Saks Attack, Santos’s Plank Walk, a $16B Legal Mystery

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon dispatch of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Peter Hamby brilliantly frames Joe Biden’s other pressing narrative problem: Americans absolutely hate this economy, despite the fact that it’s technically swinging.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman rounds up the latest drama surrounding Saks Fifth Avenue. Eriq Gardner chats with the legal world’s $16 billion man. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw wonder whether Shari Redstone will be forced to sell the family business. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and Governor Chris Sununu examine the Republican presidential race. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Abby Livingston decipher the D.C. whisper circuit: Biden’s economic challenges and the Santos expulsion.

PETER HAMBY

Yes, experts agree the economy is technically great. But it’s also very weird: gas prices are down and wages are up, but so is rent, car insurance, groceries, and just about every product Americans encounter on a daily basis. If that’s what voters are associating with “Bidenomics,” well, Biden is in big trouble.

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LAUREN SHERMAN

An update on their Dior deal, the Estée Laundry rumors, all that fundraising, and the Neiman Marcus roll-up fantasies.

ERIQ GARDNER

Christopher Bogart, the litigation financier who scored a 10-figure judgment against Argentina, goes on the record about his beef with Mike Johnson, Elon Musk’s legal fixer, and how he’s using A.I.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss Paramount Global’s struggle to survive in the age of streaming, whether owner Shari Redstone will be forced to sell the family business, and, if so, whom she will sell it to.