After 180 editions of a ‘Week in America’, I reckon, dear reader, it’s time to change it up a bit.
As regulars will note, my focus is typically on one of the four big issues which dominate life here in the US – Politics, Business, Sport and Media – well my life at least.
But with so much going on in a standard 7 days, this new blog format will try to cover all the bases. Let me know if this works, I will post the link on 98Republic’s Facebook so leave your comments there…
Politics
With less than two weeks to go, both Presidential candidates are expected to fine tune their appeal to the voters. That would be what would happen in a normal election, with normal election candidates, but not this one.
Increasingly it appears there is nothing which can derail Trump’s return to the White House. Felony convictions, paying hush money to porn stars, rambling and incoherent speeches, posing ‘thumbs up’ at the graves of the war dead, and 39 minutes of swaying to Ave Maria and he is still on track to secure the required electoral college votes.
Harris on the other hand, its hard to recall anything she has said or done of significance. Her speeches are flat and predictable, she skirts around the big issues with catchy soundbites and promises of politics as usual – Opportunity Economy, Extend the Biden Tax Pledge, Stop Price Gouging – all solid stuff but not ‘making the weather’ as campaigns must.
But it’s a crazy election and still anything could happen. Right now the markets and betting sites are factoring a Trump White House, possibly reigned in from the most extreme outcomes by a split Democrat House and Republican Senate.
So, it’s Trump’s to lose – and he could still pull that off.
Sport
This is probably the greatest few weeks in America. All four of the major sports are in season at the same time. The baseball season is about to conclude with the World Series – I know, the name drives you mad – and the NFL is up and running too and coaches on hundreds-of-million-dollar contracts are already being fired.
Hockey season is back as well. This sport is growing fast, once the preserve of toothless men from the Great Lakes, last year’s champions were the Florida Panthers while the Arizona Coyotes were wound up and all their playing staff were sent to the new franchise Utah Hockey Club, which to me still sounds like a Ralph Lauren range of polo shirts.
NHL bosses are also making their game more appealing to a wider audience, new TV deals saw huge new viewership in Latin America and this season’s opening games were played between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils at the O2 Arena in Prague. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid take note.
And not to be left out, the NBA tipped off last night with a fixture which saw LA Lakers legend Lebron James feature with his son Bronny, in the first ever father and son combo. Proud dad moment. America is currently the land where too much sport still isn’t enough.
Business
It has been an interesting week for some of America’s biggest brands as Third Quarter earnings season began. 44 of the S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report their business results over the coming days, including household finance names like Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and tech superstars Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms.
It has also been a busy week for McDonalds.
On Monday they were forced to issue a clarification that they weren’t taking sides in the forthcoming election after one of its franchisees let Trump stage a photo stunt in its restaurants, complete with heavily made up, non-hat wearing candidate Trump serving French fries with his bare hands. Code violation one.
Then it got worse on Wednesday, after the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning that the fast-food giant’s Quarter Pounders were the source of an outbreak of e-coli, with 49 people struck down, one fatally.
To be clear, there is no suggestion issue one and two are related, but McDonald’s did report it had pulled the product from 20% of its restaurants nationwide, mainly in the Trump supporting Mid-West.
It didn’t get better.
In a move which jogged my memory of Tory Agriculture Minister John Selwyn Gummer feeding his children beefburgers to allay fears of Mad Cow disease, McDonald’s CEO Joe Erlinger said he believes that: “if there has been contaminated product within our supply chain, it’s very likely worked itself through that supply chain already”. Well, that’s a reassuring choice of words.
He went on to tell NBC Today Show viewers “We are very confident that you can go to McDonald’s and enjoy our classics” without getting sick. Nailed it, Crisis Team.
With McDonald’s stock dropping 6% in early trading, it remains to be seen what the impact will be after earnings next week.
Media
And to pull business, politics and media together we need look no further than DJT Media and Technology Group.
The ex-President’s media company has been on a rollercoaster ride since it was launched a little over 6 months ago, but this week it surged to its highest level since July as betting odds backed the Republican for re-election to the White House and it released a new TV app pushing content to subscribers.
Since its listing, DJT Media has been popular not only with MAGA enthusiasts who see it as a proxy for expressing support for their guy, but also with traders who view it as a speculative bet on Trump’s chances of winning the Nov. 5 election, making it the latest in a long line of meme stocks, hype-inflated irrespective of actual financial and operating performance.
No matter the outcome of the election, Trump and his family are set to be big winners as they collectively own 57% of the company, making his stake now worth almost $4 billion. Kaching!
For me, this week has shown the strength of the US economy and the continued global expansion of big US brands, entertainment and sporting events. And, with the US currently still at the centre of global political networks and alliances in an ever-more destabilising world, the nation appears to have a steady handle on both soft and hard power levers.
The question therefore is: Why can’t VP Kamala Harris translate that positive news into votes?
