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August 30th 2024

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

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The US in brief

A sharp round-up of the most important political news

In Kamala Harris’s first sit-down television interview since becoming the Democrats' presidential nominee, Dana Bash of CNN pressed the vice-president on why she had changed her mind about banning fracking and decriminalising illegal immigration. Ms Harris claimed that her “values” remained the same but as vice-president she had learned to “build consensus”. She said she would consider including a Republican in her cabinet if elected, although she had “no one in particular in mind”. Ms Harris refused to dwell on Donald Trump’s claim that she only recently started identifying as black (“next question”). An unimpressed Mr Trump called the interview “boring” and said she “rambled incoherently”.

Mr Trump said that if he is elected the government would pay for in vitro fertilisation for “all Americans who need it” or make health-insurance companies do so. The treatment was thrust into the spotlight when Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos created using IVF counted as children under state law, causing the temporary closure of fertility clinics. The Harris campaign dismissed Mr Trump’s promise, saying he “lies as much if not more than he breathes”.

A Department of Justice report said that the FBI had repeatedly mismanaged child-abuse cases. The investigation was prompted by the bureau’s failure to pursue allegations against Larry Nassar, a doctor with America’s Olympic team who was convicted of abusing young gymnasts. After auditing over 300 other cases, the DoJ said the FBI did not report incidents to the correct agencies, leaving victims vulnerable to continued abuse. The DoJ recommended 11 points of improvement.

The army defended an employee of Arlington National Cemetery after a run-in with Mr Trump’s campaign on Monday. The employee, according to a statement, tried to prevent campaign staffers filming in a section of the gravesite where political activities are forbidden, but was “abruptly pushed aside”. Two of Mr Trump’s campaign aides disparaged her after the incident became public.

The country’s biggest publishers sued Florida, arguing that a law compelling school districts to remove certain books from libraries violates the First Amendment. Under the statute, schools must remove books that parents object to until the objection is resolved. (“Anna Karenina”, a Russian classic, is one.) Florida’s Department of Education told the Tampa Bay Times that the lawsuit was a “stunt”.

Hard to hold

Democrats always struggle to win control of the Senate. The smaller, rural states where Republicans pick up seats get the same representation as the more populous, urban states where Democrats do well. But this year will be especially challenging because a number of Republican-leaning but Democratic-held seats are up for grabs. Read our story about Democrats’ uphill battle to retain control of America’s upper house.

A view from elsewhere
“The contrast between the two parties, their candidates, platforms, broad values, political cultures and ethical standards” is perfectly clear after their conventions, wrote Eyad Abu Shakra in Arab News, a newspaper owned by a member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. “If any voter remains confused or undecided” after the two parties’ conventions, he wrote, “they quite frankly do not deserve the privilege of exercising their right to vote.”

We want to hear from you
Readers are sending us lots of thoughtful emails so we’ve decided to publish some every Wednesday. If you have views on what is happening in America drop us a line at usib@economist.com. And, of course, we still welcome your feedback on this newsletter.

Editor’s picks

Our latest US coverage

The new wall

Donald Trump’s promise of “mass deportation” is unworkable

Yet he could cause serious harm by trying

Over the Rainbow

What Texas’s oldest motel reveals about the rural South

From joyrides and drugs to economic dynamism

Play the archive

Dateline: The Economist history quiz

Can you guess when these extracts were published?

Today’s forecast

Our forecast reckons that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have nearly equal chances of winning the election in November.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things America. This week’s winner is Sonia Barrad in Long Beach, California. The answers were:

Monday: The official name of the “Sears Tower” is the Willis Tower.

Tuesday: Electricity had its American debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. So too did the incandescent lights and ferris wheel it powered.

Wednesday: In John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s day off” the eponymous character pretends to be ill to go on a tour of Chicago with his mates.

Thursday: McDonald’s founded Hamburger University.

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things America. This week’s winner is Sonia Barrad in Long Beach, California. The answers were:

Monday: The official name of the “Sears Tower” is the Willis Tower.

Tuesday: Electricity had its American debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. So too did the incandescent lights and ferris wheel it powered.

Wednesday: In John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s day off” the eponymous character pretends to be ill to go on a tour of Chicago with his mates.

Thursday: McDonald’s founded Hamburger University.

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things America. This week’s winner is Alexander Gray in Boston, Massachusetts. The answers were:

Monday: Camp David, the official presidential country residence in Maryland, was named by Dwight Eisenhower in honour of his grandson.

Tuesday: The Little White House, where Harry Truman holidayed 11 times, was in Key West, Florida.

Wednesday: Jimmy Carter reportedly oversaw the White House tennis court’s playing schedule personally.

Thursday: In August 2009 Barack Obama was photographed on a bike in Martha’s Vineyard without a helmet.

See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed this week’s quiz, play Dateline, The Economist’s new history game.

Figure of the day

21.5%, the prime interest rate in 1980 after Jimmy Carter gave Paul Volcker free rein over the Federal Reserve. Read our story about the tumultuous relationship between the White House and America’s central bank.

Heard on Fox News

Well, it’s working.

—As Lawrence Jones, a Fox News host, complains about the “rebranding of Kamala Harris” by the media, his colleague Steve Doocy interrupts with the bottom line.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

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