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Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. It is Monday, the finale for August 2020. We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger has the con while Al Weaver is off this week. You can find us @asimendinger and @alweaver22 on Twitter and please recommend the Morning Report to your friends. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of Monday morning, 183,068.
Global coronavirus cases now exceed 25 million, with nearly 6 million in the United States (Reuters).
Former Vice President Joe Biden and leading Democrats on Sunday called for a de-escalation of violence amid continuing protests and urged President Trump to call for national calm ahead of his planned visit to Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Sunday urged Trump in writing not to make the trip (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Accusing the president of fanning the flames of racial unrest in order to side with law enforcement rather than with protesters who decry police shootings of Black men, Biden and leading Democrats lashed Trump for what they charged are his election-focused motives while they put down some political markers of their own.
Reuters: Democrats say Trump visit may worsen protests in Wisconsin city.
The Hill: Biden during campaign speech near Pittsburgh, Pa., today will ask voters, “are you safe in Donald Trump’s America?”
On Sunday, Trump turned his Twitter account against Biden and separately tweeted “LAW & ORDER!!!” in response to the shooting death late Saturday of a man in Portland, Ore., who was later described as a Trump supporter. The man was killed during demonstrations one week after police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man in Kenosha, Wis., as he stood next to his SUV. Both incidents are under investigation.
Biden on Sunday returned fire against Trump, using the same word — “weak” — that the president used against him on Thursday during his South Lawn acceptance speech.
The Democratic nominee in a statement said Trump “is recklessly encouraging violence. He may believe tweeting about law and order makes him strong — but his failure to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict shows just how weak he is. He may think that war in our streets is good for his reelection chances, but that is not presidential leadership — or even basic human compassion.”
The incendiary back-and-forth just 64 days before Nov. 3 pushed the contest between Trump and Biden more forcefully into divides over racial injustice, policing, the utility of protests and public denunciations of looting, property destruction and violence. Multiple polls suggest that an initial surge in public support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in May began to level off by June and July, in large measure because of shifts in views among whites (The Washington Post).
The Associated Press: When Trump talks law and order, some Wisconsin voters listen.
Following the Trump campaign’s explicit appeal for support from Black voters during last week’s Republican National Convention, Biden and other Democrats say they mistrust Trump’s motives in deciding to travel to the Wisconsin community in which a police officer is accused of shooting Blake in the back seven times. Portland has been the site of nightly protests, vandalism, violence and hundreds of arrests of demonstrators by local and federal law enforcement since Floyd’s murder. The president for months has celebrated endorsements and support from law enforcement groups, including the National Association of Police Organizations (pictured below during a White House event in July).
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who co-chairs the Biden campaign, argued on Sunday that the White House is backing law enforcement while using explicit references to Republican-led cities and states. “Who is on the side of justice? Who is on the side of constitutional policing?” The congressman said it will be up to Biden to “try to heal this country because the president just doesn’t have it in him.”
The Hill’s Jonathan Easley and Amie Parnes report how Democratic leaders are trying to strike a balance between solidarity with racial justice demonstrations and condemnations of violence and criminal acts that stoke Trump’s descriptions of “mob rule” and “anarchy.” Trump is widely perceived by progressives and even some Republicans as leveraging racial divisions in order to turn out his largely white, male base of supporters.
“The job of a president is to lower the temperature,” Biden said in his Sunday statement. “The temperature in the country is higher, tensions run stronger, divisions run deeper. And all of us are less safe because Donald Trump can’t do the job of the American president.
The president on Sunday called Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) a “fool,” and urged him to bring in the National Guard after a man was shot and killed on Saturday during skirmishes between Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter demonstrators. The president repeatedly describes unrest over racial justice in some U.S. cities this summer as the result of flawed Democratic leadership. He has repeatedly pledged “law and order” in response (The Hill).
Oregonian: Portland mayor to Trump on Sunday: “support us” or “stay the hell out of the way.”
“They centered an entire convention around creating more animosity and creating more division around what’s going on in Kenosha,” Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) said during a CNN interview on Sunday, referring to last week’s Republican National Convention. “So I don’t know how, given any of the previous statements that the president made, that he intends to come here to be helpful, and we absolutely don’t need that right now.”
The Hill: White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Sunday that “most of Donald Trump’s America is peaceful.”
NBC News: “The president is on the side of law enforcement and the rule of law and he’s been very consistent in that,” Meadows told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” When asked repeatedly whether Trump would try to de-escalate tensions among his supporters, some of whom have been accused of provoking violence with protesters, Meadows answered that the president is backing law enforcement and that the federal government is “willing to provide additional assets” to states looking to control unrest.
The Hill: Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a former Orlando, Fla., police chief, told CBS News on Sunday that the Portland shooting was “what happens” when homeland security is “politicized.” Demings asked Trump to try to soothe national tensions. “Wouldn’t it be nice for the president of the United States to take to the microphone or the airwaves and send a message for peace and calm?” she added.
NBC News: An Illinois 17-year-old arrested and charged with the fatal shootings of two people in Kenosha who were protesting Blake’s shooting had displayed “Blue Lives Matter” slogans and firearms online.
The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant and Max Greenwood describe how both parties are trafficking in the politics of fear.
NBC News: The state of the 2020 race following the conventions.
George Packer, The Atlantic: This is how Biden loses.
Strategists in both political parties predict the GOP will consolidate Republicans and that as a result, the president’s poll numbers will rise to narrow the national lead Biden enjoyed for much of the summer, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.
Yahoo News: In fact, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll finds Biden’s lead over Trump shrank to 6 points from nearly 9 points among registered voters following the Republican convention — the former vice president’s smallest lead in nearly two months. The survey did not find a clear impact on voters’ choices tied to Blake’s shooting, recorded by witnesses and shared online and by news outlets (Police1.com).
The Hill’s upshot from Sunday talk shows: Democrats target Trump as violence flares.
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LEADING THE DAY
2020 POLITICS & CAMPAIGNS: Massachusetts Democrats are preparing for a primary clash between two of the commonwealth’s fiercest political forces on Tuesday. A race involving progressives pits incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, the longest-serving member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, against Rep. Joe Kennedy III, the grandson of the late attorney general and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) (pictured together in February, below).
The contest has edged toward a personal rivalry, but some analysts think voters are sizing up the contenders based on their respective records, reports The Hill’s Julia Manchester. “I really think the contest is between who can do a better job, and how do you do that job,” said Massachusetts Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh.
> Pandemic politics: In the presidential race, Trump and Biden have drawn sharp contrasts with each other over the issue Americans say is the most important problem facing the country. The Hill’s Peter Sullivan describes how Biden has called for outdoor mask mandates in every state, while Trump voices optimism that a vaccine will be distributed this year at the same time he hosts gatherings and rallies that welcome mask-free crowds. The president assails Biden’s openness to the idea of future community lockdowns to halt the spread of COVID-19, while Biden argues that Trump undercuts accurate scientific and medical information and experts at the nation’s peril.
> Campaigning through the news media: Trump continues to participate in interviews with select news media outlets every week, both in person and on the phone and both national and local. For example, the president last week spoke about Biden, his own media strategy, his White House press briefings and his perspective on how the national media are perceived by his supporters during a friendly interview at the White House with One America News Network. Biden last week participated in hastily arranged, virtual interviews with MSNBC and CNN during the GOP convention. He’s being criticized by Democratic analysts for doing the bare minimum of media interviews. His backers worry that the former vice president is repeating a mistake made by Hillary Clinton in 2016, when her wariness about the national media was chalked up as a “miscalculation” that played into Trump’s victorious hands in three essential swing states. “If you’re not going to be out on the trail, you should be doing interviews every single day,” said one Democratic strategist (The Hill).
The Hill: Another sharp contrast drawn by the Trump campaign during the Republican National Convention involves energy policy. Republicans seek to cast Biden as radically left-leaning on energy and conservation in ways that could accrue to Trump’s benefit among voters in key states. Trump has emphasized Biden’s anti-fracking stance when speaking with Pennsylvania voters and has pummeled Biden’s call to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources with the argument in red states that domestic oil- and gas-drilling jobs pay higher wages than openings in the wind and solar industries.
The Hill: The Republican Party in 2020 has no consensus policy platform but has floated a rough outline of Trump’s agenda for the next four years. Dropping a formal platform allows the nominee to avoid commitments on foreign policy with Ukraine, reports The Hill’s Laura Kelly.
> Senate race: Maine’s airwaves are heating up with commentary about the state’s marquee Senate race. Republican Sen. Susan Collins is battling to keep her seat in one of the most expensive Senate races in the country. Much of the messaging comes down to a classic campaign theme: Does Collins, first elected to the Senate in 1996, still represent Maine values? “What this race is going to turn on is who is better able to establish their narrative on that question: Has Collins changed or has she not changed? That’s what’s going to decide the outcome on this,” Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine told The Hill.
> Sunshine State: Trump currently trails Biden by 3.7 percent in Florida, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Florida GOP speakers at the Republican National Convention last week used the four-day event to try to appeal to voters in the nation’s largest swing state, particularly seniors and conservative Latinos. Florida’s first female Cuban American lieutenant governor, Jeanette Núñez, for example, spoke at the convention about fleeing Cuba under Fidel Castro’s rule in 1959, a story that resonates with a shrinking older generation of Cuban Americans in South Florida who have reliably favored Republican presidential candidates every four years (The Hill).
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
CONGRESS: Lawmakers are not expected to return to Washington until after Labor Day, but this week’s jostling is taking shape along one new track — intelligence briefings — in addition to the months-long haggling over the size and components of the next coronavirus stimulus bill.
On Sunday, lawmakers from both parties criticized the administration’s weekend announcement that members of Congress will no longer receive in-person intelligence briefings about election security issues, a new stance explained by former conservative congressman John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and an outspoken Trump ally (CNN). The administration has accused Democrats familiar with the briefings of leaking classified information to the news media for political purposes.
In addition to blistering pushback from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ratcliffe’s decision is opposed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday it is possible the House could subpoena intelligence officials to testify on election interference. Such a move would up the ante to the level of political theater (CNN).
> Meanwhile, remember the tens of millions of unemployed Americans?: The House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis plans a hearing Tuesday to discuss the need for additional economic assistance during the pandemic with witness Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin will describe the administration’s implementation of stimulus programs enacted earlier this year at the same time that lawmakers continue staking out favored positions for the September arm wrestling ahead.
On Friday, Pelosi said $1.3 trillion in coronavirus assistance floated as the latest offer from the White House is still insufficient. The House passed a $3.4 trillion stimulus measure in May and is trying to get Trump’s negotiating team closer to $2.2 trillion than the GOP opening bid of $1 trillion (Reuters). The Speaker argues Democrats came down $1 trillion and the White House needs to come up by the same amount.
While Pelosi and Mnuchin have successfully negotiated previous coronavirus emergency bills together, the Speaker and Meadows are oil and water during these ongoing talks, in part because of past battles and long memories, report The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Scott Wong.
The New York Times: Mnuchin tried to save the economy. Not even his family is happy.
As The Hill’s Niv Elis and Jordain Carney report, a deal, if it can be reached, may be tied to a must-pass funding measure to prevent a government shutdown before the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The message to most Americans whose expanded unemployment insurance ran out in July: Washington wrangling over who and how generously to help could continue for weeks, if not months.
Meanwhile, economists are among those urging Congress to raise unemployment benefits that expired this summer in order to help keep older workers from falling into poverty. Job losses at older ages, when there is less time to recover, can cause financial damage that ripples into later life because it takes older workers longer to get rehired and their incomes rarely recover. During the Great Recession, only 41 percent of laid-off workers over age 62 found employment within 18 months, compared with 78 percent of those ages 25 to 49. Such patterns have economists predicting downward mobility for the middle class, an ominous outlook for the U.S. economy (The New York Times).
****
CORONAVIRUS: Tracing its path: A patchwork approach to contact tracing across state health departments is making it more difficult to identify where people are being exposed to the coronavirus, yet another side effect of the country’s 50-state approach to the pandemic. Some states such as Louisiana and Oregon track and publicly release data about COVID-19 cases and outbreaks tied to bars, camps, daycare facilities and restaurants, but most states are not that comprehensive or transparent (The Hill).
> Identifying new viruses worldwide: The Trump administration allowed the U.S. global virus tracking program called Predict to lapse as a holdover from the Obama era. Now it has quietly recast the effort, to launch in October, and called it Stop Spillover (The New York Times).
> Arizona — from hot spot to best practices: Not that long ago, Arizona (pictured below) experienced one of the worst COVID-19 infection rates in the country, with 2,798 cases per 100,000 people. But the infection statistics improved and everyday activities are resuming. The Hill’s Reid Wilson reports on how the Grand Canyon State turned the corner and what it can teach the rest of the country about responding to outbreaks and fatalities.
> U.S. schools: Teachers unions are waging court fights across the country aimed at what they say are unsafe and politically motivated timetables for reopening schools to in-person instruction. State officials eager to revive faltering economies face lawsuits including in Florida, Texas and Iowa (The Hill).
France: School reopenings planned this week will not be for all schools, after all, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Sunday amid a rise in coronavirus infections in France that threatens the government’s push to get 12.9 million students back to in-person instruction. “It’s being decided by a day-by-day analysis based on the health situation of each territory,” he said. Some schools and classes will remain closed, he clarified (The Associated Press). … The Tour de France began on Saturday as French health authorities introduced stricter anti-COVID-19 regulations for exclusions if there are infections among riders and support crews. The race ends on Sept. 20 (TIME).
India now has the fastest-growing daily coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new cases for four straight days in a country of 1.4 billion people. The government wants to reopen all schools starting Tuesday (The Associated Press).
The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com and aweaver@digital-staging.thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
OPINION
There’s a new Game of Thrones in the Mediterranean: It’s time to listen to Germany and take a step back, by The New York Times editorial board. https://nyti.ms/34NPKDW
The NFL should ask itself how much longer it wants to clean up after Dan Snyder, by The Washington Post editorial board. https://wapo.st/32y1Lus
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WHERE AND WHEN
The House will convene at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday for a pro forma session.
The Senate meets on Tuesday at 7 a.m. for a pro forma session. The full Senate is scheduled to meet on Sept. 8.
The president will have lunch with Vice President Pence at 1:15 p.m. Trump will meet with Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf at 3 p.m.
INVITATION: The Hill hosts a virtual discussion about “Science and American Advancement” today from 1 to 3 p.m. with former National Science Foundation Director France Córdova, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Energy Department Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar, plus other experts. RSVP: https://bit.ly/2FT87wT.
Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-staging.thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube.
ELSEWHERE
➔ U.S. petroleum industry aims its plastics at Kenya: An industry group representing the world’s largest chemical makers and fossil fuel companies is lobbying to influence U.S. trade negotiations with Kenya to reverse that country’s strict environmental limits on plastics, according to The New York Times. Because much of the billions of pieces of plastic waste exported from the United States to be recycled ends up in the world’s rivers and oceans instead, Kenya last year signed a global agreement to stop importing plastic waste. It’s a pact strongly opposed by the chemical industry.
➔ Administration regulatory policy: New energy rules proposed by Trump as part of a March executive order could result in curbs on the use of grid equipment and other critical technology manufactured by countries deemed to be threats to the United States, such as China. Energy industry owners and operators are worried about potential disruption to the supply chain, particularly as tensions simmer between the world’s two largest economies (The Hill).
➔ International: In the Middle East, Lebanon’s powerhouse Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has come under unprecedented public criticism within the populace. The complaints focus on its role in Lebanese politics, corruption, the tattered economy and the catastrophic blast at Beirut’s port on Aug. 4 that killed at least 180 people (The Associated Press).
THE CLOSER
And finally … Today begins a fortnight without fans, smaller fields in men’s and women’s doubles and no mixed doubles at New York’s U.S. Open tennis tournament. The pandemic has drastically altered an end-of-summer sports extravaganza that thousands of fans have long adored.
“It’s strange to see empty stands,” Novak Djokovic said on Saturday as he rallied to win a tournament in the same spot (The New York Times). “The circumstances are very unusual, but we have to accept that, we have to deal with it and try to embrace it.”
Ranked No. 1, Djokovic is 23-0 in 2020. He will try to sweep the so-called bubble double by winning the U.S. Open for the fourth time. The coronavirus has upended the usual tour season, with Wimbledon canceled and the French Open moved to later in September. The men’s singles competition in New York won’t have Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer this year, and six of the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 10 players will not be there, meaning there is no women’s favorite as the tournament begins.
ESPN reports the long shots, best brackets and picks for the U.S. Open HERE.
