Donald Trump chose Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, revealing the 39-year-old from Ohio as his VP pick as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee yesterday.

The announcement came two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt that drew condemnation from both sides of the political aisle and prompted President Biden to pause his reelection campaigning. In the aftermath, Vance blamed the Biden campaign for the incident, claiming its vilification of Trump was a direct cause. Biden repeatedly condemned the shooting and ordered an independent review of security measures at the rally where it took place.

From critic to MAGA companion

Vance gained a national profile by chronicling his troubled upbringing in a low-income Ohio family in his best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. The book claimed the socioeconomic struggles of the community he grew up in stemmed largely from Appalachian culture, which he said made people defeatist and over-reliant on welfare. Published in 2016, the book was widely viewed as a primer for outsiders on why Trump appealed to Rust Belt voters.

At the time of publication, Vance wasn’t on the MAGA train:

• He publicly compared Trump to cultural heroin and privately likened him to Hitler.
• But Vance later embraced the former president, becoming one of his staunchest supporters and earning his endorsement when he successfully ran for Senate in 2022.

The two have since been in sync on most issues, including promoting trade restrictions, allowing states to restrict abortion, and opposing the most recent Ukraine aid bill.

VC Vance

In addition to his career as an author and politician, Vance founded the venture capital firm Narya Capital, which backed the farmland investment app Acretrader.

While Vance touted the job creation fueled by Narya’s investments, some of its portfolio companies have faced controversy. Indoor farm company AppHarvest recently agreed to settle for $4.85 million with investors who accused it of misleading them.

Looking ahead: Vance’s VC background could help the Trump ticket extend support among tech moguls. Last month, Vance helped organize a Silicon Valley fundraiser at the home of billionaire entrepreneur and MAGA supporter David Sacks, which raised $12 million for Trump’s campaign.—SK

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The classified documents case against Trump was dismissed. Judge Aileen Cannon tossed the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of keeping classified documents after leaving office, handing Trump a big win before the Republican National Convention began yesterday. Judge Cannon ruled that the case could not proceed because the prosecutor, Special Counsel Jack Smith, was unlawfully appointed. Smith plans to appeal the decision, which embraces a legal theory rejected by judges in past cases. Some legal experts say that appeal could include asking the court to remove Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee whose rulings in favor of the ex-president led some critics to claim bias, from the case.

Jerome Powell said the Fed won’t wait for 2% inflation to cut rates. The central bank won’t wait to hit its inflation target before bringing interest rates down but wants to have “greater confidence” that inflation will get there in order to make cuts, Powell said at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, in his first public event since June’s cooling inflation numbers came out. But don’t get too excited: The Fed chair wasn’t willing to get into specifics about when rate cuts might be coming.

Hackers make Disney’s internal Slack convos public. A purported hacker group called NullBulge published 1.1 terabytes of data it claimed to have stolen from Disney’s internal Slack channels (no word on how many of these conversations began with an ominous “hi” with no additional info). The leaked communications include information about unreleased projects, and the group told the Wall Street Journal it targeted the company because of how it draws up artist contracts, its stance on AI, and its “pretty blatant disregard for the consumer.” Disney said it was investigating the matter.

Two words that sound like dog behavior together represent a potential $23 billion deal: Google and Wiz. The search giant’s parent company, Alphabet, is in talks to acquire the cloud cybersecurity firm Wiz, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that contracts with many of the world’s largest companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

If Google and Wiz reach an agreement, which the New York Times reported appears likely, the deal would represent:

• Google’s most expensive acquisition ever, with a price nearly twice the $12.5 billion it paid for Motorola in 2012, its biggest deal before this (YouTube only cost $1.65 billion in 2006).
• The biggest exit opportunity for any tech startup since Rivian IPO’d in November 2021. The reported offer price is about double Wiz’s valuation and would net the startup’s four founders, who previously worked in Microsoft’s Azure cloud division, ~$2 billion each.

Google is beefing up its cloud biz. In its bid to compete with cloud leaders Amazon and Microsoft, owning Wiz—which has worked with 40% of the Fortune 500, including Amazon and Microsoft—would boost Alphabet’s cloud security features and selling points.

But…only if the deal survives a strict antitrust landscape that sank Adobe’s attempted acquisition of Figma last year. Scrutiny is expected, since regulators already have their eye on Google. The company is currently facing two DOJ lawsuits.—ML

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Until Sunday night, vents hadn’t gotten so much screen time since The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Now, viral videos of fans entering Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium through air vents to watch the Copa América final are a symbol of the chaos that mired the soccer tournament, prompting concerns that the US is not ready to host the 2026 World Cup.

If you missed it: As Argentina and Colombia prepared to face off in the final match, mayhem descended on the stadium, delaying the start by 82 minutes.

• Hordes of fans pushed to the entrances, forcing the stadium to temporarily shut its gates.
• Security then gave up on checking tickets and allowed everyone to enter to avoid a stampede.

After last week’s semifinal in Charlotte, NC, Uruguay players jumped into the stands and brawled with Colombian fans while security struggled to control the situation.

What it means: For those who considered Copa a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, the snafu was an indictment of the US’ ability to safely host a large-scale soccer tournament, even though local authorities put the blame on CONMEBOL, the organizing entity for Copa América, for cutting corners. Ramón Jesurún, one of the vice presidents of CONMEBOL and the president Colombia’s soccer federation, was arrested after Sunday’s game for allegedly attacking security guards at the stadium.

The US still has a lot to figure out. While Sunday’s melee dominated social media, the other Big Problem is the quality of stadium fields.—CC

Living in Thailand seems pretty sweet: You’ve got pristine beaches, lots of delicious noodle options—and soon, the opportunity to get a cash handout from the government. Starting next month, eligible individuals can register to get a piece of the $14 billion the government plans to dole out as digital cash to spur economic growth. About 50 million citizens will be able to get 10,000 baht ($275) each under the Digital Wallet program. The program fulfills a central campaign promise of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who believes the cash infusion will help inspire spending and push economic growth beyond the sub-2% rate it’s been at for a decade. But the plan is controversial, and critics say it’s not the best way to create sustainable economic development.