Tag: News

• My son spends half the year in France and half the year in the US. 
• Whenever he goes back and forth, a few things surprise him. 
• He's shocked by how much smaller the roads in France are and has noticed Coca-Cola is better there.

I spend about half my year in Europe, an arrangement that's existed for the last few years mostly due to my partner's job as an international basketball trainer. The perks are tough to beat, and my work as a journalist means it's easy to jump on a flight as long as I have my computer with me. My teen son joins us frequently, mostly made possible because he homeschools and agenerally likes to travel.

Despite coming and going to and from Europe frequently, my son is always surprised by a few key differences between life in the US and life in France. And I don't mean the obvious things, like outlets (we have so, so many adapters) or the ease with which we can jump on a train in Paris and be almost anywhere in the city where we want to go in under 30 minutes; no, I mean the things that really matter to a teenager (or at least to mine).

Coca-Cola is better in France, Dr. Pepper is worse

If there is one thing all three of us agree on, it's that, for whatever reason, Coca-Cola in France is the best Coca-Cola any of us have had anywhere else in the world (so far). We rarely drink it at home in the States because it always feels too sugary, but in France? We are drinking Coke multiple times a week. There is something so refreshing, so very nearly clean about it.

Don't get me wrong: I am pretty sure that at the end of the day, Coke in France isn't any better for us than it is in the US. But I do know that one of the things we talk about before we head over, while we're on the flight, and again as we are getting on the train or settling into our first Uber after arriving, is sitting down at a café and enjoying a glass of Coke.

Gas stations in France are better than those in the US

This summer is the first one we've rented a car and spent significant time driving throughout France. We typically stay in Cannes and Paris and often fly or take the train between the two. This experience has come with a startling experience: Shell gas stations in France are wildly more clean and comfortable than they are in the States; in fact, they're even borderline beautiful.

I am sure I can't speak for every Shell station in America, but by and large, the ones I have frequented are small and usually dirty, and you're lucky if there's more than one restroom stall. To contrast this, we've encountered Shell stations that boast not one, not two, but three separate restaurants or cafés, Starbucks coffee stations, bookstores, the cleanest gas station restrooms with at least 10 stalls, and dining areas that can hold around 30 people.

You can buy one water bottle out of the package (instead of buying the whole thing)

Another favorite fact about France is that when purchasing bottled water (which is super popular in the country even though tap water is totally safe), you can rip open the plastic packaging that encases 12 bottles and just remove one — and you can buy just that one. This never ceases to amaze my kid, who has threatened to attempt the same feat in the US (though I have a feeling the reception would be… less than great).

The roads are tiny — even the interstates

Another difference that always seems to catch my son by surprise is just how narrow the roads in many French cities really are. Driving in France is always a fascinating experience (or, I should say, being a passenger while my partner drives) primarily because it constantly feels like you're going to slam into the car next to you, or the sharply angled, very thin descent into a parking garage is going to be the last one you'll ever make. We always wonder what it feels like for the French to drive in the US for the first time, with our massive highway lanes and monster vehicles.

There is no Taco Bell

But there is no greater surprise my son has experienced in France than this: the country is not home to any Taco Bells, or at least none that we've ever been able to find. In addition to just flat-out being my favorite fast food, Taco Bell is also a favorite of my son's because he's been a vegetarian his entire life, and you can always count on Taco Bell for a few bean burritos (no red sauce, no onions) in a pinch.

The reason for the lack of Taco Bell has never been explained to me, and France clearly has no problem hosting fast food establishments from the US (KFC, McDonald's, and Burger King are everywhere). To say that the lack of Taco Bell has made some days harder than others is an understatement, and we both remain hopeful that one day someone, somewhere, will franchise it throughout the other red, white, and blue.

• Joe Biden announced a proposal to cap annual rent increases at 5% for the next two years. 
• The plan targets corporate landlords with more than 50 units, which make up nearly half of rentals in the US. 
• But the proposal would first need to pass a divided Congress. 

President Joe Biden on Tuesday rolled out a plan offering landlords a choice: cap annual rent increases at 5% for the next two years or risk losing valuable tax credits.

The White House proposal would apply to corporate landlords, defined as those who own more than 50 units. These landlords control more than half the national rental market, according to senior White House officials.

Corporate landlords who increase rent by more than 5% would lose the valuable tax benefit known as depreciation deductions.

"Institutional investors are buying up homes with cash, turning them into rentals and raising rents," White House official Lael Brainard told reporters.

Special exceptions would also apply to units that are new construction or have undergone significant rehabilitation.

Biden will announce the plan during a speech on Tuesday in Nevada, a swing state that has faced some of the steepest housing cost increases in the country. As part of the plan, he will also announce new and proposed sales of federal land in Nevada earmarked for affordable housing, including 20 acres near Clark County and 18 acres near Henderson, Nevada.

But the rent cap proposal is essentially a campaign promise. It would first need to pass both chambers of Congress, which doesn't seem likely before the November presidential election.

Biden's announcement comes on the heels of a turbulent few weeks in the campaign, which saw a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and calls from his own party for President Biden to step down after a shaky debate performance.

This also comes as communities across the country face a severe housing affordability crisis caused largely by a steep shortage of homes. Renters are particularly hard hit. Rents across the country have risen by 26% since early 2020, according to a recent report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies on the state of US housing.

Half of all tenant households were cost-burdened as of 2022, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent, the Harvard report found. That was the highest share since the US Census first started collecting this data, the report noted. Meanwhile, moving from renting to owning a home has also gotten much harder. Less than 15% of renter households can afford the monthly median payment for a median-priced home after taxes and insurance, Harvard found.

There's evidence that many landlords are taking advantage of high demand and a supply shortage to raise rents far beyond their own cost increases. A slew of corporate landlords have used rent-setting algorithmic software to artificially inflate rents. Some have been sued for alledgedly colluding to set rent prices above competitive levels.

But, at the same time, there's hope: A near-record number of new multi-family rental units are hitting the market, and rents for studios and one-bedroom apartments have recently fallen.

A focus on housing affordability

As president, Biden has pushed a series of pro-housing policies and generally favored more federal participation in housing policy. Among those policy pushes was the "Housing Supply Action" plan, which leverages federal grants and loans to incentivize states and cities to loosen land use regulations and facilitate new construction.

The administration has also pushed several initiatives to boost the supply of affordable housing, including encouraging the conversion of office buildings into homes with billions of dollars in federal grants and loans and boosting support for manufactured housing.

Biden's fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, which represents a sort of wish list of the administration's priorities but would require action from an often-gridlocked Congress to become law, includes $258 billion for housing initiatives, including tax credits for first-time homebuyers, homeowners who sell their starter homes, and those who build or renovate starter homes, and an expansion of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and housing choice vouchers for renters.

But some of Biden's farthest-reaching policies were cut from the Inflation Reduction Act, and still others are unlikely to make it through Congress, where Republicans have opposed the vast majority of Democrats' housing proposals.

Biden has discussed housing in the State of the Union and previously on the campaign trail, including in Nevada.

Tuesday's move is part of a series of recent housing policy announcements from the administration. Late last month, Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced $85 million in funding for 21 cities to subsidize affordable housing development and the construction of supportive infrastructure, including power lines and water mains.

• Trump has picked JD Vance as his running mate.
• JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, was a corporate lawyer, but she quit her job on Monday.
• She does have SCOTUS links, having clerked for Supreme Court judges John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh.

All eyes were on Sen. JD Vance of Ohio when former President Donald Trump picked him as running mate for the 2024 race.

But his wife, lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance, is also accomplished in her own right — and has links to the US Supreme Court.

Born to Indian immigrant parents and raised in the San Diego suburbs, Usha Vance went to Yale Law School with the Ohio senator.

She worked as a corporate litigator for Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, a law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Usha Vance told news outlet SFGate on Monday that she was resigning from her role at the firm.

"In light of today's news, I have resigned from my position at Munger, Tolles & Olson to focus on caring for our family," she told SFGate.

Ties to John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh

The potential future second lady has ties to the SCOTUS, having clerked for Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh between 2014 and 2015 and Chief Justice John Roberts between 2017 and 2018.

The two judges are both staunch conservatives.

Trump nominated the controversial Kavanaugh to the SCOTUS during his presidential term, and the judge took his seat in October 2018.

Roberts and Kavanaugh were also part of the court majority that handed Trump a win in his immunity case. A lower court will now decide how the SCOTUS ruling will affect special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

"We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office," Roberts wrote in the July decision on behalf of the majority.

"At least with respect to the President's exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute."

JD Vance's turn to Trump

Sen. Vance, 39, was once a Trump critic. According to leaked text messages from 2016, he once told his college roommate that he feared Trump might become "America's Hitler."

Now Sen. Vance — also the author of the bestseller memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy" — has made it clear that if elected vice president, he intends to be a Trump loyalist.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday night, he said: "I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president, and he changed my mind."

For his part, Trump seems happy with his choice.

"As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump said when announcing his pick on Truth Social on Monday.

Usha Vance and the Vance campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin is eyeing a bigger global role for the BRICS bloc.
• Putin recently raised the possibility of a BRICS parliament, which would formalize the group.
• BRICS, chaired by Russia this year, is expanding with new members from the Global South.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has set his sights on a bigger role for a group of emerging nations as he seeks to topple the West-led world order.

The group is known as BRICS for original members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which collectively form the bloc's acronym. New members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates.

BRICS was formed in 2009 with its first summit. The group founded the Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank in 2015 and was largely an informal grouping until recently. It's now positioning itself as a counterweight to the G7 and the West amid increasing geopolitical tensions globally.

Putin recently weighed in on the structure of the group.

"BRICS does not have its own official parliamentary organization at this stage, but I believe that this idea will definitely be materialized somewhere down the road," Putin said last Thursday at the BRICS Parliamentary Forum in St Petersburg, according to an official transcript from the Kremlin.

Putin did not elaborate on how this structure would work, but his comments illustrate how Russia is using its position as BRICS chair this year to bolster the group. A parliamentary structure would formalize the group even further.

His comments come amid increasing interest in the bloc from the Global South.

Just last month, the Southeast Asian nations of Thailand and Malaysia said they were interested in joining the bloc. Thailand has submitted a formal request for membership, while Malaysia's prime minister said it was preparing to start its application process.

A larger and more structured BRICS bloc could have more bargaining power and create an alternative to the West-led global order.

As Rich Lesser, the global chair of the Boston Consulting Group, wrote in a May note, the expanded BRICS bloc — which includes major oil producers Saudi Arabia and UAE — now controls over 40% of the world's oil production, "making it an important international actor."

It could also help Russia's sanctions-hit economy.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said BRICS countries are developing a payments platform that will allow them to bypass the US dollar.

Not everybody is convinced about whether BRICS could be an effective counterweight to the West. After all, the BRICS countries' interests do not always align within the group.

India, for one, is balancing interests among the US, China, and Russia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia recently, even though New Delhi is in a strategic partnership with the US. This is in part because Modi needs Russia as a buffer against China — a BRICS member with whom India has a border dispute.

But the BRICS group should not be counted out, wrote as Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group, in a report earlier this month.

"BRICS is a low-stakes forum for these countries to meet and talk about common grievances that the US and the West should pay at least slightly more attention to," he wrote.

• People are living longer and want to know how to stay healthy to enjoy those extra years.
• Starting healthy habits as early as possible can help us to stay fit and active as we age. 
• Personal trainer Lauren Hurst's advice is to find an activity you love and stick with it.

People are living longer. By 2050, three times as many people are expected to live to 80 than in 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

While it's never too late to make positive changes, staying fit and healthy in those extra years requires setting up healthy habits when we're younger.

Lauren Hurst, a personal trainer who has worked with people of all ages, from kids to nonagenarians, told Business Insider that her oldest clients stayed fit and active by exercising consistently from a young age.

"Your health is a priority. If you don't have health, you don't have anything," she said.

Hurst, the author of "North of Forty," a book of interviews with inspirational older athletes, shared some of the best habits to adopt in your young years to help you stay fit for as long as possible.

Prioritize your health

Do what you need to do to build fitness into your life — whether that's working out with someone or doing shorter workouts that fit into your schedule. Doing 20-minute workouts three times a week is better than nothing, Hurst said.

A 2023 study that suggested that just 20 minutes of walking, household chores, and climbing the stairs each day appeared to offset the negative effects of sitting down for 10 or more hours a day.

Find an activity you enjoy

"If it's a drag, you're never gonna do it," Hurst said. "If you say you want to be a marathon runner, but you hate it, find something else. Go biking or swimming, or play tennis or dance. Liking your activity is crucial."

You can even combine physical activity with something else you enjoy, such as watching Instagram reels while walking, Hurst said, as long as it gets you active.

And it's never too late to try new sports if you haven't found an activity you love yet. BI previously reported on a lawyer who got fit in his 70s and discovered a love for under-ice swimming at 84.

Be consistent

Don't stress about trying to work out every day. Instead, decide on an achievable amount of exercise and stick with that, Hurst said.

"If you say you're going to train three days a week, train three days a week," she said.

A 2021 study suggested that exercising consistently could help create a sense of purpose in people's lives, which in turn can help motivate them to exercise more in an "upward spiral."

Nail your technique

To avoid injury, it's important to develop a good knowledge of how to perform exercises correctly, Hurst said.

So, if you can, get some training or instruction on how to do your chosen exercises — you don't have to do it forever, but the expense is probably worth it to stop you from getting hurt, she said

BI previously reported on how to lift weights correctly.

• An ex-FBI official says the Secret Service may have had a comms breakdown at the Trump rally shooting.
• Frank Figliuzzi said agents may have mistaken the shooter for a police sniper.
• He said security protocols and coordination between the Secret Service and local police need improvement.

A former FBI official says a communications breakdown between the Secret Service and the local police may be to blame for why President Donald Trump got shot at on Saturday at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI official, said that the Secret Service may have mistaken the shooter for a Butler policeman.

In an opinion piece published in Daily Mail, he said it was "highly likely" that the Secret Service was "responsible for security within an enclosed perimeter, while the local police took charge of the wider zone outside."

Figluizzi theorized that Secret Service agents could have mistaken Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, for a police sniper.

Investigators said that Crooks fired multiple rounds from a rooftop around 150 meters away from Trump using an AR-15 rifle.

"We know that a Secret Service sniper must have had a clear view of the rooftop because the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead within a few seconds of opening fire on Trump," wrote Figliuzzi.

"But why did that sniper ignore Crooks till then? One plausible explanation is that the Secret Service (which is entirely separate from the FBI) assumed the assassin was a police sniper, part of their security team," Figliuzzi added.

He wrote that such a case "implies serious failures in communication."

"I would expect police and Secret Service teams to not only meet and introduce themselves but map out their specific roles in detail," Figliuzzi said in his opinion piece. "They ought to have been able to recognize each other by sight."

Figliuzzi also wrote that he disagreed with what the Secret Service agents did during the rally, like letting Trump pause to pose for a photo with his face bloodied or complying with his request to retrieve his shoes.

"In that moment, the Secret Service had no way of knowing if the gunman was acting alone. Other shooters might have been present," he wrote.

Figliuzzi served in the FBI for 25 years, working in its Atlanta and Washington, DC headquarters.

In 2011, he landed the role of assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division. He now works as a news analyst and commentator on MSNBC.

Other details have since emerged about Crooks. He was a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the center said in a statement obtained by The Hill on Sunday.

Crooks' ex-classmate also told media outlets that the gunman was such a bad shot that he got rejected from his high school rifle team. But outside school, Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen's Club, a club with multiple pistol and rifle ranges in Clairton, Pennsylvania, CBS News reported.

Crooks' motives for the attack are, at press time, unclear.

For his part, Trump has emerged emboldened from the botched assassination attempt.

On Monday evening, he received a hero's welcome at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee when he walked in with a giant bandage on his ear.

At the RNC, he declared his running mate pick — Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Representatives for the Secret Service and the Butler police did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• Wisesoft stock surged 10% after former President Trump survived an assassination attempt.
• Wisesoft, known as a meme stock in China, often sees price jumps linked to Trump events.
• Chinese retail investors trade Wisesoft shares as a joke, leveraging its Trump-related name.

A Chinese tech firm with a name that sounds like "Trump's Big Win" enjoyed a surge in its stock price on Monday after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Chuanda Zhisheng, also known by its English name Wisesoft, saw its share price rise from 10.20 CNY to 11.22 CNY, or $1.40 increasing to $1.55.

That's the maximum that the company's shares could have risen on Monday while trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which limits price changes to 10% per day.

Wisesoft has a meme stock reputation in China because its Mandarin name comes from Sichuan University, which is known colloquially as "Chuan Da."

Coincidentally, the Chinese nickname for Trump uses the same character as "Chuan," with "Da" translating to "big."

The second half of Wisesoft's name means "wise triumph," so the entire moniker can be taken to literally mean "Trump's Big Win" or "Trump's Great Victory."

Chinese financial news outlet Southern Finance Network reported that a company spokesperson said the reason for Monday's price jump for Wisesoft "couldn't be determined" as nothing had changed in its operations.

Its intended name is "Sichuan University Wise Victory." The company was founded in 2000 and specializes in using tech and AI for air traffic management.

The company also saw its share price leap by the maximum daily limit on June 28, the day after President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance against Trump.

Pockets of Chinese retail investors are known to trade meme stocks simply because their names sound phonetically like references to real-world events. One stock, Goertek, saw its share price rise 2.2% on Monday because its name sounds like "cutting ears," The South China Morning Post reported.

Wisesoft also saw a one-day 10% share price jump in 2016, when Trump won the presidential election, despite the company suffering from lagging results, Chinese outlet The Global Times reported at the time.

The share price of another company, Yunnan Xiyi, simultaneously fell 10% in one day because it sounded phonetically similar to "Auntie Hillary," a nickname for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Yunnan Xiyi has changed its name and is now known as Jianshe Industry Group Yunnan.

Trump was speaking on Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire at him with an AR-style rifle. The former president's right ear was bleeding as Secret Service agents escorted him away, and he later said the ear was struck by a bullet.

One spectator in the crowd died, while two others were critically injured.

Trump is often the subject of memes on the Chinese internet, where users lampoon him as secretly working for Beijing to undermine the US and build up China. As a result, social media platforms in the country are often filled with posts jokingly expressing support for the former president.

• Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been quietly working with party insiders to oust Biden, per Politico.
• Pelosi failed to give a firm endorsement of Biden's candidacy in an MSNBC interview last week.
• Pelosi told MSNBC Biden should "make a decision" about 2024 soon "because time is running short."

It looks like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be taking matters into her own hands since President Joe Biden doesn't seem likely to withdraw from the election.

Politico's Jonathan Martin wrote on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Pelosi is "convinced Biden will lose." She's also been "working the phones" since the CNN debate in a behind-the-scenes bid to remove Biden from the ticket," Martin wrote.

Last week, Pelosi was seen openly talking to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the House Democratic cloakroom, Martin reported, citing a Pelosi colleague who saw the exchange.

And on Friday, Jeffries said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers that he had met Biden in a private meeting on Thursday.

"In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives, and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together," Jeffries wrote.

Notably, Jeffries' letter did not say whether the House Democratic Caucus wanted Biden to step aside or stay the course.

Martin further reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Pelosi has also been communicating with big-name Democrats. She's also told a former elected official that the destruction of the Democratic Party shouldn't be a part of Biden's legacy, per Politico.

It's worth noting that Pelosi failed to endorse Biden during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.

"It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run," Pelosi said. "We're all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short."

"I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that's the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with," Pelosi continued.

A Pelosi representative later issued a statement on the same day, reiterating that it was up to Biden to decide whether to stay on. Again, the statement did not fully endorse Biden's candidacy.

"Speaker Pelosi fully supports whatever President Biden decides to do. We must turn our attention to why this race is so important: Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country and our democracy," Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, said in an email to The Washington Post.

To be sure, Pelosi may not be alone in her stance — as multiple Democratic lawmakers have lost faith in Biden's ability to pull off a win this year.

The presumptive Democratic nominee has faced growing calls to step down after his disastrous performance at his June 27 presidential debate with former President Donald Trump.

At least 18 House Democrats and one Democratic senator have called on Biden to quit following his poor debate performance.

Biden, on the other hand, has remained steadfast in wanting to stay in the race.

"I'm old. But I'm only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity's been pretty damn good," Biden said in an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt on Monday.

"I've gotten more done than any president has in a long, long time in three-and-a-half years. So I'm willing to be judged on that," he continued.

Representatives for Pelosi and Biden didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• Donald Trump has appeared at his first major event since being shot at in Butler, Pennsylvania.
• He arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with a giant bandage on his ear.
• The crowd welcomed him with applause and cheers as "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood played.

Former President Donald Trump is back out in public for his first major appearance after he got shot at during a Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

He pulled up to the first day of the Republican National Convention 2024 in Milwaukee, sporting a massive rectangular bandage that covered almost his entire ear.

The crowd erupted into applause as Trump entered the venue, and Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" played.

Like his pose in a photograph from Saturday snapped by the Associated Press' Evan Vucci, Trump was seen pumping his fist while waving to the crowd of conservatives in Milwaukee.

Trump was seen ducking for cover after gunshots rang out at the Pennsylvania rally. He later stood up with blood streaks on his face and pumped his fist in front of rallygoers in Butler in a show of defiance.

Trump earlier said he was glad he didn't have to die for the viral photo.

"A lot of people say it's the most iconic photo they've ever seen," Trump said to the New York Post on Sunday. "They're right, and I didn't die. Usually, you have to die to have an iconic picture."

The 20-year-old gunman has been identified, and an investigation into the assassination attempt is ongoing.

Trump's first public appearance at the RNC was after he selected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential nominee.

Vance, 39, is the author of the bestseller memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy." He was once a Trump critic, and per leaked text messages from 2016, once told his college roommate that he feared Trump might become "America's Hitler."

But Vance has now made it clear that as vice president, he intends to be a Trump loyalist.

"As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump said when announcing his pick on Truth Social on Monday.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• President Joe Biden denounced political violence in an NBC News interview following the Trump rally shooting.
• Biden said he and Donald Trump had a cordial call after Trump survived an assassination attempt.
• Biden, who misspoke at times, also expressed frustration with the media.

President Joe Biden said there's no place for violence in American politics and criticized the media in a roughly 20-minute interview that aired on NBC on Monday night.

Biden sat down with NBC News's Lester Holt at the White House earlier on Monday, two days after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Biden, who is still trying to recover from a disastrous debate performance last month, was soft-spoken and at times appeared unable to finish articulating his thoughts, resulting in some rambling answers. He reiterated that he's staying in the race despite calls from some Democrats to step down.

During the interview, Biden described his conversation with Trump following the rally shooting on Saturday as "very cordial" and said that the former president thanked him for calling.

"There's no place at all for violence in politics in America. None. Zero," he said.

Holt said the shooting had sparked conversations about the rhetoric used in American politics, noting Biden had recently called Trump an "existential threat" and said that it was time to put Trump in the "bull's-eye."

Biden responded that he "didn't say crosshairs" and that what he was trying to say was "there was very little focus on Trump's agenda."

Holt then pointed out the word was "bull's-eye," not "crosshairs."

"It was, it was a mistake to use the word," Biden said. "I didn't mean — I didn't say cross-hairs. I meant bull's-eye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he's doing."

When Holt pressed Biden on whether he'd done any soul-searching since the debate about the rhetoric he uses, the president pointed at Trump's rhetoric and his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

"How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?" Biden said.

"Look, I am not engaged in that rhetoric," he continued. "Now, my opponent's engaged in that rhetoric."

Biden then cited comments Trump made about pardoning January 6, 2021, rioters and that it would be a "bloodbath" for US auto industry jobs if he lost the election. He also noted the jokes Trump made after Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked.

At several points in the interview, Biden expressed frustration with how the media has covered Trump.

When Holt pressed Biden on his debate performance, the president asked why there wasn't more coverage of lies told by Trump during the debate.

"Where are you on this? Why didn't the press ever talk about that? 28 times, it's confirmed, he lied in that debate," Biden said.

Fact-checkers from many outlets reported on false claims made during the debate, with CNN saying Trump made over 30 while Biden made at least nine.

At the end of the interview, Biden asked Holt to come and talk to him sometime about "what we should be talking about."

"The issues," he said.

Another interview with Complex, which took place on Friday — before the attempted assassination of Trump — was published on Monday. Similarly, in that interview, Biden was soft-spoken and misspoke at times.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, Biden's opponent was formally nominated as the GOP candidate for president. Earlier Monday, Trump announced that he had chosen Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential running mate. Vance gave his first interview as a vice presidential candidate Monday night.

Campaigns for Biden and Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.