Trump team launches a sweeping loyalty test to shore up its defenses  —  In the middle of a devastating pandemic and a searing economic crisis, the White House has an urgent question for its colleagues across the administration: Are you loyal enough to President Donald Trump?

Even if the Polls Are Really Off, Trump Is Still in Trouble  —  Joe Biden's lead is sufficient to cover a sizable error.  And several of the biggest problems with polling in the last election have either been addressed or become less relevant.  —  With Joe Biden claiming almost a double-digit lead …

Kemp bans cities, counties from mandating masks  —  By Jeremy Redmon - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution J. Scott Trubey - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Willoughby Mariano - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  —  Georgia governor extends coronavirus restrictions while encouraging use of face masks

Trump Replaces Brad Parscale as Campaign Manager, Elevating Bill Stepien  —  The replacement of Mr. Parscale with Mr. Stepien, who had served as deputy campaign manager, comes as the president has struggled in public and private polling.  —  President Trump on Wednesday shook up his re-election team …

Republican convention in Jacksonville will be scaled back next month  —  The Republican Party will hold a scaled-back convention in Jacksonville, Fla., next month that includes a mix of outdoor and indoor venues, according to a letter sent to delegates.  —  The Thursday letter …

U.S. Party Preferences Have Swung Sharply Toward Democrats  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since January, Americans' party preferences have shifted dramatically in the Democratic Party's direction.  What had been a two-percentage-point Republican advantage in U.S. party identification and leaning …

Twitter Is Removing Images of Internal Tool Sources Say Enables Account Takeover  —  After a wave of account takeovers, screenshots of an internal Twitter user administration tool are being shared in the hacking underground.  —  Joseph Cox  —  On Wednesday, a wave of high profile accounts including …

A Second Coronavirus Death Surge Is Coming  —  Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers.  Find the collection here.  —  There is no mystery in the number of Americans dying from COVID-19.  —  Despite political leaders trivializing the pandemic …

Mary Trump says the U.S. has devolved into a version of her ‘incredibly dysfunctional family’  —  Mary L. Trump, President's Trump's niece, said that watching the country's leadership devolve into “a macro version of my incredibly dysfunctional family” was one of the factors that compelled …

NPR Let The US Attorney General Tell A Falsehood On The Air  —  NPR's four-member “election security team” is responsible for covering all things about American voting, from access, to fraud to innovations and investments in the process.  It is one of the foundations of NPR's politics coverage.

UK, US, Canada accuse Russia of hacking virus vaccine trials  —  FILE - In this March 16, 2020, file photo, a subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus …

Coronavirus data has already disappeared after Trump administration shifted control from CDC  — Since the pandemic began, the CDC has regularly published data on availability of hospital beds and intensive care units across the country.  — But Ryan Panchadsaram, who helps run …

Inspector general: Medicare chief broke rules on her publicity contracts  —  A top Trump administration health official violated federal contracting rules by steering millions of taxpayer dollars in contracts that ultimately benefited GOP-aligned communications consultants, according to an inspector general report released Thursday.

Donald Trump Poses With Goya Products One Day After Ivanka Tweets Support  —  Both pics may violate federal regulations that forbid government employees to use their positions, titles or authority to endorse products.  —  President Donald Trump may be setting himself for a new gig …

Dr. Fauci Says, “With All Due Modesty, I Think I'm Pretty Effective.”  —  Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife, Dr. Christine Grady, speak with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell about a potential COVID-19 vaccine, working with the White House, and what life is like at home.

The Trump campaign app is tapping a “gold mine” of data about Americans  —  President Trump's campaign app is targeted to his most fervent supporters, but it is able to collect data about a swath of the American public far larger than his base.  —  The app requests access to significantly …

Is the Saudi Government Plotting Against Another U.S.-Based Critic?  —  In early May, officials with the C.I.A. reached out to Ali Soufan, a former F.B.I. agent who served as a lead investigator in the months before the September 11th attacks, to say they had learned that Al Qaeda militants were plotting against him.

Weekly jobless claims rise by more than 1 million for 17th straight week  — Initial weekly jobless claims came in at 1.3 million for the week ending July 11.  — Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 1.25 million.  — It was also the 17th straight week in which initial claims totaled at least 1 million.

‘White Fragility’ Is Everywhere.  But Does Antiracism Training Work?  —  Robin DiAngelo's best seller is giving white Americans a new way to talk about race.  Do those conversations actually serve the cause of equality?  —  To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Military leaders pressure Esper to ban Confederate flag  —  The leaders of the armed forces are pressuring their boss, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, to ban the public display of the Confederate flag at Defense Department facilities, amid opposition from the White House, according to three defense officials.

The NFL Is on the Brink  —  The league survived all sorts of crises in the past, yet they are in deep trouble like never before.  —  The National Football League celebrated its 100th anniversary last year.  This should be a time of self-congratulation for the brutal sport, which has no similar counterpart outside the United States.

Tens of thousands of mail ballots have been tossed out in this year's primaries.  What will happen in November?  —  More than 18,500 Floridians' ballots were not counted during the March presidential primary after many arrived by mail after the deadline.  —  In Nevada, about 6,700 ballots …

Shootings Have Soared.  Is the N.Y.P.D. Pulling Back?  —  As shootings go unsolved, some elected officials think that officers are staging a slowdown.  But the department says it is stretched thin.  —  First, a gunman shot a 23-year-old man in the leg on Monday afternoon in eastern Brooklyn, then fled in a red sport-utility vehicle.

GOPers Are Trying to Recruit QAnon Voters And Using This YouTube Show to Do It  —  Patriots' Soapbox is unlike any other Q-related program.  And it's begun attracting some actual political figures.  —  As she gathered support for what was then thought to be a long-shot primary bid against Rep. Scott Tipton …

The Myth of Trump as a Centrist Dealmaker  —  From vaunted negotiator to feckless ideologue.  —  On a Sunday-morning talk show in December 2015, a rising politician had this to say about Senator Ted Cruz's campaign for president, “Look at the way he's dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there …

In separate rallies, Utahns protest mask mandate and demand in-person classes  —  • As she walked up to the podium to speak, one of the moms grabbed a face mask and spit her gum out into it.  “It's garbage,” she shrugged, wadding it up.  “It doesn't work anyway.  Not for me and not for my kids.”