TOP STORIES

‌

Tuesday, October 20

‌

'ANGRY' TRUMP TRASHES POLLS, PRESS, FAUCI An angry President Trump raged against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the press and polls that show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden in key battleground states. On the third day of a western campaign swing, Trump was facing intense pressure to turn around his struggling reelection effort. But his erratic message, rising virus cases and his attacks on experts like Fauci could undermine his final efforts to appeal to voters outside his most loyal base. “I’m not running scared,” Trump told reporters before taking off for Tucson, Arizona, for his fifth rally in three days. “I think I’m running angry. I’m running happy and I’m running very content.” [AP]

‌

TUSCON MAYOR CALLS OUT TRUMP'S $80,000 RALLY DEBT The mayor of Tucson fired off a letter to Trump pointing out that his campaign still owes her city $80,000 for his last rally four years ago — even as he heads to his next potential superspreader event there on Monday. Democrat Regina Romero — the first Latina to become mayor of one of the largest 50 U.S. cities — also urged Trump to adhere to Tucson’s mask mandate and follow social distance requirements. Few masks and packed crowds are the hallmarks of a Trump rally. [HuffPost]

‌

SCOTUS BLOCKS GOP EFFORT TO LIMIT PENNSYLVANIA MAIL-IN VOTING The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to Republicans with a split vote that effectively allows Pennsylvania to keep its extended mail-in voting period. The justices’ 4-4 tie leaves in place a lower court ruling that will let state officials count ballots received after Election Day unless there’s evidence they were sent after the deadline. Election officials have three days to count those votes, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined last month. Monday’s split vote is expected to have sweeping effects in the swing state. [HuffPost]

• Beekeepers are determined to avoid getting stung by pandemic shutdowns.
• We're facing down a winter of COVID-19. How are you feeling?
• Your self-care toolkit for dealing with the tough months ahead.
• What we know about estrogen's "protective effect" against COVID-19.
• 101 joyful things to do while self-isolating.
• 34 Zoom Halloween costume ideas, as you are so stuck inside this year.
• What is a provisional ballot, anyway?
• Eight easy ways to help the environment, starting in your kitchen.

Get the latest coronavirus updates on our dedicated page

Join our reporters and editors for live Q&As as we break down the 2020 presidential debates together.

NEW DEBATE RULES: MUTE BUTTON Trump and Biden will have their microphones cut off in Thursday’s debate while their rival delivers their opening two-minute answer to each of the debate topics. The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate. The open discussion portion of the debate will not feature a mute button, but interruptions by either candidate will count toward their time. [HuffPost]

‌

ADMIRAL IN CHARGE OF BIN LADEN RAID ENDORSES BIDEN 

Retired four-star Adm. William McRaven endorsed Biden in an editorial published on Monday by The Wall Street Journal. “This week I went to the polls in Texas,” wrote McRaven, who oversaw the raid that led to the 2011 death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. “I am a pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, small-government, strong-defense and a national-anthem-standing conservative ... But, I also believe that black lives matter, that the Dreamers deserve a path to citizenship, that diversity and inclusion are essential to our national success, that education is the great equalizer, that climate change is real.” [HuffPost]

‌

RIGHT-WING PROPAGANDA VIDEO ASSIGNED IN OHIO SCHOOL An Ohio public school has been giving students extra credit for watching videos from PragerU, a right-wing website that produces clips of talking heads such as Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro discussing conservative viewpoints. The PragerU videos — with titles such as “Build the Wall,” “Why the Right Was Right” and “The Left Ruins Everything” — were assigned to a 10th-grade history class at Maumee High School, along with a series of questions about the videos’ “most important messages.” [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

‌

EX-BUSH AIDE TELLS EVANGELICALS WHAT TRUMP REALLY THINKS OF THEM Peter Wehner is warning evangelical Christians that they made a “bad bargain” with Trump, who does not respect them or their faith. “Trump clearly sees white evangelicals as a means to an end, people to be used, suckers to be played,” Wehner wrote in The Atlantic. Wehner pointed to a series of insider reports, such as Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) revealing last week that Trump “mocks evangelicals behind closed doors,” and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen writing that Trump said “can you believe people believe that bulls**t?” after evangelicals did a laying-of-hands ceremony on him. [HuffPost]

‌

DOJ CHARGES RUSSIAN MILITARY IN MASSIVE HACKS 

The Department of Justice announced charges against Russian military intelligence officials, alleging that they’ve been involved in the most disruptive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group. “No country has weaponized its cyber capabilities as maliciously and irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented collateral damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite,” John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said at a news conference. [HuffPost]

‌

REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM TRUMP After four years of looking the other way and pretending not to read his tweets, a growing number of Republican senators are suddenly attempting to distance themselves from Trump and rewrite history about their support for a president who, at least according to public polls, is likely headed for a big loss in next month’s election. The epiphany some GOP senators are having just two weeks before Election Day may have less to do with their convictions and more about positioning themselves politically for a post-Trump world if the polls prove right and Biden becomes president. [HuffPost]

‌

JUDGE STRIKES DOWN TRUMP RULE TO CUT FOOD BENEFITS AMID PANDEMIC A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration rule that would have cut food stamp benefits to almost 700,000 unemployed Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge, in a court filing, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been “icily silent” about how many people would have been denied the benefits with the changes. [Reuters]

‌

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE OVER BORDER WALL FUNDING 

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court ruling that it improperly diverted money to build portions of the border wall with Mexico. The high court has previously allowed construction to continue, even after a federal appeals court ruled in June that the administration had illegally sidestepped Congress in transferring the Defense Department funds. The court also agreed to review a Trump administration policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings. [AP]

‌

TRUMP'S WEIRDEST WAR ON CHRISTMAS ATTACK YET 

Trump just fired a salvo in the “war on Christmas” with a strange new line of attack on Biden. While speaking in Carson City, Nevada, Trump seemed to blame the coronavirus lockdowns earlier this year on Biden. Biden was a private citizen with no government role. “If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghost town and the Christmas season will be canceled,” Trump claimed. Biden would not take office until Jan. 20 ― well after the Christmas season ― should he win the election. The former vice president is a practicing Catholic who celebrates the holiday. [HuffPost]

• What I learned about male desire in a sex doll factory.
• Havana syndrome: Odd noises, strange illnesses and two very different U.S. responses.
• The world leaders who want Trump to win.
• Which books have the most disappointing endings? Readers weigh in.
• Millennial couples in relationship counseling tell us what it's like.
• "We're like athletes": The secret lives of giant vegetable growers.
• More Americans are moving in with extended family. These women say it brought unexpected benefits.
• Masks made Czech Republic the envy of Europe. Now they've blown it.
• David Letterman isn't here to cheer you up this time.

BEFORE YOU GO