Editor's Note: Below is a brief excerpt from Hedgeye Potomac Chief Political Strategist JT Taylor's Capital Brief sent to institutional clients each morning. For more information on how you can access our institutional research please email sales@hedgeye.com.
"Tell the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time."
-Gerald R. Ford
CONVENTION COUP?
With less than a week to go until the convention, anti-Trump forces are scrambling faster than ever to dethrone the presumptive nominee. Removing Donald Trump may be their main objective, but another option is being weighed – attempting to select his veep akin to an arranged marriage. The nominee's running mate is still technically decided by an independent delegate vote and delegates have no obligation to support the nominee's choice.
The Rules Committee is set to meet later this week to decide convention rules and the party platform, and we doubt any coup will succeed, but this could get interesting depending on Trump’s highly anticipated pick reportedly coming at the end of this week.
SPEAKER ENGAGEMENT
Speaker Paul Ryan has finally agreed to speak at the convention, becoming the most notable stumper on a somewhat atypical lineup. Ryan’s speech is expected to be penned by Ryan himself and will focus on the House Republican agenda and the sharp contrast between Republican ideals and another term of progressive Democratic policies. Expect Ryan’s speech to be more of a pitch for the party than a pitch for the nominee.
FISCAL YEAR FUNDING FIASCO
If you believed there was any chance of Congress agreeing on its annual spending bills this year, forget it – it’s time to focus on avoiding a government shutdown. As we mentioned numerous times throughout the past few months, the process of moving individual appropriations bills was limping along with some progress in each chamber, but with Congress about to call it quits for the summer, almost all hope has been lost. Republicans have now shifted their attention to a timeline for a stopgap spending bill they would need to move before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.