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.

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:

Over 100 Ex-Staff Members for John McCain Endorse Joe Biden  —  The group endorsement of Mr. Biden is the latest effort from anti-Trump Republicans to lure conservatives and moderates away from the president, who often clashed with the former Arizona senator.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump's company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000  —  The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president.  But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late.  The room was booked.  Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?

States of Play: North Carolina  —  Dear Readers: In the next installment of our States of Play series — in which we are taking an in-depth look at the key states that will decide the presidential election — we look at North Carolina, a state that both parties have made serious attempts at winning since 2008.

DHS sends out Hatch Act memo days after secretary appears in RNC-related ceremony  —  (CNN)The Department of Homeland Security sent an agency-wide email to its employees Thursday morning reminding them not to participate in partisan politics, citing “heightened scrutiny.”

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.”

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.

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.

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 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 …

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Some Cracks Emerge in the Pro-Trump Wall  —  President Trump is likely to win again in rural northern Michigan, a key to his surprise victory in the state in 2016.  But can he pile up the same margin in 2020?  Some have their doubts.

Is Kenosha a Warning for the Biden Campaign?  —  Listening to swing state voters in Arizona and North Carolina.  —  On Wednesday night I remotely conducted two focus groups, one in North Carolina and one in Arizona.  —  The demographics of the groups were the same.  Both consisted of 2016 Trump voters.