Nanny Bloomberg’s Latest Target Is Actually Pretty Reasonable

Dems called for another round of $1,200 checks, and now the GOP is proposing something similar. But a stimulus deal, and the timing, remain iffy.

8:07 p.m.

president trump

Trump Reportedly Called American War Dead ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’

“Why should I go to that cemetery?” Trump reportedly asked, before skipping a trip to a WWI burial ground. “It’s filled with losers.”

6:03 p.m.

coronavirus stimulus

Why the Deal to Avoid a Government Shutdown May Be Bad News

Usually a deal that averts a shutdown is a good thing, but there’s a catch this time.

Most Popular

5:54 p.m.

Our most patriotic president ever

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day.

In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Belleau Wood is a consequential battle in American history, and the ground on which it was fought is venerated by the Marine Corps. America and its allies stopped the German advance toward Paris there in the spring of 1918. But Trump, on that same trip, asked aides, “Who were the good guys in this war?” He also said that he didn’t understand why the United States would intervene on the side of the Allies.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’

—The Atlantic

5:21 p.m.

daniel prude

Black Man Died of Asphyxiation After Officers Placed Hood on Him

By Benjamin Hart

Rochester police put a “spit hood” over Daniel Prude’s head, then pinned him to the ground for two minutes. Seven officers have now been suspended.

4:27 p.m.

intelligencer chats

Should New York City Really Be Reopening Its Schools?

By Benjamin Hart and Lisa Miller

Considering the pros and cons of the city’s big September gamble.

3:28 p.m.

The stock market is taking a beating today

And the Dow’s down 1,000.

—@LaMonicaBuzz

3:00 p.m.

hairy situations

What’s All This Drama Over Nancy Pelosi’s Hair?

By Claire Lampen

The House Speaker broke coronavirus protocol at a hair salon. She says she was “set up.”

2:04 p.m.

5 Reasons Biden’s Odds of Victory Look Better Than Ever

By Eric Levitz

There’s still plenty of time on the clock, but the past 48 hours of news and polling makes Biden’s lead look sturdier than before the RNC.

1:50 p.m.

Democrats Scramble to Prevent Premature Trump Victory Declaration

In battlegrounds with little experience voting by mail, a faster count may keep Trump from calling the race before all the votes are counted.

10:27 a.m.

the national interest

William Barr Not Sure If Trump’s Plan for His Supporters to Vote Twice Is Legal

By Jonathan Chait

Attorney general appears unfamiliar with the law.

9:20 a.m.

NYC has an ambitious, unprecedented plan for testing students and teachers going back to school

Coronavirus testing tents will be constructed outside New York City schools. More than 10 percent of students and teachers will get a nose swab once a month. At $70 per test, the operation could cost the city $10 million per month.

Bringing children back to classrooms in the nation’s largest school system was already a monumental challenge. Now New York City is also rushing to set up mandatory random testing at 1,800 schools by Oct. 1 — a last-minute wild-card mission that no other major city has tried.

… The city is planning to randomly test about 10 percent to 20 percent of students, teachers and staffers at each school once a month, which could mean processing 60,000 to 120,000 tests every month. Officials hope to return test results in 48 hours and provide individual students with their results, city officials said.

… The city’s health and hospital system will oversee the schools testing program and is likely to rely on school nurses to help administer the tests. The city is contracting with additional labs to process test results and is working to secure a partnership with a lab in New York City.

N.Y.C. School Plan Hinges on Hundreds of Thousands of Virus Tests

—NYC

9:16 a.m.

Biden is headed to Kenosha today

Joe Biden faces the most intense test yet of his pledge to be a calming, unifying leader for a divided nation when he travels Thursday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city now at the center of America’s election-year reckoning with systemic racism.

The 77-year-old former vice president, traveling two days after President Donald Trump visited the same city, plans to meet with family of Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized after being shot seven times in the back by a white police officer as authorities tried to arrest him. Biden also plans a community discussion with business figures, civic leaders and law enforcement officials.

“This is about making sure that we move forward,” Biden told reporters Wednesday. He added that he’s “not going to tell Kenosha what they have to do” but instead encourage a community to “talk about what has to be done.”

In Kenosha, Biden to test his promise to unify the nation

—AP

8:09 a.m.

Another batch of Republican leaders announce their support for Biden

Nearly 100 Republican and independent leaders will endorse Democrat Joe Biden for president on Thursday, including one-time 2020 Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld and the former Republican governors of Michigan and New Jersey, people involved in the effort told Reuters.

The latest Republican-led effort to oppose the re-election of President Donald Trump also includes current and former Republicans in the key battleground state of Michigan that will help decide the outcome of the Nov. 3 election, the group’s members said.

Called ‘Republicans and Independents for Biden’, the group is headed by Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who has become one of Trump’s fiercest critics and who spoke at the recent Democratic National Convention in support of Biden.

Exclusive: Biden garners more Republican endorsements, this time from ex-governors

—Reuters

7:00 a.m.

buyer's market

Here’s Why Airlines Are Ending Change Fees

By Josh Barro

While there won’t be fees for altering your travel plans, you’ll probably have to choose higher fares or cheap, inflexible tickets.

12:29 a.m.

2020 census

Leaked Census Document Warns of ‘Serious Errors’ Due to Shortened Timeline

The Trump administration’s most effective attempt to undermine the census is also its simplest.

Trump Wants to Cut Federal Funding to ‘Anarchist Jurisdictions’ Including NYC

doj

The president’s threat to defund Democratic cities if they defund the police is extremely unlikely to hold up in the courts.

Trump Asks Americans to Defend Against Voter Fraud by Committing Voter Fraud

voting by mail

The president advised people to test North Carolina’s mail-in system by voting in person then casting an absentee ballot, which is illegal.

The Fall of the Kennedy Dynasty Took More Than Just One Night

kennedy dynasty

Joseph Kennedy III’s loss to Ed Markey was just the latest in a long series of setbacks for the storied political family.

‘The World’s Most Expensive Streaming Service’

pivot schooled live

By Intelligencer Staff

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss the state of higher education in 2020.

9/2/2020

A big day for new polls ends on a very positive note for Biden

Fox News polls: Biden +9 in Arizona, Biden +8 in Wisconsin, Biden +4 in North Carolina.

—@HotlineJosh

Election Day Is About to Begin

Ten states begin sending out mail ballots in September and seven hold in-person early voting the same month.

CDC Advises States to Prepare to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine As Soon As November

coronavirus

The agency advised states to consider the immense challenge of distribution, as some public-health experts worry that Trump is rushing the process.

9/2/2020

Pelosi’s explanation for the salon incident is really something

Pelosi addresses Monday’s salon incident: “I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to…many times…It was a set up, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup.” “I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up”

She says she’s been “inundated” with people in the hair service industry telling her, “Thank you for calling attention to this, we need to get back to work. … Many of them annoyed at the setup, that was there, for a purpose that has nothing to do with ending the crisis.”

As for the short clip showing her mask around her neck: “I just had my hair washed. I don’t wear a mask when I’m washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you’re washing your hair? I always wear a mask … And that picture is when I just came out of the bowl.”

—@TalKopan

Washington Correspondent, @SFChronicle

Polls Reveal the Conventions to Be Enormous Wastes of Time and Effort

The basic shape of the race hasn’t changed after the conventions, though a poll from Pennsylvania is good news for Trump

9/2/2020

We all should have seen this coming

This has been a year of chaos and pain, but this moment also holds the potential of leading toward a new and much better chapter.

I’m launching a new podcast, The Deciding Decade, featuring in-depth conversations with people who are helping lead the way. pic.twitter.com/gp4oXLAMNe

—@PeteButtigieg

9/2/2020

Fact check: True

Joe Biden on Trump’s Walter Reed visit: “Nothing this administration does is normal, and so— I’m not being facetious when I say that. So who in God’s name knows what this is all about. I just don’t know, I don’t know, and I’m not going to speculate.”

—@kylegriffin1

9/2/2020

Your 2020 debate moderators

U.S. presidential election debate moderators – balanced list announced.

1st debate 9/29: Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday
VP debate 10/7: @SusanPage USA Today
2nd debate 10/15: (town hall): Steve Scully, C-SPAN
3rd 10/22: Kristen Welker, NBC (TODAY, White House Correspondent)

—@PoliticoRyan