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      Miguel Cardona Is the Designated Survivor During State of the Union

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      President Biden has selected his education secretary, Miguel Cardona, to be the so-called designated survivor during Thursday night’s State of the Union address, a grim moniker meant to ensure at least one decision maker survives if a calamity were to wipe out the nation’s leadership assembled at the Capitol for the speech.Secretary Cardona will follow the evening’s proceedings from an undisclosed location, becoming the latest member of a tradition that dates back to the Cold War tensions of the 1950s. The first survivor to be publicly disclosed was Terrel Bell, who served as education secretary to Ronald Reagan, in 1981.There are few moments in American life when so many of the country’s top leaders are gathered in one place. Those gathered in the House chamber on Thursday will include many members of the Supreme Court, most of Mr. Biden’s cabinet, a great number of lawmakers and top military officials.Those attending are in line to become president if something were to happen to Mr. Biden, as established by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947: the vice president, the speaker of the House, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the secretary of state, the secretary of the Treasury, the secretary of defense and the attorney general. (Beyond that, the succession proceeds through the rest of the cabinet.)But that line of succession could be disrupted if there were an attack or disaster at the Capitol, which is why one cabinet member is chosen to skip the event. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was chosen as Mr. Biden’s designated survivor during his State of the Union speech in 2022. Marty Walsh, who was secretary of labor in 2023, was the survivor last year.Mr. Biden did not select a designated survivor for his joint address to Congress in 2021. The speech was much more sparsely attended because of Covid, and most members of the cabinet and other top officials were watching from remote locations anyway.William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director who was made a member of the cabinet last July, will also not be at the State of the Union. Mr. Burns, according to a U.S. official, was in Doha, Qatar on Thursday, meeting with Qatari officials, as part of an effort to push forward talks on a temporary ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.Because Mr. Burns will not be in the secure location away from Washington, he will not be the official designated survivor. But since he will be away from the Capitol building, in the event of a catastrophe, he could be considered, unofficially, a second backup survivor. More

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      George Santos Attends State of the Union Address After His Expulsion

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      When former Representative George Santos, the serial fabulist, was expelled from Congress by his colleagues in December, he left in a huff, declaring, “to hell with this place.”On Thursday night, the Tom Ripley of Congress was back.Dressed in a crystal-encrusted collar, Mr. Santos took a seat on the House floor in a surprise appearance ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address, putting to use the lifetime floor privileges conferred on former members of the House — even the ones who are expelled.There, he was greeted more warmly than he was ever treated when his colleagues wanted nothing to do with him.On Thursday night, he sat and chuckled with Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia greeted him with a warm embrace. Even members who had been publicly critical of him in the past, like Representative Claudia Tenney of New York, stopped to snap his picture, while others made a beeline to greet him.It was fair to say that the disgraced former congressman, who is scheduled to go on trial in September on federal fraud charges that include accusations of stealing money from campaign donors for personal expenses, was doing something akin to holding court.Since leaving Congress, Mr. Santos has tried to launch a career on the video app Cameo, monetizing on his strange slice of fame by charging hundreds of dollars a pop for his short personalized videos. But interest in micro-celebrities can be fleeting.And he had been carefully planning his splashy return. Mr. Santos told some members of the press corps that he planned to return on Thursday night to seize back the spotlight, but swore them to secrecy.It was not clear what high jinks he had planned, aside from the fact of his presence alone. At last year’s State of the Union address, Mr. Santos got in a confrontation with Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, who told him, bluntly, “you don’t belong here.” Mr. Santos had stationed himself close enough to the action to reach out for a presidential handshake.Speaker Mike Johnson earlier Thursday tried to encourage members to show decorum during Mr. Biden’s speech.Not everyone was willing to make that promise.Mr. Santos appeared to be staking out a seat near the corridor where Mr. Biden was set to enter the chamber, along with some of the hard-right members of the Republican conference, such as Ms. Boebert.“Oh, you think I plan that stuff?” Ms. Boebert said, when asked how she planned to behave during the speech. “I’m more spontaneous than you think.”But minutes ahead of the speech, without a seat saved, Mr. Santos moved himself to the back of the chamber. More

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      La campaña de Biden cambia su estrategia para abordar el tema de la edad

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      Parte del nuevo plan de la Casa Blanca consiste en destacar más los viajes del presidente fuera de Washington y los encuentros individuales con votantes en las redes sociales.Lleva lentes oscuros de aviador y gorras de béisbol. Visita heladerías y asadores y pide reunirse con influentes que puedan difundir imágenes suyas en TikTok e Instagram. Habla más a menudo con los periodistas y responde a preguntas sobre Medio Oriente, los republicanos y, por supuesto, su edad.Nada de esto es una coincidencia. Mientras el presidente Joe Biden se enfrenta a lo que las encuestas muestran como una preocupación significativa por sus 81 años y a unas elecciones muy reñidas contra su virtual oponente, Donald Trump, la estrategia de la Casa Blanca es que salga de su burbuja protectora y afronte directamente las preocupaciones de los votantes.El tema se sobrecargó el mes pasado cuando Biden se defendió airadamente de un informe del fiscal especial que lo describió como un “hombre bienintencionado de edad avanzada con mala memoria”. El presidente se convirtió con rapidez en el chiste favorito de los presentadores de los programas nocturnos de entrevistas, lo que enfureció a sus aliados, quienes reconocen que aunque Biden no puede volver atrás en el tiempo, al menos puede intentar reajustar la imagen que los votantes tienen de él.“Llevo varios meses diciéndole a la campaña: ‘Por favor, déjenlo ser Joe Biden’, y lo mismo han dicho muchos otros”, comentó en una entrevista el senador demócrata por Delaware Chris Coons, aliado cercano del presidente. “No solo es bueno para la campaña. Es bueno para él y es bueno para el país que Joe Biden tenga la oportunidad de bajarse del podio y ser menos el presidente Joe Biden y más Joe”.Con ese fin, se espera que Biden plantee la cuestión de la edad en su beneficio al destacar sus logros legislativos en su discurso sobre el Estado de la Unión del jueves por la noche. El argumento que esgrimirá, según sus ayudantes, es que sus logros como presidente podrían haber pasado desapercibidos para políticos con menos experiencia.Biden bromeó sobre memes en una aparición en el programa de televisión nocturno de Seth Meyers en febrero.Bonnie Cash para The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Should Either of These People Have Sole Authority on Nuclear Weapons?

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      A large majority of Americans say they don’t trust a government run by the opposition party. So we must ask ourselves: Is it moral, just and wise to vest the ability to end other nations in the hands of one person?“As president, I carried no wallet, no money, no driver’s license, no keys in my pockets — only secret codes that were capable of bringing about the annihilation of much of the world as we knew it,” Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography.That’s right. President Biden this very minute could unilaterally decide to launch a devastating nuclear strike anywhere in the world in minutes — without a requirement to consult Congress or the courts. The missiles would be in flight before even the most plugged-in Americans knew they’d been launched.This is an enormous amount of power to grant any single person. That’s doubly true in undemocratic nations, several of which have nuclear arsenals of their own.It is time to explore what alternatives to the president’s sole nuclear authority could be, and that’s what my colleague W.J. Hennigan does in the latest installment of our series “At the Brink,” published this morning.Last year, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Ted Lieu of California introduced legislation that would prevent any American president from launching a first nuclear strike without congressional approval. Passing this bill or one like it is an obvious step.Yet the American public is owed a bigger plan on how countries around the globe can work together to reduce nuclear threats. Today nuclear weapons loom over international politics in ways not seen since the Cold War — a dynamic Times Opinion explored in the first installment of the series earlier this week.The phrase “serious debate” is often tossed around in campaign season. It’s a way to insist on talking about something, even if in a nebulous way. Fortunately, there are chances for a substantive public discussion of nuclear weapons, and we invite the country and the world to join in the conversation. Americans might be surprised to hear what those in other nations think.Times Opinion has invited President Biden and President Trump to explain in our pages what their next administrations would do to reduce these risks. We hope they will do so. We also hope this will be a subject in the upcoming presidential debates. Reporters covering the president and his competitor should press them on their policies and thinking around sole authority and other nuclear policies.Though Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden “will have to confront questions from voters about their mental acuity, competence and stamina to take on another four-year term,” as Hennigan writes today, “regardless of who wins this election or the next one, the American president’s nuclear sole authority is a product of another era, and must be revisited in our new nuclear age.”That should be something that most Americans can agree on. More

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      New Trump Super PAC Ad Attacks Biden Over His Age

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      The ad, which aired on MSNBC on Thursday morning, asks, “Can Biden even survive until 2029?” The super PAC supporting Donald J. Trump for president is airing a blistering television ad before the State of the Union address, mocking President Biden’s halting response to questions about his memory and even questioning his life span, in a preview of the tenor of the general election ahead. The ad, titled “Jugular,” aired on MSNBC on Thursday morning during one of Mr. Biden’s favorite shows, “Morning Joe” in the 6 a.m. hour. It will air nationally through the day and Friday morning on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and Newsmax, according to the super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc. The size of the two-day ad buy was not immediately clear. The spot appeared designed to try to get under Mr. Biden’s skin at a pivotal moment, as he prepares to give the State of the Union and faces low job approval ratings against his predecessor, Mr. Trump. The ad focuses on a topic that Mr. Biden and his allies have shown frustration about — questions over his age. At the age of 81, Mr. Biden is America’s oldest president. Mr. Trump is 77.A Biden campaign spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A report by the special counsel, Robert Hur, who was investigating Mr. Biden’s possession of classified documents at his home after he served as vice president, infuriated the president’s allies with what they called gratuitous descriptions of his difficulty recalling certain events and details. Among them, according to Mr. Hur, was when Mr. Biden’s eldest son, Beau, passed away, a statement Mr. Biden’s allies pushed back on. The ad uses footage of Mr. Biden responding to that report at a White House news conference, during which he at times seemed visibly angry and flustered. The ad says that people understand Mr. Biden’s “weakness” and adds, “Can Biden even survive until 2029?” It then asks, over footage of Vice President Kamala Harris laughing and Mr. Biden falling on the stairs while boarding Air Force One, “Can we?” The tactic of airing ads in order to be seen by a president was used to reach Mr. Trump, particularly when opponents were hoping to force him to react. Among those who used the tactic was the Lincoln Project, the group of anti-Trump Republicans. And Trump has had his own verbal stumbles, including confusing the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley, his erstwhile primary rival, and calling Mr. Biden “Obama” in recent speeches. But this particular spot focuses on what has been raised by Democrats, some of Mr. Biden’s allies and a number of voters as a concern, as Mr. Trump seeks to set the terms of the general election for voters as one of “strength” versus “weakness.” “Biden is weak, and America is suffering because of it,” said Taylor Budowich, the chief executive of MAGA Inc. “Tonight’s State of the Union will not silence those waiting in the wings from laughing every time Joe Biden stumbles or bumbles.” More

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      Fact-Checking Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday Speech

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      After racking up a series of wins that cleared the field, former President Donald J. Trump moved to a general election message. Here’s a fact check.Former President Donald J. Trump moved another step closer to becoming the 2024 Republican nominee for president Tuesday, sweeping up delegates and prompting his last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, to suspend her campaign. The results all but guarantee a November rematch against President Biden.But in his 20-minute victory remarks, which offered a grim view of the United States under his successor, Mr. Trump resorted to a string of false and misleading claims — on immigration, economics, energy and more — some of which were variations on familiar assertions.Here’s a fact check.WHAT WAS SAID“They flew 325,000 migrants — flew ’em in, over the borders, into our country. So that really tells you where they’re coming from, they want open borders.”This is misleading. Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to reports about documents obtained by a group that pushes for restricting immigration. The group reported that the documents showed some 320,000 migrants were flown into the United States in 2023 by receiving authorization by using a mobile app started by Customs and Border Protection.But this is not a secretive effort, contrary to Mr. Trump’s characterization, and the migrants came through programs that authorize their arrival and require them to arrange for their travel on commercial flights.The app in question, CBP One, was introduced last year to require migrants to secure an appointment at a port of entry in order to submit an asylum application. However, the app is also used to support the processing of migrants seeking to enter the United States through other programs, said Michelle Mittelstadt, a spokeswoman for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With Haley Expected to Drop Out, What Will Her Voters Do in November?

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      Many Americans are dreading a Trump-Biden rematch, but no one feels the anguish quite like a Nikki Haley voter.“She would make a great president, and the alternatives are not appealing,” said Patti Gramling, 72, before voting in the South Carolina Republican primary in February in an upscale suburb of Charleston, S.C. “Biden is too old. And I think Donald Trump is horrible.”With Ms. Haley expected to end her 2024 campaign, a crucial new equation is emerging in the electoral math: Where will her voters — and voters like them in key battlegrounds across the country — go in a general election contest between Mr. Trump and President Biden?“The million-dollar question is, will they vote, will they sit it out — or will they vote for Joe Biden?” former Gov. Jim Hodges, a South Carolina Democrat, said of Ms. Haley’s centrist supporters in the state. “A moderate Republican voter in Charleston is not all that different than a moderate Republican voter in the Milwaukee suburbs.”How Republicans Voted on Super TuesdaySee how Republicans in different states voted in the Super Tuesday presidential primary between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.In recent interviews with nearly 40 Haley supporters across South Carolina’s Lowcountry, primarily conducted in historically more moderate enclaves of the state, many fell into what pollsters call the “double haters” camp — voters who don’t like either expected nominee. But some of them gave a sense of what her voters could do in November. More

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      Inflation Fears Stalk Presidential Politics and the Markets

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      Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are set to grill Jay Powell, the Fed chair, about interest rates and the economy, topics that are top of mind for voters and investors alike.Jay Powell, the Fed chair, will begin two days of testimony on Capitol Hill with inflation a hot topic for voters and markets.Richard Drew/Associated PressInflationary pressure and presidential politics President Biden and Donald Trump dominated Super Tuesday, setting the stage for a rematch of the 2020 election. One topic that’s high on the agenda for voters: Inflation.That means all eyes will be on Jay Powell, as the Fed chair makes a two-day appearance on Capitol Hill this week, for any sign of what’s next on rate cuts.Inflation is kryptonite for any politician, and especially for Biden. Trump again pounded the president on high prices, an issue that’s lifting the Republican in polls even as a range of indicators show that the economy is performing strongly.(The White House is putting the blame on corporations that “try to rip off Americans.” Watch for that theme at Thursday’s State of the Union address.)Powell will appear before the House on Wednesday and before the Senate on Thursday. Data published in recent weeks shows that jobs are plentiful, wages are rising and consumers are still spending. Analysts have upgraded their economic forecasts, raising hopes that a soft landing is likely.But market pros see warning signs. Concerns remain that inflation will stick above the Fed’s 2 percent target, forcing the central bank to put the brakes on interest rate cuts that traders expect to begin in June. The futures market on Wednesday is forecasting three to four cuts this year — down from nearly seven just weeks ago — and the more cautious sentiment has helped drag the S&P 500 lower this week.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More