Tuesday, August 13, 2024

💡 Axios PM: Trump's alternate reality

Plus: Starbucks turnaround mission | Tuesday, August 13, 2024
 
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Presented By West Monroe
 
Axios PM
By Mike Allen · Aug 13, 2024

Good afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 523 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

 
 
1 big thing: The alternate-reality campaign
 
Photo illustration of Donald Trump being distorted by a Twilight Zone-style warp hole.

Photo Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

 

In former President Trump's version of reality, Vice President Harris' crowds are AI-generated. He's leading in nearly all the "real" polls. And President Biden might reclaim his spot on the ticket at any moment.

  • Spoiler: None of those things is true.

Why it matters: Trump's advisers and allies worry he's spending so much time in an alternative reality that it's undermining his real-world campaign, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.

🔎 The big picture: As Harris' honeymoon continues, Trump has claimed anything favorable to her — from cheering crowds to her remarkable rise in the polls — is fake news.

  • He's tripling down on claims of election fraud, including in front of donors who are desperate for a more policy-focused message.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) urged Trump on Fox News: "Stop questioning the size of her crowds and start questioning her position" on crime and immigration.

The other side: "Kamala Harris is a weak, failed and dangerously liberal career politician trying to escape reality as she flip-flops on every ... policy position she's ever held," Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

🗳️ The bottom line: Before Biden dropped out, Trump seemed to believe the race was all but over. "I beat Biden," Trump told Elon Musk on X last night.

  • Trump is now in a much different race — but he doesn't seem to have fully accepted that reality.

Go deeper.

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2. 🌯 ➡️ ☕ Starbucks nabs "hall of fame CEO"
 
The line chart shows the daily stock prices of Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill from Aug. 6 to 13, 2024. Starbucks
Data: Yahoo Finance. Chart: Axios Visuals

Starbucks shares soared today on news that the company poached Chipotle's extremely popular boss, Brian Niccol, as its new chair and CEO.

  • Niccol is "a hall of fame restaurant CEO" who will use his savvy marketing lessons from Chipotle to "create brand buzz" at Starbucks, TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles said in a research note.

🌯 Context: Niccol took the reins at Chipotle in 2018, when it was still reeling from an outbreak of foodborne illness. Sales more than doubled in the next five years, Axios Closer' co-author Nathan Bomey reports.

  • Long wait times and supply chain issues have been dogging Starbucks, fueling a sales slowdown. Two hedge funds have also been pushing the chain to make a leadership change.

Go deeper.

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A message from West Monroe

AI isn't the only game-changing trend in 2024
 
 

Leaders may be consumed with AI, but they can't afford to fall behind on other technology trends shaping the future of business.

What you need to know: A new report from West Monroe explores synthetic data's potential, the techno-optimism vs. techlash debate and more.

See what's ahead.

 
 
3. Catch me up
 
A column chart that displays the average primetime viewership for Summer Olympic broadcasts from 1988 to 2024. The viewership, measured in millions, peaked in 1996 with 33.1 million viewers and hit a low in 2020 with 15.6 million. The 2024 projection shows a rebound to 30.6 million viewers.
Data: Data: Nielsen, Sports Media Watch. (2020 Olympics were held in 2021.) Chart: Axios Visuals
  1. 📺 NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage reached an average of 30.6 million viewers, up 82% from the last Summer Games. NBC said it secured more advertisers for the Paris Games than the previous two Summer Olympics combined. Go deeper.
  2. 📧 Hackers targeting the Trump campaign gained access to adviser Roger Stone's personal email then used it to try to get to another senior campaign official, CNN reports.
  3. ⚖️ An Ohio police officer was indicted on several charges, including murder, in the fatal shooting of Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black woman who was killed in a grocery store parking lot last August. Go deeper.
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4. 🔭 "Double planet" on the horizon
 
Image: NASA

Mars and Jupiter will appear so close to each other early tomorrow morning that they'll look like one planet, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.

  • They won't appear this close again until 2033.

Your best chance to witness this rare phenomenon will be around 3 a.m.

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A message from West Monroe

🤖 It's not just AI: 5 tech trends defining the future
 
 

Yes, generative AI is still making headlines. But that's not the only trend shaping the future of business.

Here's what else: The resurgence of cloud and infrastructure, the potential of synthetic data, and other under-the-radar trends are also making waves.

Learn more in a new report.

 
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