Trump’s Shadow Draft, CNN’s Debate Fantasies, House Speaker Theater

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon bundle of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Dylan Byers’ triptych of media intel: the two finalists on Bezos’s WaPo C.E.O. shortlist; CNN’s scramble to wrangle a G.O.P. debate; and lessons from a geopolitical reporting fiasco.

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan and Anthony Scaramucci dig into The Mooch’s fateful stint as S.B.F.’s wingman. Tina Nguyen reveals the rival Republican shadow orgs drafting a possible future Trump administration. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and Rep. Kelly Armstrong pull back the curtain on the chaotic House Speaker race. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Teddy Schleifer discuss an avant-garde G.O.P. fundraising network, before Bill and Ben Landy assess the S.B.F.-Mooch buddy comedy.

DYLAN BYERS

News and notes on the rag trade during an astonishing week: The Washington Post winnows its search, Mark Thompson makes CNN’s debate case, and an Axios reporter laps the field.

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WILLIAM D. COHAN

Candid reflections on the past, present, and future of the former crypto boy king, from a brief, one-time wingman.

TINA NGUYEN

In preparation for a Republican nominee who is long on outrage and short on process, two shadow organizations—one staffed by ideologues, the other by the usual suspects—are competing to staff a putative second Trump administration with their own agendas in mind. What could possibly go wrong?

TARA PALMERI

Tara joins U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong (North Dakota) on Capitol Hill to pull back the curtain on a chaotic and deeply divided House Speaker race. They discuss the likelihood of a Jim Jordan victory, search for bipartisan possibilities, and speculate on how the G.O.P. will be able to climb out of its internal turmoil.