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Andrew Roth/AP
TOP STORY
BERNIE’S BIG MOMENT
Michigan voters will decide between Rep. Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed today, but per our newsletter authors, the real race is between Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and the Democratic establishment.
It’s no surprise that Sanders, the Democratic Socialists of America, and even the race in Michigan are all divisive. This battle also isn’t one that’s especially new to the Democratic Party, which has struggled to balance its progressive and centrist branches for years, if not decades. .
A potential El-Sayed win is cautiously, tentatively being seen as a harbinger of genuine change. Michigan is a deeply purple state with a lot of interests, but it’s possible El-Sayed has found a way to unite most of them. Today’s stack indicates that’s scary to the right, but it’s something that’s sparking whispers of hope for the progressive left.
THREE TAKES
My Message of the Day, Bill O’Reilly—Sanders, aka “The Godfather of Communism,” looms large over the state’s Senatorial primary, O’Reilly insisted this morning. As such, he’s been dutifully monitoring the proceedings, having appeared “on all the social media shows” where he “blathered about the Marxist Mayor of New York, oligarchs, and Donald Trump.” For O’Reilly, it’s one big snoozefest: “You know the routine.”
Sanders’ most egregious goal right now is… wait for it… “free and universal childcare,” something that’s being pushed by NYC’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani (and other communist “zealots”) to the tune of $13 billion per year (that’s O’Reilly’s math). “Sanders won’t articulate his ideology, but here it is: He wants the government to raise our kids,” O’Reilly wrote. “That’s what they have in China. Parents don’t rear the urchins; the Communist Party does.”
POLITICO Playbook, Will Steakin, Adam Wren, and Dasha Burns—Michigan’s primaries might be doom and gloom for the GOP, but the “left wing” of the Democratic Party is “feeling something it hasn’t since Bernie Sanders ignited the movement in 2016: real momentum,” POLITICO’s trio wrote today. A win by El-Sayed, which looks increasingly likely, will send the progressive faction “on course for the political stratosphere,” something that will absolutely spark “speculation about where that firepower is aimed heading into 2028.””
But there’s a problem: there aren’t enough progressive candidates to surf the wave, and it’s also unclear if Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Rep. Ro Khanna will inherit the Sanders mantle. “It’s not certain AOC will even run for president, and right now just Ro is really out there trying to fill that lane. That leaves a pretty thin field to pull from,” an insider told POLITICO—and others the party supports (eg, Mamdani) aren’t eligible.
The Bulwark, Sarah Longwell—The results of the state’s primary will be decided by Michigan’s voters, Longwell noted today, and the Stevens/El-Sayed debate is one that is “pitting Democratic voters’ heads against their hearts.” This has led Longwell to ponder whether “the heart is pulling away.” To answer her question, Longwell turned to focus groups The Bulwark spoke to in April, June, and July. The groups were made up of people who voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 and plan to vote in today’s primary race. Those voters represented the head and heart debate well. Stevens fits the ”tough-Midwestern-gal archetype that Michigan Democrats are familiar with,” but her “corporate influence” is cause for concern. El-Sayed’s Medicare for All—a mainstay of the Sanders-led DSA ideology—is a major plus for the healthcare professional.
Longwell noted she believes “talk of a ‘Democratic civil war’ is overdone, but cautioned that an El-Sayed win will “kick off a whole lot of finger-pointing and recriminations among the Democratic chattering class, and some voters as well.” That’s not limited to him—if Stevens wins the primary but loses the election, the same thing will transpire.
TAKEAWAY: Progressive Democrats have been here before, and could even be understandably a little wary of the advent of yet another changemaker candidate. But messaging born from Sanders and disseminated through leaders like El-Sayed and Mamdani is working, even among voters in Michigan who like Stevens. Despite O’Reilly’s fear, we’re seeing over and over again that when political leaders follow through on their campaign promises and establish policies that support their constituents, they’re coming out on top—something Mamdani has so far proven. If Michigan’s voters want Medicare for All, they might just get it—and they might even inspire the nation to shoot for the same in 2028 (a realization of the fight Sanders has waged nationally since at least 2016). The question remains: with a tough general election fight ahead, will El-Sayed get the chance to further a movement that undoubtedly has momentum right now?
TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS
SCOOP 
Status, Oliver Darcy—Nick Bilton, executive producer of 60 Minutes, has a problem with leaks that’s frustrating him… and that’s too bad, because Status was on the receiving end of a leak about Bilton’s anger with leaks. On Saturday, Bilton launched a 734-word “welcome back memo” to the show’s staff, a totally normal and not at all “turbulent start” to his tenure, Darcy revealed. Bilton made sure to offer a “genuine thank you” to some returning from vacation, and told the rest: “For the rest of you, I hope you’re well rested and excited to get back to work.”
Bilton’s note included a bit of “housekeeping” (he’s done away with the dry-erase story board and installed a digital version instead) before he addressed the real reason for the message: those leaks. Bilton emphasized he’s annoyed by “the unrelenting speculation regarding the show, along with the torrent of unauthorized information making its way into the press.” He insisted there’s been “a rumor a day” since he took over, and he’s tired of it: “I no longer have the time or the patience for them, and I’d rather we spend that energy on the stories.”
ANALYSIS 
Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger—Donald Trump, aka “President Spaceman,” has been moving in “stranger than usual” patterns this week, Egger observed. Though he’s always lived in “a world defined by his own personal information bubble of yes-men and online fans shouting his praises,” the president appears more out of sync with the rest of us than ever before. That’s evidenced by his stance on the war in Iran, and his insistence, “America is forever on the verge of total victory.”
But, obviously, that’s not the case. Despite the president’s weekend Truth Social proclamation that we’re on the brink of a deal that will lead to the “Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Iran has insisted there’s no deal on the table, and in fact announced the country is coordinating with Oman to establish joint control of the strait (“exactly the opposite, in other words, of what Trump claimed”). That might have led to a presidential-sized “tantrum,” but Trump’s propensity for crashouts doesn’t make his preferred reality the one the rest of us live in.
ANALYSIS The Free Press, Seth M. Siegel—Cyberattacks that hit water systems in at least seven states should be a cause for concern, Siegel wrote today. That’s largely because it could keep happening, and it doesn’t necessarily appear that our leaders would be able to stop it. The potential water wars sound “like the stuff of a summer thriller” and could involve “one of our adversaries, maybe Iran, maybe North Korea” or a secret third option—“a criminal enterprise”—but the end result could be the same no matter what. “A panic ensues,” grocery stores and markets run out of water everywhere, and Americans begin to riot.
ANALYSIS Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter—Paramount CEO David Ellison wants to convince us all that the lawsuits currently slowing down his potential WBD merger are really about CNN, Stelter wrote today. Ellison penned a “remarkable guest essay” for the New York Times that offered as much. And though Ellison dished plenty of info about his “commitments to Hollywood” in the piece, he failed to make any “mention of Bari Weiss or the upheaval at CBS News.” That’s led many to believe “his actions haven’t matched his reassuring words.”
“During her ten months at CBS, Weiss has delighted some, horrified others, and confused others still,” Stelter wrote. “I hear opinions about her from every corner. But I don’t hear anyone making the case that CBS News has earned back a whole lot of trust.”
ANALYSIS Morning Brew, Sam Klebanov—Why did the United States buy $5-10 billion of yen yesterday? That’s a staggering transaction that hasn’t occurred since 1998, and it also lifted “its value against the dollar over the weekend.” The reason for the move isn’t entirely clear, Klebanov wrote, but “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was photographed on Friday with a ‘to-do list’ that had one item: buy $5-10 billion of yen.” The yen-dollar exchange recently “hit its lowest point in 40 years,” due to government debt, low interest rates, and rising oil costs, something that “raises household costs in Japan, but could also impact Americans.”
While it could be that the decision to buy yen may have been due to worries “Japanese authorities would dump the country’s massive US government bond holdings” or because Trump “previously took issue with weak foreign currencies,” Klebanov made a third observation. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is a Trump ally, and may have convinced the president to take one for the team.
BUSINESS OF MEDIA 
Awful Announcing, Sam Neumann—CBS Sports has sidelined lead NFL analyst Tony Romo indefinitely following his OWI arrest in Wisconsin, swiftly announcing that J.J. Watt will step into the No. 1 booth alongside Jim Nantz. The unexpected move comes as Romo’s on-air performance has faced growing criticism since last postseason, with CBS potentially looking to utilize a morals clause to get out of the remaining $72 million on his contract. QUOTE 
“None of that guarantees Romo is actually gone. But if Watt excels and CBS decides to keep that pairing intact, the question becomes where does a No. 1 NFL analyst with Romo’s résumé actually go?”
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter, Simon Owens—Former 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens is attempting to raise $50 million to launch a rival investigative news series featuring correspondents like Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi—aka the other vets who left or were forced out when Bari Weiss took over. While the venture is receiving significant attention, industry insiders are skeptical about whether an indie documentary program can survive on digital platforms. QUOTE “Given how expensive the 60 Minutes production process is — and how well its top talent is accustomed to being paid… Such a program would need at least a half million paid subscribers, since digital advertising alone probably couldn’t sustain it.”
Puck’s Line Sheet, Lauren Sherman—Michael Grynbaum‘s inside look at Condé Nast, Empire of the Elite, has been released in paperback with a new 5,000-word afterword exploring the additional shakeups that shook after he first published the tome last year. The new material offers a critical examination of how the newly appointed “heads of editorial content” are managing their respective brands.
Digiday Daily, Sara Guaglione — Time is launching a novel advertising strategy designed to monetize the rise of artificial intelligence by selling ads directly targeting AI search crawlers. It might be tempting to get a little crotchety and ask if anyone remembers when ads targeted human beings but at the rate things are moving, we don’t really have time for all that. QUOTE “Strange as that sounds, it’s also logical.”
Awful Announcing, Sam Neumann — A newly revealed legal threat from the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) shows the group threatened Andy Roddick‘s Served podcast with a defamation lawsuit at the beginning of this year. The organization’s law firm successfully blocked a planned story by claiming that investigative questions regarding an FBI probe directly caused Novak Djokovic‘s abrupt departure from the group. QUOTE Per Neumann, the newly exposed legal letter “surfaced as an exhibit in an unrelated court filing, and Served still hasn’t published the story it was warned against running.”
The Publisher Newsletter, Steven Wilson-Beales — Although newsrooms are becoming more sophisticated in using artificial intelligence to automate production tasks and solve operational problems, the technology has limits that need to be called out now, not later. Wilson-Beales cautions that publishers cannot rely on AI models to define their target audiences, sharpen their core value propositions, or make the distinctive editorial decisions that define a brand. QUOTE “The harsh reality is that while AI might accelerate your publishing work, it still cannot replace editorial judgement or generate a distinctive publishing strategy based on the specific needs of your audience.”
OTHER COOL STUFF
Morning Brew: Parental control is hitting a new level—a professional one. New data from a survey by a resume service shows that 20% of Gen Z responders had their parents come along to a job interview and HR pros are reporting that parents are calling workplaces on behalf of their kids to inquire about job performance or even let bosses know the kid is sick.
Puck: If you’ve ever felt insecure about your spelling, rest assured that you are in good company. A recent consumer trends survey of over 3,500 people revealed that respondents managed to spell “Louis Vuitton” in a staggering 24 different ways—and that wasn’t even the point of the survey. The research was meant to determine which brands give consumers the feeling that the products were made just for them and which brands feel out of reach. Out of 78 people who wrote in the iconic luxury brand’s name, only 51 actually spelled it correctly.
Awful Announcing: Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong recently dropped a wild “unpopular opinion” while appearing on Kristin Cavallari‘s podcast: his preferred conspiracy theory is that Babe Ruth never existed. He brought up the idea first suggested by a Mariners pitcher back in 2024, which relies on what could, we suppose, be a suspicious lack of actual video evidence of the Great Bambino’s playing days.
WHAT GOT MISSED?
Status, Oliver Darcy—Darcy had all kinds of CBS-related tidbits this morning, including a brief note by way of Variety. The outlet reported this week that Trevor Phillips, another new hire of the network, said boss Bari Weiss will “either change the world or crash and burn” before adding “But when they crash and burn, it’s in technicolour.” That may or may not be true, but his words are “Quite the remarks to make about your own boss!”
NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY
CJR’s Near and Far, Carolina Abbott Galvão—When CBS decided to cancel a segment on CECOT, the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) stepped in and established their own newsroom, the subject of Abbott Galvão’s deeply reported newsletter today. El Grito Media has since “become a definitive resource.”
LULAC, which is based in D.C., gives the newsroom “funding but no editorial oversight,” and the newsroom’s staff is made of two full-timers as well as one fellow and seven interns. They produce videos about “everything from immigration and law enforcement to mental health and childcare” and rack up “tens of thousands of views.”
LULAC, which is based in D.C., gives the newsroom “funding but no editorial oversight,” and the newsroom’s staff is made of two full-timers as well as one fellow and seven interns. They produce videos about “everything from immigration and law enforcement to mental health and childcare” and rack up “tens of thousands of views.”
This newsletter was produced by Lindsey Ellefson.
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