Trump Suggests Delaying Election – President Trump on Twitter suggested that the election be delayed to ensure that everyone can vote safely in-person, rather than by mail-in ballot which the president claims is rife with fraud. President Trump has, for several months now, said that the upcoming presidential election will be the most corrupt in history as millions of Americans are expected to cast their votes by mail. Trump says mail-in voting allows foreign adversaries and evil actors in the US to cast fraudulent ballots. President Trump cannot unilaterally decide to delay the election, a move that would require an act of Congress and is nearly certain not to happen.

Economy Sees Largest Contraction Ever – The US economy contracted at a 32.9% annualized rate in the second quarter of 2020, the largest contraction in history, and more than triple the decline in the second-quarter decline of 10% experienced in 1958. On a quarterly basis, the economy contracted by more than 10%. The majority of the losses in output came in April when businesses shut down due to restrictions put into place to combat the spread of Covid-19. Economists had projected that the economic downturn would be even worse, with a poll of economists finding that they believed economic output would drop by an average of 34.1%.

Biden Announcing Running Mate Next Week – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said that he would announce his choice of running mate sometime next week. His campaign has been researching prospective candidates for the position for several months, including deep background checks, interviews, and perusing tax records of at least ten candidates. Politico this week mistakenly published an article announcing that Biden had chosen Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, but quickly retracted it, saying it was a mistake. Biden was also seen walking this week with a postcard that had bits of information and talking points about Harris on it, raising further speculation that his choice of a running mate will indeed be the Senator from California.

Herman Cain Dies Of Covid-19 – Former GOP presidential candidate and fervent Trump supporter Herman Cain died of complications related to the coronavirus on Thursday. Cain, 74, was famous for his 9-9-9 tax plan that he unveiled while campaigning for president in 2012. Cain was in attendance at President Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, several weeks ago. It is not known whether he became infected with the virus at the rally.

US Pulls Troops From Germany – In a move that has received opposition from both sides of the political aisle, the White House announced that it would be withdrawing some 12,000 troops from Germany, a move that Defense Secretary Mark Esper said would cost billions and take years to complete. President Trump defended the decision, saying it was unfair that the United States was providing so much security for Germany when they don’t pay enough to NATO. President Trump has set a target for countries to pay 2% of their GDP annually to the North American Treaty Organization, which has acted as a bulwark against aggressive Russian behavior.

Police Departments Back Out Of DNC – Over one hundred police departments have backed out of agreements to provide security at the Democratic National Convention in late August, after the city of Milwaukee placed significant restrictions on the power of police departments to deal with protesters at or near the convention site.