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      in US Politics

      Obama delivers searing attack on Trump and warns of grave threat to democracy

      by

      Barack Obama

      Ex-president says Trump will try to ‘tear our democracy down’
      Vice-presidential nominee Harris pledges to fight with hope

      Play Video

      3:27

      Barack Obama condemns Trump in powerful Democratic convention speech – video

      Barack Obama has delivered his most scathing attack on Donald Trump, accusing the US president and his enablers of trying to suppress the vote in November’s election and making the heartfelt plea: “Don’t let them take away your democracy.”
      In the most withering critique by a former president on his successor in modern times, Obama made the case that Trump, a billionaire businessman and celebrity, has not grown into the job of president because he cannot, and instead treats it as a reality TV show.
      His grave address mentioned the word “democracy” 18 times and offered a stark warning: “This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win. So we have to get busy building it up.”
      Obama, the country’s first Black president, spoke on the third night of the virtual Democratic national convention just before Senator Kamala Harris of California became the first Black person to be formally nominated for vice-president by a major party and promised to fight with conviction and hope.
      Obama spoke from the symbolic location of the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. The words “Writing the constitution” were displayed on an exhibit wall behind him. The absence of cheering crowds that greeted him at past conventions, including two successful presidential nominations, fitted the sombre occasion.
      This time, Obama argued, the election is not merely a battle of blue versus red but for the survival of democracy itself. “What we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come,” he said.
      Obama noted that he had sat in the Oval Office with both men who are running for president and said sardonically he had hoped that Trump might “show some interest in taking the job seriously … But he never did.
      “For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.”
      The consequences, he continued, were 170,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus pandemic, millions of jobs lost while the rich get richer, “our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before”.
      Obama also lavished praise on Trump’s challenger Joe Biden, his vice-president, “friend” and “brother”, as well as Biden’s running mate, Harris.
      “Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality,” he said. “But more than anything, what I know about Joe and Kamala is that they actually care about every American. And they care deeply about this democracy.”
      Even as Obama spoke, Trump tweeted angry retorts in all caps.
      Obama said he understood why many people were feeling down on government and were wondering what the point was.
      “Well, here’s the point,” he said. “This president and those in power – those who benefit from keeping things the way they are – they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn’t matter.

      Play Video

      3:02

      Kamala Harris reflects on vice-presidential nomination at DNC – video
      “That’s how they win. That’s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That’s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That’s how a democracy withers, until it’s no democracy at all.”
      He urged: “We can’t let that happen. Do not let them take away your power. Don’t let them take away your democracy.”
      He called on Americans to make plan now on how to get involved and how to vote: “What we do echoes through the generations.”

      Play Video

      0:53

      Billie Eilish at DNC: ‘Trump is destroying our country and everything we care about’ – video
      Obama apart, the night belonged to Democratic women across generations, from host Kerry Washington to singer Billie Eilish, from House speaker Nancy Pelosi to former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in Tucson, Arizona, nearly a decade ago yet survived and now found the courage, grit and determination to speak about resilience and even play a French horn.
      In a sign of how much has changed in the pandemic, Harris introduced herself to the nation in a sparsely attended auditorium in Wilmington, Delaware. She was applauded by supporters on a giant video screen. When nominee Joe Biden walked out, he remained physically distanced and could not embrace her.
      Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, sketched out her personal biography. “My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning. And, oh, how I wish she were here tonight. But I know she’s looking down on me from above. I keep thinking about that 25-year-old Indian woman – all of five feet tall – who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California.
      She went on: “On that day, she probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now speaking these words: I accept your nomination for vice-president of the United States of America.”
      She, too, lambasted Trump but also offered hope. “There’s something happening, all across the country,” she said. “It’s not about Joe or me. It’s about you. It’s about us. People of all ages and colors and creeds who are, yes, taking to the streets, and also persuading our family members, rallying our friends, organizing our neighbors, and getting out the vote.”
      Democrats are seeking to capitalise on a “gender chasm” between the parties. Women support Biden by 56% to 40%, roughly the same as their margin for Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Wednesday night’s programme seemed calculated to ram home that advantage.
      Harris’ nomination also marks the elevation of Black women in a Democratic party that has for decades relied on their electoral power but whose loyalty was rarely reflected in leadership. In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in May, which sparked a national reckoning on racism, Biden faced pressure to choose a Black woman as his running mate.
      But there was also a rueful look in the rearview mirror. Clinton wore suffragette white just as she did at her triumphant convention in 2016. Instead of the wildly enthusiastic crowds in Philadelphia anointing her as a likely future president, now she was alone at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
      She said of Trump: “For four years, people have said to me, ‘I didn’t realise how dangerous he was.’ ‘I wish I could go back and do it over.’ ‘I should have voted.’ This can’t be another woulda-coulda-shoulda election.”
      Clinton made reference to her own defeat in the electoral college, in spite of winning the popular vote, and fears that Trump will sow chaos and distrust in the process in a bid to claim victory again. “Remember: Joe and Kamala can win three million more votes and still lose. Take it from me. We need numbers so overwhelming Trump can’t sneak or steal his way to victory.”
      Senator Elizabeth Warren, who finished third in the Democratic primary, spoke from the Early Childhood Education Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, which has been closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. In another display of party unity, she said: “Joe and Kamala will make high-quality child care affordable for every family, make pre-school universal, and raise the wages for every childcare worker.”

      Play Video

      18:50

      Barack Obama’s fiery DNC speech in full – video
      Videos produced for the third of the virtual convention included 11-year-old Estela Juarez from Florida, reading a letter she wrote to Trump after her mother – who married a US American marine with whom she had two American children – was deported to Mexico in an indictment of the president’s harsh immigration policies.
      Another montage celebrated this week’s centenary of women winning the right to vote, weaving together footage of women marching throughout American history, including the historic women’s march that came a day after Trump’s inauguration.

      Topics

      Barack Obama

      Democratic national convention 2020

      Donald Trump

      US politics

      Democrats

      US elections 2020

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    • 75 Shares169 Views

      in World Politics

      Trump’s Failure in the Middle East

      by

      A stunning and humiliating sign of America’s loss of leadership was the UN Security Council’s rejection on August 14 of the US attempt to extend the arms embargo on Iran. None of its traditional allies, including Britain, France and Germany, supported the US. Washington was only backed by one country: the Dominican Republic. 

      The UAE’s Deal With Israel Is a Sham

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      The Trump administration is now scrambling to force a “snapback” in order to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran. As per the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), if the Iranians violate the terms of the agreement, sanctions can be reintroduced. Yet Donald Trump, the US president, unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and has no standing to try to enforce its provisions. This latest attempt will also founder, further underlining the failure of Trump’s Middle Eastern adventure.

      “Maximum Pressure“

      Since 2017, Trump has set out to destroy the regime in Iran and, for this, he has had the support — indeed the encouragement — of Gulf Arab states and Israel but no one else. The rest of the world wants to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Gulf by binding Iran to a permanent agreement to put its nuclear activities under an intrusive inspection regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The purpose of the JCPOA was to make this happen. 

      Trump’s policy of putting “maximum pressure” on Iran has caused unemployment, inflation, shortages of medicines and a near-collapse of the Iranian rial, but it has not toppled the regime, nor brought about its surrender. US pressure has united Iranians against America’s bullying, encouraged a resumption of some nuclear activity and pushed Iran further into the arms of Russia and China.

      It has also led to the Iranians firing missiles at Saudi and Emirati oil refineries and tankers in 2019 as a demonstration of the potential costs of an all-out assault on Iran. The Gulf states and the US blinked and didn’t respond to these strikes. The US has stepped back from threats of a full-scale attack — a further sign of the Trump administration’s muddled thinking.

      Embed from Getty Images

      The JCPOA is on life support, but it is not yet dead. If Joe Biden is elected as president in November, rejoins the nuclear pact — which was negotiated under the Obama administration that Biden served as vice president in — and lifts unilateral US sanctions, then Iran will cooperate. This is the strongest signal Iran has been sending and which all the other members of the UN Security Council have heard. Iran has also been sending this message through a multitude of back channels to the Gulf Arab states and even the US. But Trump refuses to listen.

      So, who does Trump listen to? Not his NATO allies, whom he prefers to insult and threaten. And not the strong bench of Middle Eastern scholars, diplomats and businessman who have spent the last 75 years building US influence and prestige in the region. Trump dismisses this group as the “deep state.”

      Instead, the president listens to the Gulf despots who fear Iran will undermine their power and to whom he can sell arms. He also listens to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli hawks who paint Iran as the antichrist that is bent on the destruction of Israel. 

      Lack of Strategy

      Trump, the narcissist, believes that he is right and the rest of the thinking world is wrong. His announcement of the UAE’s diplomatic pact with Israel — a public acknowledgment of a comprehensive relationship that already existed — was a public relations stunt to try show that his Gulf policies are working. National Security Adviser Richard O’Brien’s call for a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump was an added embarrassment.  

      The net result of Trump’s multiple Middle Eastern failures is that Syria has been partitioned between Turkish, Iranian and Russian interests, Iraq is firmly in the Iranian camp, Yemen is a humanitarian disaster, Libya is in the midst of a civil war where the US has no say whatsoever, Egypt is run by an unpopular military dictator whose grip is threatened by economic disaster, Lebanon is a failed state, and Saudi Arabia is ruled by a man who assassinates his enemies.

      Trump’s lack of strategy, absence of moral compass and failure of leadership have damaged America’s prestige and influence enormously. US dominance in the region may never recover.

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 75 Shares129 Views

      in World Politics

      A Tale of Two Democratic Women

      by

      Michelle Obama’s husband, Barack, was president of the United States for eight years. In the eyes of many Americans and certainly the media, Michelle has aspired to and achieved a status of moralist-in-chief of the nation. Having focused on issues such as healthy eating habits to combat obesity during her husband’s two terms in the White House, the former first lady created a public persona that clearly promotes not power or influence, but what philosophers have, since Socrates, called the “good life.” In other words, ethics.

      Who Doesn’t Love the Sacred Freedom to Spy?

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      Speaking at the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention, Michelle has assumed the mantle of moralist. Like the rest of the Democratic Party, she regrets what the United States has become during President Donald Trump’s tenure. She laments the degraded image of the nation offered for contemplation by today’s youth. She lists the visible scars that nearly four years of Trump’s leadership have left and that the younger generation must ponder.

      “They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good, and winning is everything because as long as you come out on top, it doesn’t matter what happens to everyone else,” she said in a speech broadcast on August 17.

      Here is today’s 3D definition:

      Winning is everything:

      The basic principle that guides the action of the entire political class in the United States and many other democracies, in which the goal of exercising power and having control of public resources trumps all other ethical or even pragmatic considerations

      Contextual Note

      No one more than Trump has emphasized the deeply-held American belief that life is all about competition. According to its dominant Protestant theology that innovated half a millennium ago by banishing purgatory, humanity falls into two categories: winners and losers. Michelle argues that this is too simplistic. She appears to reject this staple of US culture that clearly defines attitudes relating to war, sports and TV talent contests. 

      There is, after all, another dominant feature of US culture that in some ways mirrors and in other ways complements the logic of competition: public moralism. It implies boasting of one’s virtues and explicitly or implicitly condemning those who lack them. It has spawned cultural phenomena as diverse as the Salem witch trials, revivalist preachers, McCarthyism and today’s political correctness.

      Since the New England Puritans, the nation has always had a taste for a form of moralizing leadership often coupled with the triumphalism of representing a “shining city on a hill.” From its inception, the nation has insisted on believing in its moral superiority. The man who wanted to replace British rule with something better because he believed that “all men are created equal” and “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” was, after all, an impenitent slave owner. But compared to the English crown, the new nation thrived on proclaimed ideals rather than inherited privilege.

      Which brings us to the ritual taking place this week that is repeated every four years in the US, the closest thing to a British coronation: the convention of one of the two reigning political parties. This year, the first truly unconventional convention takes place in an ambiance of technological hyperreality, a perfectly appropriate medium for its political hyperreality. What most of the speakers appear to be offering as they unanimously condemn Trump’s sins could be called  a version of “hypermorality.”

      As a moralist, Michelle knows what she is talking about. As a black woman, she understands the feeling of entitlement that successful white people may have, who understand that the system that supports them requires the deprivation and dependence of her own race. As a close friend of billionaires and someone who has become very wealthy herself, she is well placed to understand the ethos of those Americans who believe “greed is good.”

      Michelle has certainly seen Oliver Stone’s movie, “Wall Street.” She knows that people like Gordon Gekko who proclaim “greed is good” are fundamentally evil and capable of destabilizing the American system whose moral arc, like that of the universe itself, “bends towards justice.” In contrast to Park Avenue Trump and his ilk, she and her Democratic billionaire friends know that only some greed is good. In other words, greed is a product that should be consumed in moderation.

      Her critique of “winning is everything” is a bit harder to reconcile with her own family’s political ethos and that of the party she was addressing in her speech. Anyone who has experienced a political campaign knows that campaigns are about one thing only: winning. (Disclosure: This author was, in a remote past, on the campaign staff of a prominent Democratic personality known for his commitment to ideals, but even more so to winning.)

      Michelle may nevertheless have a point. In recent times, Democrats have excelled more at losing than winning. And yet they still manage to keep going. Her husband was a champion at winning, but he hasn’t been quite as successful in his quest to promote candidates capable of winning. Barack Obama pushed Hillary Clinton to run for office in 2016. It was thanks to his initiative that all the moderate candidates dropped out of the Democratic presidential primaries this year to back Joe Biden, effectively eliminating Bernie Sanders from what had begun to look like a potential dark horse victory. Despite his current lead in the polls, in November, Biden may face a humiliation similar to that of the “sure winner” Clinton in 2016.

      Historical Note

      When Michelle Obama condemns entitlement, she is denouncing the culture of inequality that exists in the US, an inequality that Donald Trump has frequently apologized for and sometimes actively promoted. She avoids mentioning another form of entitlement practiced by all US presidents, including her husband, that applies to the rest of the world. 

      This other form of entitlement contains the notion that certain people (Americans) know what values should regulate the lives of other less advanced people. America’s financial and military capacity helps those people to understand the value of that entitlement and sometimes punishes them for refusing to understand.

      Embed from Getty Images

      Like many Americans, Joe Biden believes that equality means the nation has the mission of imposing equality wherever it may be convenient to do so. This reasoning has been used to justify invasions, wars and imperial conquest. It even provided the pretext for the genocide of native tribes whose cultures, if permitted to persist, would not have been compatible with the notion of equality entertained by enlightened Europeans.

      The media agrees that Michelle made a powerful case against President Trump, whose guilt in the eyes of all Democrats is patent. Like most Americans, she has little idea of what Biden might do to cancel and replace Trump’s sins, turpitudes and errors. Treating the Democratic Party as her parishioners, she struck the fear of hellfire into their hearts when, prefaced by “trust me,” she boldly predicted that things would get even worse unless they elect Biden. Not too much about how things might get better.

      That job was left to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez — who endorsed Bernie Sanders for the presidency — to accomplish the following day in the 60 seconds the party generously allotted to her to speak her mind. AOC, as she is known, arrogantly took a full 90 seconds to speak about repairing rather than denouncing wounds, addressing “the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few” and listing the issues, such as health, education and the environment that affect people’s daily lives. 

      Rather than bemoan President Trump, she recognized that “millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises.” If granted 60 more seconds, she might even have given a few details about the programs she had in mind that effectively imply a systemic approach.

      Michelle and Alexandria have been the two stars of the first two days of the Democratic National Convention. An outsider may feel that their messages complement each other. Democratic insiders, including the Obamas, probably regret that they allowed AOC the 90 seconds that defined what the most dynamic elements of the party stand for.

      *[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of The Daily Devil’s Dictionary on Fair Observer.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 213 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Emotional stories and a virtual roll call backing Biden: day two at the DNC – video highlights

      by

      Play Video

      5:15

      Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president during an emotional second night of their party’s virtual convention, warning that Donald Trump was an ‘existential threat’ to America who had failed to get a grip on the coronavirus pandemic. Here are the key moments from the evening
      Jill Biden closes second night as Joe formally secures nomination – as it happened
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      Topics

      Democratic national convention 2020

      US elections 2020

      Joe Biden

      Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

      Bill Clinton

      Democrats

      US politics More

    • 175 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      Pelosi dismisses postmaster general's delay to USPS changes as 'insufficient' – as it happened

      by

      Speaker says pause does not ‘reverse damage already done’
      Democrats show unity on first night of virtual convention
      Michelle Obama picks Trump apart in DNC speech
      Julián Castro warns Democrats of ‘potential slide of Latino support
      Sign up to our First Thing newsletter

      Updated

      Play Video

      1:01

      ‘They’re afraid of the voter’: Pelosi says Democrats will fight for USPS – video

      Key events

      Show

      8.36pm EDT20:36
      Summary

      7.54pm EDT19:54
      Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to deliver endorsement of Joe Biden tonight

      5.04pm EDT17:04
      Today so far

      4.12pm EDT16:12
      Pelosi dismisses delay to USPS changes as ‘insufficient’

      1.45pm EDT13:45
      Postmaster general suspends operational changes until after election

      1.09pm EDT13:09
      Afternoon summary

      10.26am EDT10:26
      Gun-toting St Louis couple to speak at Republican convention

      Live feed

      Show

      8.36pm EDT20:36

      Summary

      That’s it for the politics blog today. We’ll have live coverage of the Democratic convention coming up next on our new liveblog here.
      From me and Joan E Greve:
      Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he was suspending operational changes to the US Postal Service until after the presidential election. Amid accusations that the Trump administration was purposely seeking to slow mail services to help the president’s reelection effort, DeJoy said he was delaying cost-cutting measures to USPS until after November in order to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.”
      House speaker Nancy Pelosi said DeJoy’s decision was “insufficient” to address concerns about voter suppression. “This pause only halts a limited number of the Postmaster’s changes, does not reverse damage already done, and alone is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the President this fall,” Pelosi said.
      DeJoy will testify before the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs on Friday. The postmaster general will also appear before the House oversight committee on Monday, and congressional Democrats say they intend to press DeJoy on whether he will reverse changes already made to USPS operations that have slowed mail delivery.
      The Republican-led Senate intelligence committee released a bipartisan report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report describes an extensive web of contacts between high-ranking Trump campaign officials, including campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and people with ties to Russian intelligence.
      Trump mocked Michelle Obama’s widely praised speech at the Democratic convention last night, in which the former first lady argued the president was the wrong man for the job during an unprecedented moment of crisis for the country. Trump told Obama to “sit back and watch” as he sailed to reelection, even though national polls show the president trailing Joe Biden by several points.
      The president revived racist, xenophobic rhetoric during a campaign event in Yuma, Arizona. He touted his border wall, promoted his anti-immigrant policies, and baselessly cast migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers as criminals – and stoked racist fears against immigrants to promote his campaign over Biden’s.
      Cindy McCain and Colin Powell are the latest Republicans set to participate in the Democratic National Convention tonight. McCain will be featured in a video celebrating Biden’s friendship with her late husband, senator John McCain. Powell, who served as Secretary of State under George W Bush, has already indicated he’ll vote for Biden over Trump — who he publicly rejected in 2016.
      Follow along with our DNC coverage:

      7.54pm EDT19:54

      Former Secretary of State Colin Powell to deliver endorsement of Joe Biden tonight

      Powell, the Republican secretary of state who served in the George W Bush administration, endorses Biden in a clip that the DNC has released ahead of tonight’s events.
      One of several high-profile Republicans who have supported Biden over Trump, Powell indicated in June that he’d vote for Biden — choosing again, as he did in 2016, not to vote for Trump.
      Here’s the clip:

      [embedded content]

      7.23pm EDT19:23

      Here’s more analysis of the Senate report that lays bare the Trump campaign’s links to Russia, from the Guardian’s Luke Harding and Julian Borger:
      The report by the Senate intelligence committee provides a treasure trove of new details about Donald Trump’s relationship with Moscow, and says that a Russian national who worked closely with Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 was a career intelligence officer.
      The bipartisan report runs to nearly 1,000 pages and goes further than last year’s investigation into Russian election interference by special prosecutor Robert Mueller. It lays out a stunning web of contacts between Trump, his top election aides and Russian government officials, in the months leading up to the 2016 election.
      The Senate panel identifies Konstantin Kilimnik as a Russian intelligence officer employed by the GRU, the military intelligence agency behind the 2018 poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. It cites evidence – some of it redacted – linking Kilimnik to the GRU’s hacking and dumping of Democratic party emails.
      Kilimnik worked for over a decade in Ukraine with Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager. In 2016 Manafort met with Kilimnik, discussed how Trump might beat Hillary Clinton, and gave the Russian spy internal polling data. The committee said it couldn’t “reliably determine” why Manafort handed over this information, or what exactly Kilimnik did with it.
      It describes Manafort’s willingness to pass on confidential material to alleged Moscow agents as a “grave counterintelligence threat”. The report dubs Kilimnik part of “a cadre of individuals ostensibly operating outside of the Russian government but who nonetheless implement Kremlin-directed influence operations”. It adds that key oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska fund these operations, together with the Kremlin.
      The investigation found that Kilimnik tweets under the pseudonym Petro Baranenko (@PBaranenko). The account regularly propagates Moscow’s line on international issues, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
      The fact that a Republican-controlled Senate panel established a direct connection between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence makes it harder for Trump and his supporters to allege that the investigation into possible collusion was a “witch-hunt” or “hoax” as the president has repeatedly claimed, in the remaining three months before the election.

      7.08pm EDT19:08

      Cindy McCain has promoted a clip of a video — which is set to air at the Democratic National Convention tonight — in which she discusses her late husband John McCain’s friendship with Joe Biden.
      John McCain ran against Barack Obama and Biden in the 2008 elections.

      Cindy McCain
      (@cindymccain)
      My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a 30+ year friendship dating back to before their years serving together in the Senate, so I was honored to accept the invitation from the Biden campaign to participate in a video celebrating their relationship.https://t.co/Y6XOnBC1IW

      August 18, 2020

      6.35pm EDT18:35

      The Democratic National Committee removed a portion of its official platform seeking to end subsidies for fossil fuel companies, even though Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned on the promise that they would stop such subsidies, HuffPost reports.
      From HuffPost:

      On July 27, officials added an amendment to the Manager’s Mark, a ledger of party demands voted on as one omnibus package, stating: “Democrats support eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels, and will fight to defend and extend tax incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy.”
      The amendment was approved. But the statement ― which reflects pledges presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, each made on the campaign trail ― disappeared from the final draft of the party platform circulated Monday.
      In an emailed statement, a DNC spokesperson said the amendment was “incorrectly included in the Manager’s Mark” and taken out “after the error was discovered.”
      Activists accused the DNC of retroactively removing the amendment from the final draft of the platform.

      Earlier, my colleague Emily Holden reviewed the Biden climate plan. Read her assessment here:

      6.16pm EDT18:16

      Here’s a view from the Trump campaign event in Yuma, Arizona:

      Jill Colvin
      (@colvinj)
      The crowd here in Yuma. Many in masks, but many not. Feels like pre-COVID times, minus the chairs pic.twitter.com/kSJQ91zo3q

      August 18, 2020

      6.15pm EDT18:15

      Speaking in Arizona, Trump has revived his racist, xenophobic rhetoric that baselessly casts immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers as criminals.
      He also has falsely asserted that the media no longer discusses the border wall. Here is a selection of recent reporting on the border wall:
      Voice of San Diego: “Kumeyaay Band Sues to Stop Border Wall Construction”
      National Geographic: “Sacred Arizona spring drying up as border wall construction continues”
      The Guardian: “Officials ignored warnings about Trump wall threat to endangered species”
      Washington Post: “There’s new wall on 194 miles of the border. Sixteen miles didn’t have a barrier before”

      6.04pm EDT18:04

      Cindy McCain will be featured in a video that’s set to air during tonight’s Democratic National Convention, according to the AP. She is one oof several Republicans who are participating in the DNC.
      From the AP:

      Cindy McCain is not expected to offer an explicit endorsement, but her involvement in the video is her biggest public show of support yet for Biden’s candidacy. McCain was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee against Democrat Barack Obama, who won the election with Biden as his vice presidential running mate.
      Both Cindy McCain and her daughter Meghan have been outspoken critics of President Donald Trump, and the family is longtime friends with the Bidens. Trump targeted John McCain personally in 2015, saying the former prisoner of war wasn’t a hero “because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain later angered Trump with his dramatic thumbs-down vote against repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law.
      When McCain died on a Saturday in 2018, the Trump administration lowered the American flag over the White House to half-staff but then raised it by Monday. After public outcry, the White House flags were again lowered. Trump wasn’t invite to McCain’s funeral.

      5.58pm EDT17:58

      Donald Trump is speaking at a campaign event in Arizona. According to the press pool, about five hundred people are in attendance, with no social distancing. Many of the supporters are reportedly wearing MAGA face masks.
      Arizona governor Doug Ducey is among those who have appeared alongside Trump. As part of yesterday’s Democratic National Convention programming, Kristin Urquiza — who was mourning her father who died of Covid-19, delivered a stinging rebuke of Ducey and Trump.
      “My dad was a healthy 65-year-old,” Urquiza said. “His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that, he paid with his life.”
      Earlier this year, Urquiza also wrote an obituary for her father in which blamed his death on the “carelessness of the politicians who continue to jeopardize the health of brown bodies through a clear lack of leadership, refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis, and inability and unwillingness to give clear and decisive direction on how to minimize risk”.

      Updated
      at 6.24pm EDT

      5.36pm EDT17:36

      Notre Dame University has canceled in-person classes for two weeks after starting the semester on 10 August. Students will be allowed to stay on campus, but activities will be limited and large gatherings barred.
      Yesterday, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also decided to switch to remote learning after at least 130 students tested positive for coronavirus.

      Notre Dame
      (@NotreDame)
      University of Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins announced today that in-person classes are suspended, effective Wednesday, replaced by remote instruction only for the next two weeks because positive rates for the coronavirus continue to climb: https://t.co/gKsvmjCqD6

      August 18, 2020

      Updated
      at 5.45pm EDT

      5.22pm EDT17:22

      Sam Levine reports:
      In an unprecedented move, Louisiana’s top election official wants to require a positive Covid-19 test if a voter wants to vote absentee over concerns about the virus. This comes amid a lack of consistent access to testing in the state.
      Louisiana is one of seven states that will still require an excuse to vote by mail this year, only allowing absentee voting if a voter is aged 65 or older or meets certain other conditions such as temporary absence from their county or hospitalization.
      For its elections in July and August, Louisiana eased those restrictions for voters at risk of developing complications from Covid-19 or who had potential exposure to the virus. But under secretary of state Kyle Ardoin’s proposal for the state’s November and December elections released Monday, those accommodations won’t apply. Instead, a voter would need to test positive for Covid-19 between the end of early voting and election day, currently a week-long period to use the hospitalization excuse to request a mail-in ballot.
      The proposal from Ardoin, a Republican, comes as Louisiana has seen lags in testing, meaning a voter could get tested and not have their results in time to be able to request a mail-in ballot. Louisiana has seen 138,485 cases of Covid-19 and 4,526 deaths so far. In April, African Americans accounted for 70% of Covid-19 deaths in the state.

      5.04pm EDT17:04

      Today so far

      That’s it from me for now. I will be back tonight to cover the second night of the Democratic convention.
      Here’s where the day stands so far:
      Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he was suspending operational changes to the US Postal Service until after the presidential election. Amid accusations that the Trump administration was purposely seeking to slow mail services to help the president’s reelection effort, DeJoy said he was delaying cost-cutting measures to USPS until after November in order to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.”
      House speaker Nancy Pelosi said DeJoy’s decision was “insufficient” to address concerns about voter suppression. “This pause only halts a limited number of the Postmaster’s changes, does not reverse damage already done, and alone is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the President this fall,” Pelosi said.
      DeJoy will testify before the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs on Friday. The postmaster general will also appear before the House oversight committee on Monday, and congressional Democrats say they intend to press DeJoy on whether he will reverse changes already made to USPS operations that have slowed mail delivery.
      The Republican-led Senate intelligence committee released a bipartisan report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report describes an extensive web of contact between high-ranking Trump campaign officials, including campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and people with ties to Russian intelligence.
      Trump mocked Michelle Obama’s widely praised speech at the Democratic convention last night, in which the former first lady argued the president was the wrong man for the job during an unprecedented moment of crisis for the country. Trump told Obama to “sit back and watch” as he sailed to reelection, even though national polls show the president trailing Joe Biden by several points.
      My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

      4.49pm EDT16:49

      Trump has arrived in Yuma, Arizona, for his campaign event on immigration and border security. More