Donald Trump is being encouraged to stop talking about Kamala Harris’ racial identity and start discussing policies. A study on long Covid fails to bring researchers closer to finding a diagnostic test. And the new sports to look forward to at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Here’s what to know today.
Allies want Trump to refocus his campaign message
Former President Donald Trump is facing mounting pressure to stop his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity and criticisms of his other political foes, and instead talk about policies and the issues at stake in the race. The feedback is coming both privately and publicly, with lawmakers, donors and informal outside advisers asking Trump and his top campaign aides to directly stick to the issues and drop the race- or personality-driven attacks, according to four sources briefed with the discussions.
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They also want Trump to ramp up the intensity of his campaigning. Last week at his home in Florida, Trump said he was not on the campaign trail because he is leading in the race.
To steer Trump away from taking swipes at Harris, his staff is notching what it calls incremental wins by refusing to give his comments attention and showing him the bad press that results, a senior member of the Trump campaign said.
And some of the feedback has been public. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy went on Fox News during a program Trump is known to watch and urged him to probe Harris’ positions on the border, crime and inflation.
Trump’s allies agreed that he needs a level of message discipline that he has wavered from in recent weeks, but they insist that the surge of enthusiasm for the Harris campaign since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race will run out.
More 2024 election coverage:
- Trump casually insulted his enemies, repeated falsehoods and bemoaned immigration policies in an online conversation with Elon Musk on X.
- The FBI said that it is investigating efforts to hack both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns.
- A judge ruled against RFK Jr.’s effort to appear on New York’s general election ballot.
Ukraine says it has seized nearly 400 square miles of Russian land
Ukraine said it was holding 1,000 square kilometers, or 386 square miles, of Russian territory a week after a surprise cross-border assault in the Kursk border region that left the Kremlin scrambling. The declaration from Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “squeeze out” Ukrainian troops from the country.
Ukraine’s incursion in Kursk has embarrassed the Kremlin and bolstered morale, but many observers have wondered what Kyiv is hoping to achieve. Putin suggested the assault is aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s hand in future peace talks.
Acting Kursk Gov. Aleksei Smirnov told Putin that 28 settlements in his region were under Ukraine’s control. Residents were also being evacuated from parts of a neighboring region in the latest sign that the Kremlin had failed to repel the threat of an intensifying offensive.
An early look ahead at L.A. 2028
With the Olympic flame extinguished in Paris, sights are set on the next Games in Los Angeles — and the changes and challenges that will come with it. Lacrosse, cricket, baseball and softball will make their Olympic returns. Flag football and squash are set to make their first-time appearances. And two sports — one of which made its Olympic debut less than a week ago — are on the chopping block.
And what about L.A. itself? Los Angeles and traffic go hand in hand, but Mayor Karen Bass promises 2028 will be a “no-car Games,” bolstered by a fleet of 3,000 buses and an appeal for work-from-home schedules during the duration of the Games. It seems like an incredible boast coming from a city that still doesn’t have a direct rail service to the airport.
More Olympics coverage:
- 🥉 USA Gymnastics said its efforts to reverse the ruling stripping Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal have been rejected, despite providing proof that a coach’s appeal was not 4 seconds too late.
- 👏 Pakistan’s first individual gold medalist returned home to a celebration fit for a king.
Why there’s no test yet for long Covid
An estimated 17 million people have long Covid, but identifying people with the condition still can’t be achieved with one diagnostic test, researchers said this week. In a new study, researchers explained that after looking at data for more than 10,000 patients around the country — including lab results for routine blood counts, kidney and liver test results and more — they found no differences between those with long Covid and those without it. So “clinicians are left to continue doing what we have done in the past,” which is to rule out other potential health conditions rather than diagnosing long Covid, they said.
The study is part of the National Institute of Health’s RECOVER Initiative, a billion-dollar-plus effort launched in 2021 to research causes and treatments of long Covid. Dr. Kristine Erlandson, the lead author of the study, expressed disappointment in the results but said more specialized testing is being performed.
Meanwhile, new Covid vaccines are expected to be distributed in the coming weeks. But with the U.S. already in the midst of a summer outbreak, will the new round of shots make a difference? Maybe not for this wave, immunologists and infectious disease experts said. But they will be important as the U.S. heads into the fall and winter.
Conservative lawmakers’ funding demands raise risk of shutdown
The far-right Freedom Caucus is calling for House Republican leaders to tie government funding to new proof-of-citizenship requirements to vote and create a new funding deadline that faces broad opposition in the Senate.
It’s already likely that lawmakers will need a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, to fund the government past the Oct. 1 deadline. Congress is on recess until Sept. 9, and little progress has been made so far on appropriations.
Yesterday, the Freedom Caucus added another layer to the funding fight, saying the CR “should include the SAVE Act,” a bill that would “prevent noncitizens from voting.” Trump and other top Republicans have claimed that undocumented people are voting to benefit Democrats in elections, even though noncitizen voting is illegal and very rare. The Freedom Caucus added that in the event of a stopgap bill, funding should be “extended into early 2025” to avoid passing a funding bill that “preserves Democrat spending.” Both demands would spark a standoff with Democratic lawmakers.
Politics in Brief
Today’s primaries: Races in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont will determine the Republican challengers for four Democratic senators: Tammy Baldwin, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders. Plus, matchups for some notable House seats will be determined. Here are the primary races to watch.
Trump investigations: Trump plans to sue the Justice Department and the FBI for $115 million, alleging an improper search for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and “malicious political prosecution.”
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Staff Pick : ‘Brainrot’ language is real — and unintelligible
If you’re familiar with the phrase “skibidi toilet Ohio rizzler,” you’re either chronically online or the parent of a Gen Alpha child. The newest crop of kids on the internet is making waves with its nonsensical-sounding slang. We talked to parents who say dinner table conversations with their kids require Google to be open at all times. The kids weighed in, too, saying they know they’re confusing older people — and they like it. Here’s a guide to what some of this new slang means. — Sakshi Venkatraman, NBC Asian America reporter
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Many of this week’s can’t-miss sales include discounts on clothing, shoes and school supplies. And just because fall is approaching doesn’t mean fall weather is here, yet. NBC Select editors got tips from the pros about easy ways to lower your air conditioning bill without drastically changing how you use your AC.
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