Wednesday Briefing: Biden’s lapses have increased

July 3, 2024

	By Daniel E. Slotnik

Good morning. We’re covering concerns about President Biden’s lapses and support from Israel’s generals for a cease-fire.

Plus, our favorite workouts.

In the weeks before the debate, President Biden kept up a grueling travel schedule. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Biden’s lapses have grown increasingly common

President Biden appeared confused or listless in the weeks and months before his devastating debate performance last week, according to many who encountered him.

People who spent time with him — including current and former White House aides, political advisers, foreign diplomats and financial donors — said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.

Biden is apparently not always that way: Many who were with him in the days since the debate have described him as alert, coherent and capable. But by many accounts, Biden is not the same today as he was even when he took office three and a half years ago.

Donald Trump, 78, has shown his own signs of slipping over the years and often makes statements that are incoherent. But while voters have expressed worries about his age as well, their concerns about him have not been to the same degree as those about Biden.

Call to drop out: Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democratic congressman to publicly call for Biden to end his campaign.

A tank drives amid a huge cloud of dust against a landscape of rubble and demolished buildings.

An Israeli tank in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Israeli generals want a truce

Israel’s top military leaders want a cease-fire in Gaza, even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, according to interviews with several security officials. That position puts them at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war.

The generals believe that a truce would be the best way to get back the roughly 120 Israelis, alive and dead, still held by Hamas. After Israel’s longest war in decades, its military is running low on munitions, and the generals think their forces need time to recuperate in case a land war breaks out against Hezbollah, the militant group based in Lebanon.

The military’s attitude about a potential cease-fire shifted as it became clear that Netanyahu was refusing to commit to a postwar plan. The military fears a forever war in which its capabilities are gradually eroded even though the hostages remain captive and Hamas leaders are still at large.

In Gaza, crowds of Palestinians fled in response to new evacuation orders from the Israeli military that the U.N. estimated could displace roughly 250,000 people in southern Gaza.

Relatives and volunteers carried bodies on stretchers. Manoj Aligadi/Associated Press

More than 100 were killed at a religious event in India

A stampede at a Hindu prayer meeting in the state of Uttar Pradesh yesterday killed more than 100 people and left scores injured.

Local officials suggested that heat and overcrowding had set off a panic at the event, which appeared to have drawn a far larger crowd than the 5,000 people allowed by its permit.

Most of the dead and injured were women and children who appeared to have suffocated in a crush to leave the venue. Witnesses told local media that some of the victims had fallen into a drainage ditch on top of one another.

Context: Stampedes during religious pilgrimages are relatively common in India, usually because of poor enforcement of public safety measures. Recently, the authorities have increased surveillance with more police officers and drones.

MORE TOP NEWS

A house with a destroyed roof standing next to palm trees.

A home damaged by Hurricane Beryl in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Lucanus Ollivierre/Associated Press

Americas: Hurricane Beryl carved a trail of destruction through the southeast Caribbean, killing at least four people on different islands.
North Korea: The country said it had tested a new ballistic missile with a “super-large warhead.”
Trump: Manhattan prosecutors agreed to delay Donald Trump’s sentencing until Sept. 18 so the judge could decide whether the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling should void his felony conviction.
Ukraine: Viktor Orban, who is Hungary’s prime minister and a staunch friend of Russia, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Kremlin’s spokesman said he did not “expect anything” from the meeting.
Tesla: The electric car maker’s sales fell for the second consecutive quarter. Analysts suggested that political outbursts from Elon Musk might bear some of the blame.
Turbulence: More than two dozen passengers were injured on an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay after the plane hit bad turbulence.
Nigeria: Armed groups often use women in suicide bombings, like the ones that killed at least 32 people in northern Nigeria over the weekend, because they “blend in,” one expert said.

Politics

U.K.: The Labour leader Keir Starmer has revived his party’s electability with ruthless efficiency, though he struggles with Britain’s “performative” politics.
Netherlands: The country swore in its first far-right government, joining several European nations that have had an electoral swing to the right.

Sports

Uruguay defender Ronald Araujo heading the ball against United States defender Tim Ream during the Copa América match.

Uruguay scored its game-ending goal against the U.S. in the second half. Jay Biggerstaff/USA TODAY Sports, via Reuters

Soccer: The U.S. crashed out of Copa América with its 1-0 loss to Uruguay, putting its head coach, Gregg Berhalter, under intense scrutiny.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have pushed their bodies into major disrepair to further their tennis careers. But what about the rest of their lives?
Golf: Lilia Vu will represent the U.S. at the Paris Olympics. Her story can be traced back to one daring escape and the improbable journey that followed it.

MORNING READ

Sasha Maslov for The New York Times

Russia’s invasion has driven Ukraine to become the Silicon Valley for autonomous weaponry, often made by local companies adapting consumer goods. The availability of off-the-shelf devices, software, powerful algorithms and specialized artificial intelligence microchips has pushed a deadly innovation race into uncharted territory, fueling a potential new era of killer robots.

Lives lived: June Leaf, a painter and sculptor whose explorations of the female form paved the way for later generations of feminist artists, died at 94.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Ant amputations: Scientists found that some carpenter ants bite off their nest mates’ injured limbs to prevent infection.
Grow it black: On TikTok, goth gardeners are racking up the likes with images of their ghastly gardens of dark red or purple flowers, spiky branches and poisonous plants.
Hail, Caesar: The world-famous salad is the pride of Tijuana, Mexico. But 100 years later, no one can agree on who created it.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

The animal workout. Nicholas Sansone for The New York Times

Our favorite workouts of 2024

Building a fitness habit requires commitment and creativity, and now is the perfect time to start. My colleagues at Well compiled a list of some of their favorite workouts to help.

You could try exercising like an animal: Crawling around like a gorilla or a crab might look a little silly, but it’s also a serious workout. Maybe you’d rather do something fun and competitive, like pickleball. If so, here’s a workout to keep you on the court. Or do you just want to get it over with? Here’s a 20-minute high-intensity training regimen.

See the full list here.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A light blue platter holds sliced seared skirt steak and long leaves of romaine, which have been topped with crumbled cheese and salsa verde. More salsa verde is in a small black bowl nearby.

Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Cook: In this skirt steak salad, salsa verde is both a marinade for the meat and a dressing for the greens.

Read: Joy Williams’s “Concerning the Future of Souls” delivers 99 fable-like stories about the angel of death.

Protect: Many people wonder if using sunscreen every day is healthy. We asked the experts.

Hydrate: Watermelon is delicious, and it’s good for you. Here are some cool recipes.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan

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