POLITICO Playbook: More than 100 Bush-McCain-Romney alums go for Biden  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  IT'S THURSDAY, and President DONALD TRUMP will close the Republican convention this evening from the White House.  And, as the GOP seeks to rally around TRUMP 68 DAYS before Election Day, here's what the world looks like:

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January  —  The law-enforcement obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.

Pence reinvents Trump's presidency on a disorienting night of crises  —  (CNN)Only voters can decide the political fate of Donald Trump.  But the evidence of a dark, dispiriting election year suggests unequivocally that the President has failed to find answers equal to the magnitude …

More than 1 million Americans file for unemployment, again  —  FILE - In this April 30 ,2020 file photo, a barber shop shows closed and hiring sign during the COVID-19 in Chicago.  On Thursday, Aug. 27, just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week …

China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims  —  China rounded up so many Muslims in Xinjiang that there wasn't enough space to hold them.  Then the government started building.  —  Copy … China has secretly built scores of massive new prison and internment camps …

Wisconsin authorities say there was knife in Jacob Blake's vehicle  —  Blake admitted he had a knife in his possession, which was found in the driver's side floorboard, police say.  —  Jacob Blake, the man wounded by a police officer In Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday, had a knife in his car …

Turmoil consumes Chamber of Commerce as it backs Democrats  —  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is poised to endorse nearly two dozen freshmen House Democrats for reelection, triggering a revolt within the right-leaning organization and drawing fierce pushback from the group's powerful GOP donors.

“QAnon Is Batshit Crazy”: Lindsey Graham Talks TikTok, Online Conspiracies, and Why He's Sticking With Trump  —  The South Carolina senator, facing a tough reelection fight, recalls warning Trump not to shut down TikTok after getting calls from Hannity, Petraeus, and his niece …

New Hot-Mic Video: What Trump Told His Lawyer When He Didn't Know a Camera Was Rolling  —  For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.  —  On December 10, 2015, Donald Trump took time off from campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination …

Trump calls for drug tests before Biden debate  —  President Trump says he will call for drug tests for both former Vice President Joe Biden and himself before the first candidates' debate on Sept. 29.  In an Oval Office interview Wednesday, the president expressed suspicion at what he said was a sudden …

Iowa counties can't set up drop box systems for absentee ballots, secretary of state says  —  The Iowa Secretary of State's Office says county auditors cannot set up drop boxes to accept absentee ballots this fall — something several auditors say they did during this year's primary election.

Melania Trump's Ex-BFF Tells (Almost) All An insider's account of falling out with the First Lady.  —  Excerpted from Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady, by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff  —  I'd heard Melania Trump speak before.  But I'd never heard her sound like this.

Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting  —  Multiple users reported the account for inciting violence, but were told it did not violate platform policy  —  In the wake of an apparent double murder Tuesday night in Kenosha, Facebook has faced a wave of scrutiny …

The Special Hypocrisy of Melania Trump's Speech at the Republican National Convention  —  In place of roses, the First Lady grew concrete.  Prior to her address at the Republican National Convention, on Tuesday night, the White House unveiled Melania Trump's renovations to the Rose Garden …

Why This Pro-Life Conservative Is Voting for Biden  —  Since I announced publicly that I will be voting for Joe Biden in November, I've received a few communications from puzzled readers.  “How can you, a supposedly pro-life woman, support someone who believes in killing babies?”

Trump says election workers, not USPS, could lead to 2020 miscount  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is shifting his focus from the U.S. Postal Service in his concerns about potential fraud in mail-in voting, claiming problems with mailed ballots lie with local elections officials who are “going to count them wrong.”

‘Still a fresh wound’: 2016 loss fuels Senate Democrats' 2020 takeover strategy  —  Even as the environment looks optimistic for Democrats in the Senate, the party is focusing resources on a core group of races.  —  In one of this year's top Senate races, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is trying to oust Sen. Steve Daines.