The unusual legal risk Trump will have to navigate at the RNC  —  There's a high likelihood that others involved in Trump's alleged crimes could be in Milwaukee.  —  Donald Trump will be rubbing elbows in Milwaukee with a crowd that may include dozens of witnesses and alleged co-conspirators …

Joe Biden for President  —  I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected.  Why?  Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar.

Live Election Updates: Trump Returns to Pennsylvania as Biden Looks to Steady His Campaign  —  Vice President Kamala Harris and Jill Biden will also hold events in the key battleground state following the president's fiery speech in Detroit on Friday.  —  Trump will rally in Pennsylvania, as Biden allies hit the trail, too.

Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election and Change the Country  —  Co-published with Documented  —  A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people …

Unbowed by Jan. 6 Charges, Republicans Pursue Plans to Contest a Trump Defeat … Nearly four years ago, Mr. Trump's attempt to challenge the election results was chaotic and improvised.  This year, his allies are systematically searching for any vulnerability in the nation's election system.Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

What Is Project 2025?  Inside the Far-Right Plan Threatening Everything from the Word ‘Gender’ to Public Education  —  Trump's allies started Project 2025 as a blueprint for marrying church and state at the highest levels of government if he's elected  —  A sweeping proposal for how Donald Trump …

Inside Biden's sputtering campaign to restore Dems' confidence  —  Senate Democrats are sitting on their hands as the Biden campaign sputters.  —  Three of Joe Biden's senior aides entered a Senate Democratic lunch on Thursday armed with internal and external polls showing …

‘Rule of the lawless’: what does the authoritarian playbook look like?  —  Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and professor, speaks to the Guardian about the contemporary threat of authoritarianism in the US  —  Donald Trump has glibly remarked that he would be “a dictator on day one” …

Biden grilled in “tense” call with moderate Democrats … - “It was awful,” said one lawmaker, summing up the session.  — Said another: “Members were not holding back ... it got tense with Crow for sure.” … - Reps. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) …

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America's diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96  —  Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died.  She was 96.

U.S. set to see another deadly year for mass shootings … - “Regardless of what the numbers say — whether they are trending upwards or downwards — we have really good research and we know that these are preventable,” Kelly Drane, Giffords Law Center's research director, told Axios.

The 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time  —  See if your favorites made our expanded list.  —  Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction.  And what remarkable dreams they are …

Can Biden run out the clock?  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  —  As Democrats frantically debate whether President JOE BIDEN should be the party's nominee, they're racing against an uncomfortable — and uncertain — deadline.

Israeli strike on Gaza targets, likely kills, Hamas leader Mohammad Deif  —  The IDF said that dozens of those killed in the strike on Deif were active Hamas terrorists.  —  Mohammad Deif, the leader of the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, was targeted in an airstrike …

Biden blasts Project 2025 in Michigan and ties it to Trump in effort to regain footing  —  A more energetic Biden leaned into a line of attack that unifies Democrats and could appeal beyond his base as he seeks to move past the party infighting over his candidacy.