Today’s Big Story

Presidential Elections Are Expensive

Biden had a financial advantage, but then Donald Trump was convicted and Republicans’ wallets opened

If you want to run for president, it’s going to cost you a lot. The last campaign cycle in 2020 smashed all records—with presidential and congressional candidates spending a total of almost $14 billion—more than double the price tag for 2016. And considering this will be a rematch of sorts, this next cycle will no doubt cost even more. After all, everything is costing more these days, right?

And while getting convicted of 34 felonies might have hurt Donald Trump (only slightly) in the polls, it did wonders for his fundraising. According to the Washington Post, donors channeled tens of millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee in the days immediately following his May 30 conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, all but erasing the massive fundraising advantage that President Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee once held. And they say it has the potential to dramatically reshape the presidential race.

At the conclusion of the Republican primary race, the Biden campaign and its allies had argued that for all of the president’s electoral vulnerabilities—nagging inflation, poor approval ratings, lingering concerns about his age—one clear advantage would be cash. Even if that edge has since evaporated, the New York Times reports that the Biden campaign used its early financial lead to build out a political infrastructure in battleground states that will pay dividends in November. On Thursday, the campaign announced that it had hired its 1,000th staff member across 200 offices in those states.

And now some big names are dropping serious dough on their chosen candidates. Trump's presidential campaign received $50 million from the conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon (an heir of the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family), a federal filing showed on Thursday. And it was just announced that former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire entrepreneur and former Democratic presidential candidate, has given nearly $20 million to help President Biden’s reelection effort.

Cyberattacks on the Rise

The latest hits car dealerships across the U.S.

Cyberattacks on businesses both big and small are rising, worldwide. According to the latest figures, these digital breaches have more than doubled since the pandemic. Microsoft is among the companies to have been hit by nation-state cyberattacks, and health care organizations have reported a surge in ransomeware attacks in recent months. While companies have historically suffered relatively modest direct losses from the attacks, some have experienced much heavier costs—both financial and in terms of customer faith.

Cybersecurity breaches have a domino effect, as hundreds of organizations this year face service disruptions due to a singular attack on a third-party vendor, Axios reports. The latest? Auto retailers across the U.S. and Canada face potentially days of outages due to back-to-back cyberattacks this week on CDK Global, a software provider with 15,000 car dealerships in North America.

The company “shut all systems down and executed extensive testing and consulted with external third-party experts,” Tony Macrito, a CDK spokesman, told Bloomberg. As for those dealerships still trying to process auto repairs and new vehicle sales? They reverted to using pen and paper as the company worked to bring its systems back online.

Los Angeles Lakers Hire JJ Redick As New Head Coach

The longtime former player and ESPN analyst appeared to be the favorite for the job all along

The Los Angeles Lakers ended weeks of speculation with a bold decision, hiring ESPN analyst JJ Redick as their new head coach on a four-year contract, first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

While Redick quickly emerged as a top candidate for the job, the Lakers also pursued Dan Hurley, who turned down a $70 million offer this month and remained at the University of Connecticut. Redick, 39, has no previous coaching experience at the high school, collegiate or professional level, though the 15-year veteran served as a color commentator throughout the NBA playoffs. Sources told Wojnarowski that general manager Rob Pelinka became sold on Redick’s ability to connect with players and his basketball IQ and believes surrounding Redick with an elite coaching staff will help shorten his learning curve into his first coaching job.

Sure, the Lakers just hired a head coach with no real experience, but The Ringer says the player turned podcaster (he recently teamed up with LeBron James on a podcast) might be the one putting more on the line by accepting the job.

It’s Aperitivo Season

Get into the slow lane and enjoy the ride

When it comes to cocktail trends this summer, more and more Americans want to drink like they’re relaxing on the Amalfi coast. That means the demand for spritzes and Negronis is at an all-time high. Which isn’t new to me, since a Negroni or Aperol Spritz is always my go-to drink.

These bright, bubbly and slightly bitter cocktails seem tailor-made for the moment—they’re refreshing, low in alcohol and perfectly Instagrammable. In Italy, spritzes are most commonly served at aperitivo hour, a daily ritual in which people meet for drinks and small bites before going out for a proper dinner. Often they’re served with light snacks like nuts, meats, cheeses and potato chips.

The relaxation and ease accompanying the aperitivo is a cultural hurdle to climb for our always-on-the-go American society, but experts say it helps to remember why you’re sitting down and drinking in the first place. It’s not about slurping back a couple and getting a buzz. It’s about slowing down, sipping and awakening the palate and stimulating digestion before a meal. We could all use a reminder to slow down and appreciate the moment we’re in, right? I’ll drink to that.

A Weekend Pairing

‘Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.’ + a Whiskey Smash Cocktail

Slave Play, which Jeremy O. Harris wrote during his first year as a graduate student at Yale University (and became the 12-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway sensation) revolves around three modern-day interracial couples participating in “antebellum sexual performance therapy” at a former plantation in Virginia, where discomforting themes of racial trauma, slavery, sexual identity and power are explored.

Just from the title alone, Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play., gives the impression that it is as provocative as the stage play itself. Unlike traditional documentaries that adhere to a strict linear narrative, Harris takes an avant-garde approach to his storytelling, making the film more of an exploration of his creative process than the stage play itself. The doc is now streaming on Max and if you weren’t one of the lucky ones who got to see it on stage, you can now experience it from the comfort of home.

Please be patient.