Trump is back on Twitter, but are voters?

Only those who are Extremely Online will care about his convo with Musk. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a once-in-a-lifetime, all-you-can-eat buffet of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Climate change]( deserves a plug. - [Raw milk]( Please don’t chug. - [All those rats]( are looking smug. - [Megaquake]( You shouldn’t shrug. Real Talk I regret to inform you that Donald J. Trump is posting [ominous videos]( on Twitter — ergh, X — again: Trump’s return to the second-tier social platform — he is having a “[live conversation]( tonight with Elon Musk, who seems to like using his platform to talk to [angry Florida politicians]( — will no doubt degrade [my own quality of life](. But most people won’t notice! And that’s because most people aren’t Extremely Online: The same thing goes for the Democratic Party. Coconut-pilled GenZers at KamalaHQ are [having a blast]( with Brat, but [memes]( alone aren’t going to win them this election. Actual issues will, [argues]( Matthew Yglesias: “People don’t make TikToks or Instagram Reels about Social Security and Medicare. Retirement security is not Brat. But there are just a lot more old people in the electorate than there are cool young people or even parents of young kids.” Patricia Lopez [is in agreement]( “Reproductive rights, jobs, immigration and affordability are issues [animating voters]( in this election, especially in crucial [swing states]( that will decide who wins the White House. Voters forge close emotional ties to candidates that can often outweigh weighty policy prescriptions, but the Harris campaign’s ongoing messaging will still have to build on the formidable energy it’s already unleashed.” Some of the most crucial issues in this election have gotten little airtime amidst [talk of couches]( and [drag]( and [Tiffany necklaces]( Consider global warming, [says]( Mark Gongloff: Harris’ “[stump speech]( which is still developing, doesn’t yet include the words ‘climate change,’” he writes. “This reticence is notable, considering how often voters say they are worried about climate change. Two-thirds of Americans consider the issue at least somewhat important to them personally.” Trump is arguably no better: A [ProPublica investigation]( into Project 2025’s training videos showed how conservative activists want to eradicate all climate change references in this country. How about housing? It’s a top concern for voters, and Conor Sen says [the recovery]( is still MIA. Surely both candidates have a plan to solve America’s [housing supply gap]( which is currently in the ballpark of 2.5 million, right? Haha, nope. Bloomberg’s editorial board [says]( it will take bolder ideas “to reverse [decades]( of accumulated impediments to new construction.” The candidates also must be mindful of costs: “Trump’s promises to [deport]( undocumented immigrants and ratchet up [tariffs]( on imports would both raise construction costs, for instance. The Biden administration’s tariffs on Canadian lumber and Chinese steel and aluminum are similarly unhelpful,” it writes. Construction, climate change, retirement security … these are the issues the candidates ought to speak to voters about. Will Trump mention any of this during his discussion with Musk this evening? Will Harris drill down the details of her campaign at the Democratic National Convention next week? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Bonus Politics Reading: - Trump’s threat to [central bank independence]( is among the worst economic proposals ever floated by a major-party presidential candidate. — Jonathan Levin - Harris needs to outline her [philosophy on criminal justice]( or Trump and his allies will do it for her. — Erika D. Smith - Republicans say Tim Walz’s [familiarity with China]( could mean he’s soft on Beijing. Nothing could be further from the truth. — Karishma Vaswani Raw Milk and Rats I went camping last week with several of my blood relatives and a very large can of cheese balls. It was good fun until a daddy long-legs decided to crawl up my face during a campfire story. But I survived the night. And when we went to throw out the trash in the morning, one of my cousins — we call her “Ranger Riley” — reminded me of [this tweet]( Sometimes humans are incredibly dumb! Which brings me to this Lisa Jarvis [column]( about raw milk. Think about it: Why else would sales of unpasteurized dairy be surging during a national outbreak of bird flu? There are TONS of [icky pathogens]( in raw milk. A few sips of the stuff could land you in the hospital with campylobacter, cryptosporidium, E. coli, listeria, brucella, salmonella and/or a horror called “summer diarrhea.” “The advent of pasteurization laws has been considered [a key factor]( in cutting the infant death rate by more than half at the turn of the 20th century,” Lisa writes. And yet raw milk sales were 42% higher in late spring than they had been during the same period in 2023! “The timing raises the question of whether people are just jumping onto an already-growing trend (pushed by [wellness influencers]( and [trad wives]( or if drinking it has become a bizarre act of political defiance (to wit, the right-wing group Turning Point USA now sells a “got raw milk?” tee),” she notes. Elsewhere in bizarre political acts, you have New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his war on a different kind of disease-carrier: rats. Stephen Mihm lays out the [fascinating, albeit disgusting history]( of how the feral four-legged menaces meandered into Manhattan. “The first rats [likely reached]( New York City sometime in the colonial era,” he says. A century later, they were everywhere, eating everything. You think a pizza slice is bad? Try piles of corpses after a cholera outbreak ravaged the island in 1849. “Day after day, thousands of rats in Manhattan, catching wind of a once-in-a-lifetime, all-you-can-eat buffet, [swam]( [across]( the East River to batten on the corpses, leaving behind little but bones,” he writes. By the early 20th century, people started to realize that rats carried all sorts of pathogens, including the bubonic plague. “So began a grim quest to find the best way to exterminate them. Conventional methods included the use of dogs, obviously, as well as ferrets, and even snakes and the occasional mongoose,” he writes. A mongoose!! Read [the whole thing](. Telltale Charts The word “megaquake” means exactly what it sounds like: A very large, very terrifying earthquake that will in no uncertain terms kill a lot of people all at once. And there’s a 90% chance that Japan is going to have one in the next 40 years. For the first time ever, Gearoid Reidy [says]( weather authorities [issued]( a warning on Thursday that the likelihood of the long-feared Nankai Trough quake had increased “by several times.” “It’s a moment to think about the fragility of the world we’ve built, and how quickly it can be upended,” he writes. Last week, one of the most honorable and respected appellate judges in the US — Noah Feldman’s [designation]( not mine — confirmed that AR-15s are weapons of war that are favored by terrorists and other mass shooters. Noah was so impressed with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III’s use of the Supreme Court’s own precedent and logic that he says “it could become one of those rare appellate opinions that directly shapes the course of US constitutional law.” Here’s hoping this map looks a lot different down the road: Further Reading Apple and Alphabet’s [freakish earnings]( broke an entire market barometer. — Nir Kaissar FIU’s [“Pitbull Stadium”]( proves how much college sports have changed. — Adam Minter Which of your [favorite wine regions]( will be the next victims of a hotter planet? — David Fickling The [oldest Olympians]( might hold the key to slowing down the aging process. — F.D. Flam Hindenburg’s [latest allegations]( strike at the heart of India’s regulatory establishment. — Andy Mukherjee Wealth taxes are the [obvious revenue play]( for UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves. — Marcus Ashworth and Stuart Trow The [cheering at the Olympics]( came from different corners of the human heart. — Howard Chua-Eoan The US Postal Service has [an ambitious plan]( to compete with FedEx and UPS. — Thomas Black ICYMI Ben Sasse’s [spending spree](. J&J’s [baby powder settlement]( clears a hurdle. The first and last [breaking]( at the Olympics? Kickers Dinner in [90 minutes](. Don’t call it [a corn dog](. Barack Obama is [bumpin’ that](. [Weird]( [things]( are being said about [pets](. And [the]( [art]( [direction]( is [even weirder](. Notes: Please send [Pronto Pups]( and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads]( [TikTok]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. 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