President Biden defends his fitness for office at a high-stakes news conference. A United Nations report reveals Earth’s population is expected to peak this century. And while Project 2025 is getting more widespread attention, one group has already been talking about it at length.
Here’s what to know today.
At critical news conference, Biden’s gaffes overshadowed his policy positions
President Joe Biden spent almost an hour responding to reporters’ questions and sharing policy ideas shaped by a half-century in office at a news conference to cap a three-day NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
By no means was it a disastrous showing on par with his debate performance two weeks ago, but it wasn’t the outstanding performance bound to quell doubts about his fitness for office once and for all, either. Within minutes of the conference ending, several Democrats joined the calls for Biden to drop his re-election bid.
Without a teleprompter, Biden vigorously defended his fitness for office as he responded to questions about his age and calls for him to step aside. “I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president,” he said. Referring to former President Donald Trump, Biden said, “I beat him once, and I will beat him again.”
Biden’s comments about gun violence, taxes, the war in Ukraine and China’s economic leverage over Europe, however, came second to the style and clarity of his delivery.
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A notable gaffe came minutes into his first answer to a reporter, when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” After the speech, NBC News’ Peter Alexander said there was an “audible gasp” from Biden aides and reporters in the room, while one of the president’s top aides “just bowed his head.”
That came after a similar slip up just hours earlier, when Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin.”
Biden aides said that they believed the president showed a command of policy that former President Donald Trump could never hope to match. But the feedback wasn’t all optimistic.
More Joe Biden coverage:
- At least three House Democrats called on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race after the news conference.
- Biden insiders say “no one” sees a path to victory. “He will never recover from this,” one campaign official said.
- A Wisconsin radio network said it edited out parts of a Biden interview at the request of his campaign.
Key points from the U.N. population report
Earth’s population is growing, but it won’t grow forever, and it will start shrinking earlier than we had thought. That’s the crux of a new United Nations report. This report comes out about every two years and collects census and other data from countries around the world and uses that information to figure out where the human population is trending.
NBC News science reporter Denise Chow breaks down what we learned from the latest report:
🤰🏼 Fertility is falling faster than expected. We knew people are having fewer children, but it was new to see surprisingly sharp downturns in fertility in countries such as China. In 1990, women worldwide averaged about 3.3 children, now that number is down to less than 2.3.
📈 The human population will likely peak at a little more than 10 billion in the mid-2080s. Already, about 60 countries and territories, including Russia, China, Italy and Japan, have peaked in population, and 1 in 4 people in the world live in a country that has peaked.
🍎 Nine out of 10 countries’ life expectancies have bounced back from the pandemic. Globally, the life expectancy in 2023 was 73.2 years. That’s up from a pandemic low of 70.9 in 2021 and higher than 72.4 before the pandemic. Global life expectancy is projected to reach 81.7 years in 2100.
👴🏻 The world is growing older. Projections show that those 65 and older will outnumber children younger than 18 by 2080. As of 2023, children outnumber those 65 and older by almost 3-to-1.
There’s a ton of data in this report, so NBC News’ data/graphics team made three charts and two maps to help tell the story of everything in it. See them here.
Social Security recipients could get smaller cost-of-living increase
Price growth is cooling across the economy. While consumers have long been waiting for this trend, its timing could end up short-changing seniors and other Social Security recipients when they learn their annual cost-of-living increase. The annual COLA change is typically announced in October, but to calculate a figure, the Social Security Administration uses data for July, August and September of the given year.
However, using that methodology means Social Security checks can start falling behind the overall pace of inflation. Here’s why.
Tough questions and accusations about evidence on Day 2 of ‘Rust’ trial
The second day of actor Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial in the death of a cinematographer on the set of the movie “Rust” included tense exchanges and accusations that a crime scene technician buried new evidence related to the shooting.
Baldwin’s team sought to strengthen its case that he did as he was instructed to do as an actor on the day Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot in 2021. Baldwin has insisted he didn’t pull the trigger. New Mexico prosecutors brought in the gun’s manufacturer and a sales representative, both of whom testified the gun could not fire on its own.
The defense also accused prosecutors of “hiding the ball” after a box of munitions was turned over following the trial of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. See more highlights from the trial.
Young content creators drive the messaging on Project 2025
Project 2025 has started to draw widespread attention in recent weeks, with celebrities and politicians calling attention to the political platform. Biden has told people to “Google Project 2025,” while Trump has distanced himself from the project, saying he knows nothing about it. (Many of Trump’s key allies have actually been directly involved. More on that here.)
What exactly is Project 2025? In short, the proposed platform is a 900-page playbook of conservative policies, such as strictly limiting abortion access, shutting down all climate change initiatives, abolishing the Education Department and more. Supporters of the plan have praised it as a guide to less government oversight, and others have slammed it as an authoritarian takeover of America.
While Project 2025 only picked up steam recently, young content creators on social media are already ahead of the curve. Many of them have been picking apart pieces of the plan and whether they like it or not. That engagement could play a role in what could be a close election.
Paris 2024: A teen sprinter follows in Olympic footsteps run 56 years ago
There might be only one American who knows exactly what 16-year-old Quincy Wilson will be feeling as a youngster sprinting on track and field’s biggest stage in Paris. Her name is Esther Stroy Harper, who was just 15 years old when she ran the 400 meters for the U.S. in Mexico City in 1968.
Wilson was named to the U.S track and field team as a possible relay candidate for the 4×400, becoming the youngest male ever named to the team, after running a competitive 6th place in the 400 at the Olympic trials in Oregon last month.
So what’s Stroy Harper’s advice to Wilson from her perch at 70 years old? It’s simple: Ignore everyone but your coach and don’t get distracted. “Stick to your plan, listen to your coach and run the race that you know you can run,” she said.
Politics in Brief
Trump hush money case: Trump has asked a state court judge to toss out his New York criminal conviction, citing the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision that outlines when a former president must be shielded from prosecution.
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Staff Pick: He plays rich on screen, but he’s struggling to make ends meet
We probably don’t write about people like Doug Sharp enough. In the midst of a strong economy, the part-time actor is struggling to find full-time work and make ends meet. That’s why business reporter Rob Wile talked to him for a new series we’ve launched called Checkbook Chronicles, where we focus on people’s financial challenges in an effort to see the economy through their eyes. — Jason Abbruzzese, assistant managing editor
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Short on time but still want to stick with a healthy diet? NBC Select’s editors tried popular prepared meal delivery services and meal kits to figure out the ones worth ordering.
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