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September 9th 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

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent the weekend before their debate on September 10th very differently. Ms Harris has been prepping with her aides in a hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (breaking only to visit shops to meet supporters). Mr Trump was on the campaign trail. Many Americans still do not have a clear idea of who Ms Harris is and what she stands for but have firm opinions about Mr Trump. So both debate participants will be duelling to define the Democratic candidate. The outcome of the presidential race is a toss-up.

Congress’s priority as it returns on Monday is to pass a stop-gap funding measure before federal agencies run out of money on September 30th. On Friday Republicans in the House of Representatives complicated matters by releasing a draft funding proposal that also requires people to prove they are citizens to register to vote, even though voter fraud is rare.

And Mr Trump continued to get Republicans worked up about election fraud. Over the weekend he restated baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen and warned that the same could happen this year. The former president said he was still confident that he would win in November. After he wins, he vowed, he will imprison people who have engaged in “unscrupulous behaviour” related to the election.

The Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee will release a report on Monday criticising the Biden administration for its handling of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. It accuses the administration of being so eager to leave that it failed to plan properly, resulting in the death of 13 service members. Although Mr Trump made the original withdrawal deal with the Taliban in 2020, the report absolves him of responsibility.

Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, circulated a letter to his colleagues setting their agenda for the remainder of the year. Confirming Joe Biden’s executive- and judicial-branch nominees is a priority; legislation to lower drug prices and improve rail safety standards is also outlined. Democrats feel they have to act this year. They may well lose control of the Senate in the elections in November.

KAL flashback

Every Monday we will republish a cartoon by KAL from the archive. America’s presidential debates have recently been disappointing. The match-up in June between Mr Trump and Mr Biden was a disaster. And after their first encounter, in 2020, Lexington argued that Mr Trump had turned a globally respected American institution into a national embarrassment. Will the debate on September 10th be any better?

A view from elsewhere
If polls are accurate, differences in the way men and women vote in this year’s election will produce “the largest gender gap in American history”, wrote Lee Bon-young in Hankyoreh, a South Korean newspaper. This is because support for either candidate is “overshadowed by hatred for the opposing candidate”. If the gender divide gets any worse, “we might start to see arguments that a ‘Men’s Party’ and ‘Women’s Party’ should take charge.”

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

Checks and Balance newsletter

The enduring game of political ads in America

Lessons from Pennsylvania

Monster vehicles

What to do about America’s killer cars

The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous as the rich-world average. It doesn’t have to be that way

Nile-ism

America’s endless summers are good for mosquitoes, too

Outbreaks of EEE and West Nile virus have health officials on the alert

Today 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 American.

Monday: The first series of televised presidential debates were held in 1960. In which year was the next set?

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

1.7 percentage points, the average rise in the polls since 2000 for presidential candidates after their party’s conventions. Ms Harris’s bump has been a no-show. Read our story to find out what happened to it.

Heard on Fox News

A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney.

—After Dick Cheney, a Republican former vice-president, endorsed Ms Harris, Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination who now supports Mr Trump, showed she doesn’t know how endorsements work.

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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