More from The 2024 election
The Verge’s guide to Project 2025.
Governor Tim Walz just found time to make some CUH-RAZY MONEY during his Twitch stream with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He picked Axel, which surprised me; I definitely had him pegged as a Gus guy.
They never did finish their Madden match, but AOC says she’s hoping to start streaming regularly.
The Twitch Madden matchup between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Buffalo Bills and Governor Tim Walz’s Minnesota Vikings just went into half-time.
Neither has scored yet. Walz got the first drive, but punted on the fourth down. AOC didn’t make it to the end-zone either, but picked an interception during Walz’s second drive.
The Vice Presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor joined AOC’s Twitch stream, sporting a pair of black AirPods Max and a MInnesota Vikings hat, for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch stream.
The two are planning to play some Madden. Walz just said “I’m a Dreamcast guy.” Here’s hoping AOC will fire up some Crazy Taxi, too.
While streaming on Twitch, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she’s tried to get the former Presidential candidate on board joining her for a stream.
VP candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hasn’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to watch; AOC is playing Stardew Valley and, as I write this, discussing the importance of Social Security.
During a campaign rally yesterday, Former President Donald Trump claimed, once again, that Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai called him.
I actually got a call from Sundar, Sundar, who’s great, from Google, he’s a great guy, very smart. The head of Google. And he said, “Sir I just want to tell you, what you did with McDonald’s was one of the single biggest events we’ve ever had at Google.”
Google didn’t immediately reply to confirm or deny Trump’s claim.
She’ll play the game with Tim Walz on a Twitch stream that kicks off at 3PM ET on Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported Chinese hackers “engaged in a vast collection of internet traffic” from ISPs, including Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen, that reached the system used for court-ordered wiretapping requests. The New York Times now says Donald Trump and JD Vance were targeted in the Verizon breach.
Later on Friday afternoon, the WSJ followed up with another report confirming that, while saying other targets included people affiliated with the Harris campaign and even a WSJ writer reporting on the investigation. The FBI and Verizon also acknowledged an investigation without adding additional details.
Update: Added details from WSJ.
The Washington Post is not endorsing a presidential candidate this year, for the first time since 1988. The editorial is bylined by publisher and CEO Will Lewis.
Sources told NPR that the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, hired Lewis last year “in part for his ability to get along with powerful conservative figures, including [Rupert] Murdoch.” According to Columbia Journalism Review, a draft endorsing Harris had already been approved by an editor a week before it was suddenly killed.
Elon Musk has been having secret conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2022, The Wall Street Journal reports, discussing “personal topics, business, and geopolitical tensions.”
Musk is in a powerful position: not only is he rich, but he has proximity to the federal government via SpaceX. Musk’s support of Donald Trump reached new levels this month when he appeared at rallies — and Trump himself has reportedly been in touch with Putin.
Though Musk said he’d give $1 million away daily until the election, the PAC didn’t announce a winner in the sweepstakes today. The money was only available to registered swing state voters who signed the PAC’s petition — which critics said was a clear example of buying votes.
Perhaps coincidentally, the DOJ recently warned that Musk’s lottery may be illegal.
A t-shirt company is running thousands of ads claiming to donate a portion of sales to Trump, Harris, and other political causes, 404 reports. In reality, the company appears to be based abroad — which means it’s either lying about making campaign contributions, or illegally making campaign contributions.
Or Harris, for that matter. It’s not easy to make campaign finance data interesting, but The Washington Post has created this very cool interactive map showing the number of donors and total amount raised for either candidate by zip code.
[Washington Post]
Since the last report, according to Microsoft:
Russian actors continue to integrate generative AI into their content, Iranian groups ramp up their preparations to enable cyber-influence operations, while Chinese actors shift focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress. Russian actors have notably attempted to target the Harris-Walz campaign by attacking the candidates’ characters.
[Microsoft On the Issues]
The Times writes that Gates told friends he’s donated about $50 million to a 501(c)(4) “dark money” organization, Future Forward USA Action. It’s the nonprofit arm of what the Times previously described as “The biggest super PAC in American politics.”
Gates didn’t endorse Harris when asked, and is quoted saying:
I support candidates who demonstrate a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change in the U.S. and around the world.
I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world.
[The New York Times]
The Yelp page for the Pennsylvania McDonald’s has seen an increased volume of politicized reviews following Trump’s visit on Sunday, but as reported by CNBC, Yelp has temporarily paused reviews:
Yelp said it typically pauses comments when a business receives heightened media attention that can result in people posting their personal views, without having a legitimate customer interaction with the business.
Appearing at a campaign event in Madison, WI, with Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for vice president shared this characterization of Musk’s campaign event athleticism.
As seen in the clip below, it doesn’t end there, though, as Tim Walz explains his view of exactly what that $1 million daily voter sweepstakes is buying the MyPillow of government contractors.
Trump is set to record the podcast episode on Friday, according to Politico.
Kamala Harris could appear on Rogan’s podcast at some point, too; last week, Reuters reported that Kamala Harris’ campaign has met with Rogan’s team.
[Politico]
The Washington Post tracked down Metro, who attended a high school where Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz taught, and confirmed somebody on X made false sexual misconduct allegations in his name in a since-deleted video from last week:
It’s obviously not me: The teeth are different, the hair is different, the eyes are different, the nose is different.
The video was widely called out as AI, but experts told the Post it was more likely a “cheap fake” — like a human actor doing an impersonation.
[The Washington Post]
Over the last few years, tech companies have rolled back transparency tools, laid off trust and safety teams, and submitted to right-wing, Republican-led campaigns calling for less moderation online.
CNN has a deep dive into how some platforms have loosened rules to permit disinformation and other harmful content, especially around 2020 election lies.
Most Popular
- Sony’s PlayStation 5 is $200 off for the first time since December
- Anthropic’s most dangerous AI model just fell into the wrong hands
- Elon Musk admits that millions of Tesla vehicles won’t get unsupervised FSD
- You’re about to feel the AI money squeeze
- Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint