• St. Louis, Missouri, residents will vote on Tuesday in one of the most expensive Democratic primaries of the 2024 election cycle. The Congresswoman who represents the city, Cori Bush, has been a harsh critic of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 and the U.S. government’s support for Israeli military operations. Her stance has led the pro-Israel group AIPAC to spend millions of dollars to back her opponent. We spoke to Nicholas Wu, who covers Congress for Politico, to learn more.
• And in headlines: Justice Neil Gorsuch weighs in on Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms, Israeli airstrike kills 30 in Gaza shelter, Trump refuses to debate VP Harris unless it’s on Fox News, and Team USA wins big over the weekend at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

• Check out Nicholas Wu’s story – https://tinyurl.com/47a64a4f
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TRANSCRIPT

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s Monday, August 5th. I’m Tre’vell Anderson.

Josie Duffy Rice: And I’m Josie Duffy Rice and this is What a Day where we regret to inform you that a worm ate the part of RFK Jr’s brain that should have told him not to put a dead bear in Central Park. 

Tre’vell Anderson: There is simply too much going on here. But the bottom line is, RFK Jr admitted on Sunday that he planted a dead bear cub in Central Park in 2014. 

Josie Duffy Rice: This sounds like a mad lib and I have no further questions. [laughter] [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: On today’s show, the back and forth over when or even if there will be a Harris Trump presidential debate continues. Plus the games we spent the weekend watching from the Paris Olympics. 

Josie Duffy Rice: But first, Missouri voters head to the polls Tuesday to vote in the state primary elections. For voters in the Saint Louis area, they’ll cast ballots in one of the most expensive Democratic primaries we’ve seen so far this election cycle, over the seat currently held by Congresswoman Cori Bush. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Bush has been in office since 2020, when she ousted ten term incumbent Lacy Clay in a major primary upset that year. She’s the first Black woman to represent the state of Missouri. She’s also a progressive and a member of the squad. 

Josie Duffy Rice: The squad, of course, have been some of the Israeli government’s harshest critics in Congress, and they’re at the center of this big debate within the Democratic Party over support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Cori Bush is no exception. Just as Israel began its military response to October 7th, when Hamas killed more than a thousand Israelis and took more than 200 hostage. Bush introduced a resolution urging the Biden administration to call for a cease fire. 

[clip of Nicholas Wu] That is part of why she is now in trouble heading into her primary this Tuesday. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Nicholas Wu covers Congress for Politico and has been covering the race. 

[clip of Nicholas Wu] Her advocacy for a cease fire and and some of the positions she’s taken on Israel have led the pro-Israel group AIPAC to spend millions of dollars against her in her primary. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Wu says that AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups are backing Bush’s opponent, Saint Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, who is also Black and also running as a progressive, albeit one with a softer stance on Israel. He entered the race against Bush about a week after she introduced her cease fire resolution. I asked Wu to tell us more about both Bush and Bell. 

Nicholas Wu: Both of them came out of a very similar political moment. Around the time of Ferguson, Cori Bush was this front line activist. Wesley Bell was eventually elected to Ferguson City Council and then primaried the prosecutor for his handling of that case. And so, you know, the way in which both of them talk about their legacy and their background has become a major flashpoint in this congressional race, because other than the Israel-Hamas question, there aren’t really that many policy differences between the two candidates. And so we see both of them trying to run on their records and go after each other’s backgrounds over their years in public service so far. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So Bell is running on his record as a prosecutor. And as you just mentioned, this district is where ten years ago, almost to the day, Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. How is that still shaping the race now, a decade later?

Nicholas Wu: It’s become part of Cori Bush’s closing argument in the race. Her final campaign ad, features Michael Brown senior, saying that Wesley Bell lied to them. 

[clip of Michael Brown Sr.] He never brought charges against the killer. He never walked the streets of Ferguson with me. He failed to reform the office. He used my family for power, and now he’s trying to sell out Saint Louis. 

Nicholas Wu: This is something Wesley Bell very strongly denies. He told me that the evidence just wasn’t there to bring a case. And it’s not something that the DOJ had been able to do either. And so this is, you know, is something that we see playing out in this very traumatic, very painful aftermath of this case. And it’s especially poignant in this district, which is very diverse but also very racially divided in a lot of ways. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Bell is heavily backed by pro-Israel groups, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. That group’s super PAC has spent more than $8 million on this race to try to unseat Bush over her criticism of the Israeli government and support for a cease fire. So can you tell us how all that money is factoring into this race? 

Nicholas Wu: So this has been in magnitudes larger than what’s normally spent on a congressional race, let alone a primary in a safe seat. This is a lot of money here. And what was particularly interesting was that most, if not all of the ads that AIPAC and pro-Israel groups were funding in this race don’t actually talk about Israel or the war at all. Almost all of them either boost Bell and his record, or go after Cori Bush and her record as a legislator, particularly her vote against the infrastructure bill a few years ago. 

[clip of unnamed person from anti Cori Bush ad] She voted no on the bill that has put thousands of us to work here in Saint Louis. She fights with Biden. She votes against our jobs. She gets nothing for us. 

Nicholas Wu: The central case against her from Bell and his allies is that she’s not an effective legislator, and that is his central case for change. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So now Bush is kind of like the underdog in a way, I guess they are both kind of underdogs in a way, but she’s really fighting for her life as the incumbent. And so how is she trying to counter these attacks from Bell? How is she kind of fighting this influx of money? Like what’s her strategy here. 

Nicholas Wu: So she can count on some outside support from groups like the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats and the Progressive Caucuses PAC. But the amount of money they’re able to spend it pales in comparison to the millions that have been put into this race by pro-Israel groups and the like. So what Bush and her allies are trying to do is trying to mobilize their base, their supporters, and out organize Wesley Bell and his allies. The question is whether or not that will be enough on Election Day, when they’ve been outspent by so much in this race. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Like, what does that look like? Doorknocking like more kind of voter contact versus TV ads and radio ads? 

Nicholas Wu: Right. They can’t possibly afford to match the level of TV advertising. I mean, I noticed watching local TV for a couple of hours in Saint Louis, you couldn’t escape any of the Wesley Bell ads. But Cori Bush’s strategy is to work with her local supporters. I was there when the mayor of Saint Louis was out canvasing for her. The House Minority whip, Katherine Clark, was just in town to do some events with Cori Bush. And so, you know, she’s trying to mobilize as many of her supporters as possible to go vote, which, you know, ultimately, and in these sorts of very low turnout elections is what matters. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And this race has been repeatedly compared to the New York primary race in June between progressive incumbent Jamaal Bowman and County Executive George Latimer. Like the Bush Bell race, it was also a race between like a squad member who won a seat in 2020 and a local centrist Democrat. Also a lot of AIPAC money. Bowman, the progressive, ultimately lost that primary. But do you think Bush has a better chance? Do you see any kind of major differences here that might help Bush in a way that Bowman didn’t have? 

Nicholas Wu: Most handicappers I talk to you saw Bush as having slightly better odds than Bowman, just because you know the demographics of the district are different, but the ideological lines of this race are also much different than the Bowman Latimer race. Westchester County Executive Latimer ran as more of a moderate compared to Jamaal Bowman. Wesley Bell talks about himself as a progressive, and you know that there’s not a lot of policy daylight between the two. And so the playbook that was run against Bowman is the same one that’s being run against Bush. The question is whether or not this you know will have the same effect on Election day. 

Josie Duffy Rice: My last question is just what about the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris is now the party’s presumptive nominee for president, and she’s obviously not on the ballot on Tuesday, but do you think this momentum around her is going to hurt or help Bush in any way, or do you think it doesn’t really matter? 

Nicholas Wu: I think it could be somewhat of a wash, because a lot of Bell’s case against Cori Bush was that she was not a effective ally of the Biden administration. Obviously, with Biden no longer at the top of the ticket, that might make a difference. But at the same time, you know, it’s still the Biden-Harris administration. At the same time, Cori Bush’s allies, for their part, have been saying that, you know, perhaps with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket, this could be some sort of moment for introspection in the party about how they handle Black women running for office. And so there’s a lot of interesting dynamics at play in this race. And and we’ll see how it all shakes out very soon. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That was my conversation with Nicholas Wu. He covers Congress for Politico. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Thank you for that, Josie. That’s the latest for now. We’ll get to some headlines in a moment, but if you like our show, make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends. We’ll be back after some ads. [music break]

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Tre’vell Anderson: Now let’s wrap up with some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Let’s start with some news from the Middle East. Tensions continued to escalate after the Israeli military conducted an airstrike on a school in Gaza City yesterday, where Palestinians had been sheltering. 30 people were killed and dozens were injured, most of whom were women and children, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense. The Israeli military claimed that the airstrike targeted, quote, “terrorists” and “Hamas command and control centers.” Though The New York Times says it was not clear if any Hamas militants were killed. The attack is the latest of several similar airstrikes, which have targeted schools and shelters where Palestinians have fled after their homes were destroyed. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That attack comes in the wake of the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, which has put ceasefire negotiations at risk as Hamas urgently tries to choose a new leader. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death. Last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for, quote, “severe retaliation” against Israel for the assassination. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel is, quote, “determined to stand against them on every front, in every arena, far and near.” And that, quote, “their open aggression is insatiable.” Several airlines, including Delta and United, have suspended flights to and from Israel in anticipation of retaliatory attacks, stranding tens of thousands of Israelis outside of the country. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Feel free to send a big check to Justice Neil Gorsuch, because he seems to think that the ethics code proposed by President Joe Biden that would ban gifts is a bad idea. Gorsuch was asked on Fox News Sunday about Biden’s proposals, which also include term limits for justices. He declined to share his opinion in detail, but he did imply that the reforms could jeopardize judicial independence in an answer that concluded like this. 

[clip of Justice Neil Gorsuch] And so I just say be careful. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm.. Interesting there. Gorsuch was on Fox to promote his new book, Overruled: the human toll of too much law. In it he lays out his belief that an excess of laws and regulations are impinging on American liberties. Some would argue that a 6-3 conservative court that’s addicted to taking away liberties is also part of the problem. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That’s part of the problem, the little threat, be careful. I don’t like that. 

Tre’vell Anderson: It didn’t sound too good Josie. [laugh]

Josie Duffy Rice: I’m not a fan. Mm mm. And the drama over presidential debates continues after Donald Trump backed out of the September 10th debate on ABC, he suggested a September 4th debate on Fox News in front of a live arena audience instead of the like studio setting of previously scheduled debates. The Harris campaign released a statement saying Trump is, quote, “running scared” and going to Fox News to, quote, “bail him out.” Harris said at a rally last week:. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] Well Donald. I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. [cheers] Because as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say. [cheers and crowd uproar] Say it to my face.

Tre’vell Anderson: All right, Howard University. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Look, that was an Atlanta rally and we were born for that moment, I must say. [laughter] Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday that he would see Kamala Harris quote, “on September 4th, or I won’t see her at all,” like we had a date boo, he said at his rally. 

[clip of Donald Trump] They want to do another one. You know, we’re doing one with Fox if she shows up, I don’t think she’s going to show up. She can’t talk. She can read a teleprompter. I’d give her about a six on a scale of ten, six. For talking I’d give her less than a one. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I feel like if it was less than a one, you would show up to the debate. But. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Right. 

Josie Duffy Rice: What do I know? 

Tre’vell Anderson: And we will wrap up with some of team USA’s weekend achievements at the Paris Olympic Games. Katie Ledecky took gold in the 800 meter freestyle on Saturday, 12 years to the day after she won the same event in her 2012 Olympic debut. Ledecky now has nine Olympic gold medals, which is more than any American woman in history. Also on Saturday, Simone Biles competed in the vault and nailed a move named after her, the Biles two or the Yurchenko double pike. Biles performance resulted in her third gold medal of this year’s games, and she still has two more events scheduled for today. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And on the track Sha’Carri Richardson won a silver medal in the 100 meter sprint after a positive test for marijuana blocked her from competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Even though marijuana isn’t like known for making you go faster. So it feels like that ban was unreasonable personally. Richardson finished behind Julien Alfred, who earned the first ever Olympic medal for her country of Saint Lucia. And lastly, American Noah Lyles won the 100 meter sprint on Sunday. When the race ended, the scoreboard showed that both he and Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson finished in 9.79 seconds, but close inspection showed that Lyles had beaten Thompson by five thousandths of a second, which is a fraction of the time it takes to blink. 

Tre’vell Anderson: This is one of those times, Josie, where that term photo finish comes into play. 

Josie Duffy Rice: But I think it takes me longer than 5000ths divided by 20 seconds to blink is what I just want to throw out there. I’m counting. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Okay, wait let’s do an experiment. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Let’s do an experiment. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Okay we got a hypothesis. 

Josie Duffy Rice: We’ll report back. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Okay. 

Josie Duffy Rice: We’ll report back. Yeah.

Tre’vell Anderson: A little scientific method. [laugh]

Josie Duffy Rice: And those are the headlines. 

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Tre’vell Anderson: Also, special note heads up. In support of the Crooked Media Workers Union one day walk out, we are not publishing an episode of What a Day on Tuesday. We will be back on Wednesday. [music break] That is all for today, if you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review, win something by a fraction of a blink and tell your friends to listen. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And if you’re into reading and not just proposals that would take away gifted yacht vacations for Supreme Court justices like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter, so check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

Tre’vell Anderson: I’m Tre’vell Anderson.

[spoken together] And put that bear down RFK Jr. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Relax. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Like how did you get the bear into your possession in the first place? That’s my question. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I have so many questions about that man that I hope I never learn an answer, but I have them. I do have them. [laughter]

Tre’vell Anderson: We don’t want the answers. For real for real. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Mm mm. [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Michell Eloy, Ethan Oberman, Jon Millstein, Greg Walters and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. 

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