Skydances With Wolves, Art Market Anxieties, Burberry Trench Warfare

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon index of Puck’s latest reporting.

First up today, Julia Ioffe penetrates the Democratic malaise following the Trump assassination attempt—and drops a mic into the “tense” Zoom call between Biden and moderate Hill Democrats, in which the president had a bitter exchange with Jason Crow.

Plus, below the fold: Eriq Gardner previews the legal challenges surrounding David Ellison’s $8 billion takeover of Paramount. Marion Maneker crunches the numbers on the art market’s jarring first half of the year. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri wrangles Trump’s political director, James Blair, to evaluate the state of his presidential campaign. On Fashion People, Lauren Sherman and Becky Malinsky rate Burberry’s new C.E.O., the new Daniel Craig Loewe campaign, and much more. And on The Powers That Be, Abby Livingston joins Peter Hamby to outline the quietly churning Democratic revolt against Biden.

JULIA IOFFE

Fresh reporting on the collective private mourning of top Democrats after the tragic “events”—as they are known in Washington-speak—of the weekend. Nevertheless, some cling to hope. “He also said he would drop if he saw data saying he can’t win,” said a campaign source. “He’s about to see a lot of it.”

ERIQ GARDNER

David Ellison’s $8 billion takeover of Paramount is already facing legal challenges, including a new suit from Mario Gabelli, the long-suffering Paramount shareholder who is now questioning whether Shari’s sweetheart deal was just a little too rich. Here, Gabelli explains his beef. Plus: there’s another unexpected wrinkle in the deal.

MARION MANEKER

Auction totals are down a jarring 25 percent from the first half of last year. But new data from ARTDAI, which contextualizes the results with sales from the past decade, suggests we’ve been here before—a couple times.

TARA PALMERI

Tara sits down with Donald Trump’s political director, James Blair, at the Republican National Convention to discuss the state of his presidential campaign. They take a look at Team Trump’s response to the recent assassination attempt, talk about how new running mate J.D. Vance is affecting the campaign trajectory, and break down Trump’s electoral path to victory in November.