Donald Trump is urged to stop talking about Kamala Harris’ racial identity and start debating policy; Long Covid studies fail to bring researchers closer to finding a diagnostic test; And there’s a new sport to look forward to at the LA Olympics.
Here’s what you need to know today:
Allies urge Trump to refocus election message
Former President Donald Trump is facing growing pressure to stop attacking Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity and criticizing other political opponents and instead talk about policy and campaign issues. The feedback has come in both privately and publicly, with lawmakers, donors and informal outside advisers urging Trump and top campaign officials to address the issues directly and stop making racially and character-based attacks, according to four sources briefed on the discussions.
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They are also urging Trump to turn up the heat on the campaign trail. Speaking at his Florida home last week, Trump said he wasn’t campaigning because he was leading the race.
Trump campaign officials say they are racking up so-called “incremental wins” by ignoring what Trump has to say to avoid criticizing Harris and then subjecting him to the bad press that results.
And some of the feedback has been public: Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared on Fox News, a show Trump knows he watches, and urged Trump to investigate Harris’ positions on the border, crime and inflation.
Trump’s allies agree that he needs the kind of messaging discipline he has wavered on in recent weeks, but they argue that enthusiasm for Harris, which has grown since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, will eventually fade.
Read the full story here.
More 2024 election coverage:
Trump, in an online conversation with Elon Musk on X, casually insulted his opponents, repeated falsehoods and lamented immigration policies. The FBI said it was investigating attempts to hack both the Trump campaign and the Biden-Harris campaign. A judge ruled to reject RFK Jr.’s attempt to appear on New York’s general election ballot.
Ukraine says it has occupied about 400 square miles of Russian territory
Ukraine said it had secured 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory, a week after a surprise attack in the Kursk border region spooked the Kremlin. Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Shirsky’s comments came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “drive” Ukrainian troops out of the country.
Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk has embarrassed the Kremlin and boosted morale, but many observers wonder what Kiev is trying to achieve. Putin has suggested the attack is aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s position in future peace talks.
Kursk Oblast’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, told Putin that 28 settlements in the oblast were under Ukrainian control, and residents were also being evacuated from some nearby areas, the latest sign of the Kremlin’s failure to ward off the growing threat of attacks.
An early look at LA 2028
Now that the Olympic flame has been extinguished in Paris, all eyes are on Los Angeles, and the changes and challenges that come with it. Lacrosse, cricket, baseball and softball are returning to the Olympics; flag football and squash are making their first appearances; and two sports (one of which made its Olympic debut less than a week ago) are in danger of being eliminated.
And what about Los Angeles itself? Transport is inextricably linked to Los Angeles, but Mayor Karen Bass has promised that the 2028 Games will be “car-free,” with a fleet of 3,000 buses and a call for people to work from home during the games — an incredible boast for a city that doesn’t yet have direct rail service to the airport.
More Olympics coverage:
🥉 USA Gymnastics said its effort to overturn a decision that stripped Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal, despite her coach presenting evidence that she was not four seconds too slow, was rejected. 👏 Pakistan’s first individual gold medalist returned home for a celebration fit for a king.
Why there is still no test for long-covid?
An estimated 17 million people are infected with long-covid, but a single diagnostic test still cannot identify them, researchers announced this week. In a new study, the researchers explained that after examining data from more than 10,000 patients across the country (including routine blood counts, kidney and liver test results), they found no differences between those with long-covid and those without. Therefore, “clinicians have no choice but to continue doing what they have been doing,” they said, ruling out other underlying health conditions rather than diagnosing long-covid.
The study is part of the RECOVER Initiative, a more than $1 billion effort to study the causes and treatments of long-COVID-19 launched by the National Institutes of Health in 2021. Dr. Kristin Erlandson, lead author of the study, expressed disappointment with the results but said more specialized testing is underway.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccines are set to begin distribution within the next few weeks. But will the new shots be effective with the US already experiencing a summer pandemic? They may not be effective in this current pandemic, immunologists and infectious disease experts say. But the vaccines will be important as the US heads into fall and winter.
Conservative lawmakers’ budget requests raise risk of government shutdown
The far-right Freedom Caucus is urging House Republican leaders to vote to tie government funding to new citizenship verification requirements and set new funding deadlines, which face broad opposition in the Senate.
It is already becoming increasingly likely that lawmakers will need a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to fund the government past the Oct. 1 deadline. Congress is in recess until Sept. 9, and so far there has been little progress on spending.
Yesterday, the Freedom Caucus added a new dimension to the fight over funding, saying the CR should include the “SAVE Act,” which would “ban non-citizens from voting.” Trump and other Republican leaders claim that illegal aliens vote to give Democrats an advantage in elections, even though voting by non-citizens is illegal and extremely rare. The Freedom Caucus added that if the stopgap bill becomes law, funding should be “extended until early 2025” to avoid passing a funding bill that “saves Democrat spending.” Both demands would put them at odds with Democratic lawmakers.
Political Overview
Primaries today: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont will determine Republican challengers to four Democratic Senators: Tammy Baldwin, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders. Plus, several key House matchups will be decided. Here are the primaries to watch:
Trump Investigation: Trump plans to file a $115 million lawsuit against the Justice Department and FBI for improperly searching his Mar-a-Lago resort for classified documents and for “malicious political prosecution.”
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Staff Pick: “Brain-Rotting” Language Is Real, But It’s Incomprehensible
Leila Register/NBC News via Getty Images
If you’re familiar with the phrase “skibbidi toilet ohio rizzler,” you’re either a frequent internet user or a parent of a Gen Alpha kid. The internet’s newest kids are making waves with their nonsensical slang. We’ve spoken to parents who say they have to keep Google open whenever they have a conversation with their kids at the dinner table. Their kids have also weighed in, saying they know it’s confusing their elders but they love it. Here’s our guide to what this new slang means. — Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC Asia America Reporter
NBC Select: Making Online Shopping Simple
Many of the can’t-miss sales this week include discounts on clothing, shoes and school supplies. Just because fall is on the way doesn’t mean the fall weather has arrived yet. NBC Select editors got tips from the pros on easy ways to save money on your AC bill without drastically changing how you use it.
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