Trump and Nixon were pen pals in the ‘80s. Here are their letters.

The letters between once and future presidents show the two men engaged in something of an exercise in mutual affirmation. 

They were two men in Manhattan who craved the same thing: validation. One was a brash, young real estate developer looking to put his stamp on New York, the other a disgraced elder statesman bent on repairing his reputation.

That’s how a thirty-something Donald Trump and a seventy-ish Richard Nixon struck up a decade-long, fulsome correspondence in the 1980s that meandered from football and real estate to Vietnam and media strategy.

The letters between once and future presidents, revealed for the first time in an exhibit that opens Thursday at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, show the two men engaged in something of an exercise in mutual affirmation. The museum shared the letters exclusively with The Associated Press ahead of the exhibit’s opening. Continue reading.

McConnell pushes back on Trump: ‘There will be an orderly transition’

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that there would be an “orderly” transition of power in 2021, after President Trumprefused to commit to a peaceful handoff of power if he loses in November. 

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” McConnell said in a tweet.  

Trump set off a political firestorm on Wednesday when he told reporters at the White House, when asked if he would commit to ensuring a peaceful transition of power if he loses in November, that he would have to “see what happens” and tried once again to sow doubt about the security of mail-in ballots.  Continue reading.

Trump Says He Will ‘Always’ Protect Those With Pre-Existing Conditions. He Hasn’t.

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The president’s promises on health care stand in stark contrast with his legislative, regulatory and legal record.

In speeches, in tweets, in media interviews, President Trump keeps promising that he will preserve protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. It’s a crowd-pleaser of a policy, but one entirely at odds with his administration’s legislative, regulatory and legal record to date.

In the final weeks of the election season, expect to see the words “pre-existing conditions” again and again. Mr. Trump makes the promise so consistently that it is likely to appear in television ads, the presidential debates and possibly in an oft-teased, ever forthcoming executive order on the subject. Vice President Pencesaid Tuesday that the president would “take action” in the days ahead.

But rather than enshrine the ability of Americans with health problems to buy insurance, the Trump administration has, at every turn, pursued policies that have tended to do the opposite.

Some of the efforts to weaken protections have been successful — like an expansion of cheap, lightly regulated health plans that insurers are not required to offer when customers are sick. Others, like multiple attempts to “repeal and replace Obamacare” in 2017, failed to attract enough Republican votes in Congress to pass. The Justice Department’s quest to overturn the Affordable Care Act, while no replacement is being offered, is still underway, with oral arguments scheduled at the Supreme Court in November. Continue reading.

Rising coronavirus cases spark fears of harsh winter

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After surpassing another grim milestone — 200,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths — the U.S. is bracing for an increase in lives lost this fall and winter as the pandemic collides with flu season.

Temperatures are beginning to dip across the country and case counts are subsequently starting to rise again, putting the country on the wrong path as colder weather approaches.

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, had hoped daily new cases would be around 10,000 by the fall, but the seven-day average is 42,000 and heading upward. Continue reading.

Here’s what you can do if you’re panicking over Trump trying to steal the election: Constitutional scholars

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If you read The Atlantic report and heard President Donald Trump announced he’ll demand they “get rid of the ballots,” you might be nervous.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s call to defend American democracy likely didn’t help as she sounded the alarm that “it’s happening” and urged Americans to save democracy.

Former Assistant Attorney General for Counterterrorism Joshua Geltzer penned a thread with ideas for what folks can do right now if you’re starting to panic and look for your passports. Continue reading.

How Trump Plans To Remain In Power: ‘Get Rid Of The Ballots’

Donald Trump has been escalating his attacks on voting ahead of the November election, but at Wednesday’s press conference, he called for getting “rid of the ballots” altogether.

“Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here, today, for a peaceful transferral of power after the election?” a reporter in the White House press corps asked.

Trump refused to make such a commitment. Continue reading.

Trump’s rally rhetoric is becoming uglier

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President Trump is an underdog in his reelection campaign. And despite the continued coronavirus outbreak in this country, during the past week he has returned to holding large rallies in an effort to jump-start his campaign and rekindle the support that drove him to victory in 2016.

The result has at times been even uglier than in previous Trump rallies.

Over the course of the rallies, Trump has amped up his attacks on refugees and a Muslim congresswoman, his approval of violence against journalists, his baseless theories about Joe Biden and his not-terribly subtle shunning of a mask to protect against the novel coronavirus. Continue reading.

Trump’s Vaccine Czar Won’t Relinquish Stock In Drug Company Despite Blatant Conflict

The former pharmaceutical executive tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the administration’s race to a COVID-19 vaccine is refusing to give up investments that stand to benefit from his work — at least during his lifetime.

The executive, Moncef Slaoui, is the top scientist on Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine in record time. Federal law requires government officials to disclose their personal finances and divest any holdings relating to their work, but Slaoui said he wouldn’t take the job under those conditions. So the administration said it’s treating him as a contractor. Contractors aren’t bound by the same ethics rules but also aren’t supposed to wield as much authority as full employees.

Slaoui agreed to sell stock worth $12 million and resign from the board of Moderna, the developer of a leading potential vaccine. But Slaoui insisted on keeping his roughly $10 million stake in his former company, GlaxoSmithKline, another contender in the Operation Warp Speed vaccine race. “I won’t leave those shares because that’s my retirement,” he has said. GlaxoSmithKline, working with Sanofi, has started human trials for a coronavirus vaccine using similar technology to Sanofi’s flu shot. It is supported by up to $2.1 billion from the U.S. government. Continue reading.

Three Trump ads in Spanish, many distortions

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With Florida an intense battleground in the presidential election, President Trump’s campaign has been running ads in Spanish-speaking television markets and uploading them to YouTube (“Donald J. Trump En Español”). In many cases, the ads simply repeat false or misleading claims first uttered in English about his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden.

We previously fact-checked Trump’s “Goya” campaign ad. Now we’re taking a crack at three more Spanish-language ads.

‘Capacidad mental’

“Mental capacity”

Spanish: “Ahora a los 77 años y en su tercera candidatura presidencial, Biden claramente está debilitado. … Joe Biden no tiene la fuerza, la energía, ni la capacidad mental para liderar este país.” 

English: “Now 77 years old and on his third presidential campaign, Biden clearly is weakened. … Joe Biden doesn’t have the strength, energy or mental capacity to lead this country.” Continue reading.

‘The hits just keep coming’: Congress stumbles from crisis to crisis

Lawmakers had faced a shutdown, impeachment and pandemic. Now, they’re in a Supreme Court fight with epic ramifications.

Ancient Egypt had only 10 plagues. The 116th Congress says, “Hold my staff.” 

The House and Senate have spent the past two years staring down some of the most consequential political events of recent decades: the longest-ever government shutdown; a presidential impeachment; a deadly global pandemic; a deepening economic recession that has led to Depression-era levels of unemployment; a long-overdue national reckoning over race and police brutality; and growing tension with China and Iran and even Saudi Arabia.

But there’s more. This includes natural calamities, from fire tornadoes to wildfires to murder hornets; the death of civil rights icon John Lewis and other influential figures in politics; QAnon extremists marching toward the halls of Congress; and a polarizing president who is known for creating his own conflicts. Continue reading.