Nailed it:
Things have gone terribly during Trump’s presidency. This seems to be the main message at the RNC.— Julian Zelizer (@julianzelizer) August 28, 2020
It’s the Republican Party’s dilemma—how do you argue for four more years of this, when “this” is absolute shit? More people died during four days of the Republican National Convention than died on 9/11. There is social unrest throughout our country.
In his speech closing out the GOP convention, Trump said a vote for Joe Biden would be “the destroyer of American greatness.
It’s the big night at the RNC, with the Hatch-Act-Breaker-in-chief speaking from the South Lawn of the White House behind many, many layers of bunker. And flags. Very subtle with the flags. Tonight’s lineup of course has multiple Trumps, with Ivanka doing her thing along with various and sundry people who will probably yell stuff. Rudy Giuliani will be there, so yes, there will be yelling. Ben Carson will bring the yawns.
Trump’s lawyer used the “Black lives matter” message to insist “all lives matter” despite ongoing protests of the police shooting of yet another Black man.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah continues to be filmed remotely as our country’s COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated. On Thursday, Noah used the opening of his show to address the shooting by police of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The 29-year-old Black security guard was paralyzed from the waist down when police officers fired at him at least seven times in front of his three children this past Sunday.
If there is one thing we already know about Ammon Bundy, it’s that he’s anointed himself the arbiter of all things constitutional and legal—which is why he’s so frequently inclined to ignore the laws he considers “unlawful,” including the federal government’s ownership of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the efforts of Idaho’s governor to clamp down on the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a reporting trip to the White House in late May, I passed through a magnetometer and met a government agent who pointed an infrared thermometer at my forehead. At that point, the United States was seeing about 21,000 new coronavirus cases a day. Had I been coughing or experienced any recent headaches? the agent asked. No, I said, and was allowed into the building. Today, the country is experiencing about twice as many new positive cases each day.
In 24 hours, the testing landscape of the United States has transformed.Yesterday morning, all of the tests for COVID-19—traditional or rapid—that had received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration required an expensive machine and cost around $40 or more. In the afternoon, the pharmaceutical company Abbott announced that it had received FDA authorization to distribute a new type of test.
Trump will accept his party’s nomination for president during Thursday’s event.
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFPGoing into this week’s convention, the Republican Party was, our staff writer Annie Lowrey pointed out, remarkably quiet on how they plan to govern.
Two men killed at a protest for Jacob Blake were a father and a skater who tried to disarm the shooter. A third injured man was a volunteer medic.
If your childhood vision of police is all pet rescues and tinfoil badges, Friendly’s “copaganda” did its job.
“If Putin wants a call with me, you just put him through,” the president reportedly yelled during a formal dinner.
Based on guide books from the 1960s and ’70s, the project offers a window onto the queer landscape of the past.
Baggu’s Standard Tote can join your grocery arsenal for 25 percent off.
The president instead spoke more broadly about the nation’s testing initiatives.
As President Trump is set to accept the Republican Party’s formal renomination for president amid ongoing scandals and multiple crises, we speak with John Dean, who served as the White House counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1973. His testimony during the Watergate scandal helped bring down Nixon. His new book is “Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers.” “I worked for the last authoritarian president we had,” Dean says.
Vice President Mike Pence headlined the third night of the Republican National Convention, focusing largely on preserving law and order and attacking Joe Biden. We play excerpts of the comments made by Pence, who made no mention of police brutality or the recent police shootings that have sparked protests across the U.S. Pence also failed to mention the white gunman accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Professional athletes are taking part in unprecedented collective action in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police violence, bringing basketball, baseball and soccer leagues to a grinding halt. The protests and calls to recognize systemic police brutality also extended across tennis arenas. Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation and host of the “Edge of Sports” podcast, says the actions constitute “a sports strike wave” for racial justice.
The police shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked massive protests across the country and in Kenosha, where a white teenager opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters and killed two people. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, after fleeing Wisconsin. He has been charged with murder.
The problems were less severe than they first appeared. But there are other reasons to keep the heat on Louis DeJoy.
Insiders say Bob Unanue endorsed Trump as part of a plan to keep his job.
Slate Money on the USPS, productivity, and Citigroups’s big blunder.
A scandal-by-scandal breakdown of what’s really gone wrong with the mail.
Drugmakers pitched a counteroffer to the White House aimed at stalling Trump’s plan to link Medicare’s spending on some expensive drugs to much lower prices.
While the therapy is considered safe, plasma has not yet been proven effective against the coronavirus.
Appointed to run the UK’s new public health body, Dido Harding comes with baggage.
