the aide told Axios.

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In a big new interview on business and the global economy published yesterday by Bloomberg Businessweek, Donald Trump said:

• He'll let Fed chair Jay Powell serve out his term.
• He'd "consider" asking JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to be his Treasury secretary.
• He'd "love" to have Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, formerly of the Carlyle Group, in his administration.
• He wants to bring the corporate tax rate down from its current rate of 21% to as low as 15%.
• He's suspicious of Taiwan and the EU because he doesn't think the U.S. gets enough from them in return for their access to U.S. markets.

🖼️ The big picture: Trump comes across as very similar to the president we saw during his first term — but more obviously conversant with the levers of power and how to operate them, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.

• "We had great people, but I had some people that I would not have chosen for a second time," he said days before the first debate. "Now, I know everybody. Now, I am truly experienced."

Full transcript.

A global technology race — supercharged by a combative China and daily innovation on the Ukrainian front line — is fostering a fresh crop of companies capable of reshaping the U.S. military-industrial complex, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes.

• Why it matters: This revolution is driven by software and private-sector aptitude to build equipment before the military knows it even needs it.

The entrants are feeding a pool of Defense Department suppliers that has drastically consolidated over the past three decades, posing "serious consequences for national security," according to a 2022 review.

• Among the most discussed are Anduril Industries, Palantir Technologies and SpaceX.

🧮 By the numbers: Over the past 30 years, the Pentagon's contracting Rolodex shrank from 51 to five aerospace and defense "primes," or companies that maintain long-term and high-dollar relationships with the government.

• More buzzy players ... Get Axios Future of Defense.

Scientists examining the moon have for the first time discovered a cave on Earth's only natural satellite, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.

• Why it matters: The cave is at least 130 feet deep and could be an ideal location for humans to build a base. Researchers believe there could be hundreds more on the moon.

It's located just 250 miles from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon, 55 years ago this month.

• Keep reading.

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After the program, 70% of students report a better understanding of how to manage their money.

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