The Economist

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September 25th 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 said she supported making an exception to Senate rules to pass abortion-rights legislation. For the most part 60 votes are required to move a bill from the debating stage to a vote, allowing a minority to “filibuster”—block or delay legislation. The vice-president would endorse a carve-out allowing a law codifying the right to abortion access to go to a vote with a simple majority. Some suspect her of wanting to scrap the filibuster altogether. Joe Manchin, an independent from West Virginia who has long defended the filibuster, called it the “holy grail of democracy” and said he would not endorse Ms Harris for president.

Ryan Routh was charged with the attempted murder Donald Trump, as well as four other associated crimes. If convicted he could face life in prison. Mr Routh’s case was assigned to Aileen Cannon, a federal judge who dismissed a case against Mr Trump over his handling of classified documents.

David Banks, New York City’s schools chancellor, announced his sudden retirement mere weeks after federal investigators seized his phone. He is the latest official in the administration of Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, to step down, following the police commissioner, one of Mr Adams’s top lawyers and the health commissioner. Several bribery inquiries into members of the administration are under way, though no one has been charged with wrongdoing.

The Republican-controlled House Committee on Foreign Affairs recommended holding Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress. The committee had subpoenaed the secretary of state, demanding he appear at a hearing on Tuesday about America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mr Blinken did not attend. It is unclear when the full House will vote on the recommendation.

A federal court heard a Republican challenge to a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots that arrive after election day to be counted as long as they are postmarked before it. Some 20 states have similar laws. Though Mississippi is almost certain to go red, if the case makes it up to the Supreme Court before the election its ruling could affect those laws and thus the vote in other states.

Admit it

In June 2023 the Supreme Court banned using race as a criterion for admission to universities. Now the first cohort accepted without affirmative-action programmes in place has started its first year. A number of institutions have reported a decrease in black and Hispanic enrolment. Read our story to see why it would be a mistake to attribute the whole effect to the court’s decision.

A view from elsewhere

Donald Trump believes that Jews will be to blame if he loses the election because he draws from “antisemitic wellsprings embedded deep inside the white right wing”, wrote Uzi Baram in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. Mr Trump does not understand that most American Jews’ loyalty is to a “liberal and law-abiding country”, and that they “won’t vote for a candidate who represents everything they hate”.

Figure of the day

Roughly 2.5 times for every million words, how often the words “white privilege” appeared in the New York Times in 2020. By 2023 that ratio had fallen to just 0.4 per million. Read our story on America becoming less “woke”.

What our readers thought

Karl Grass expressed a view held by many readers about the second plot against Donald Trump. He said it had “barely made a ripple” because “no bullets were fired”, and predicted that, although there will be spin from all sides, it will not sway voters one way or the other. Other readers tried to put the events of September 15th in context. Don Shobrys pointed out that there had been several attempts on Barack Obama’s life, and that other recent presidents had been “exposed to similar threats”. And Chris Clark pointed out that the Secret Service has a multi-billion-dollar budget and thousands of staff. That this is required, he argued, suggests a “serious cultural problem”.

We want to hear from you
Will you be tuning into the vice-presidential debate on October 1st, and do you think J.D. Vance or Tim Walz will come out on top? Please send your views to usib@economist.com. And, of course, we welcome your feedback on this newsletter.

Editor’s picks

Our latest US coverage

On the waterfront

A threatened ports strike is already having an impact in America

A stoppage could shut 36 ports from Texas to Maine

Swing states

Pennsylvania, the crucial battleground in America’s election

Buckets of money, vicious advertising and consultants galore have left the race for the state a virtual tie

The Economist explains

Can Donald Trump use songs against a musician’s will?

Many stars have complained, and some have filed lawsuits

Today’s forecast

Kamala Harris has pulled ahead in national polls. But because candidates must win the electoral college, not the popular vote, our forecast reckons that she and Donald Trump have nearly equal chances of becoming president.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things American. Diplomats descend on New York City this week for this year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly. Our questions for you are on UNGAs of yore.

Wednesday: Hugo Chávez once called his American counterpart “the devil” and claimed that he had left the “smell of sulphur” behind him when he visited the UN. Who was Venezuela’s president referring to?

Tuesday: Addressing the UN General Assembly in 2017, Donald Trump said that America was ready to “totally destroy” which country?

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.

Seen on X

Are you trying to lose the election? Asking for a friend.

—Nikki Haley, an ambassador to the UN during the Trump administration, slams Bernie Moreno after the Republican candidate for an Ohio Senate seat wondered why older women care about abortion.

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

Live digital event

Subscriber-only live event

War in the Middle East, one year on

A year after the October 7th attack, Gaza is in ruins and war may engulf the region. Join our editors as they assess the crisis on Thursday October 3rd at 4pm BST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT.

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