THE BIG STORY

Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” after being asked to condemn white supremacists

I’m not sure why anyone expected any different, but the first presidential debate was absolute chaos.

The debate devolved into a trash fire almost immediately, with President Donald Trump doggedly interrupting former Vice President Joe Biden and moderator Chris Wallace at every turn. Viewers were overwhelmed watching it.

Trump’s interruptions were endless, leaving Wallace begging the president to stop over the hour and a half long debate. Trump seemed determined to make his debate with Biden as incomprehensible as possible.

One of the few comprehensible moments: after being repeatedly asked to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, Trump told the Proud Boys, a far-right men’s organization with a history of instigating violence, to “stand back and stand by.”

The president then said he was “urging my people” who are “poll watchers” to go to voting locations across the country — to do what, he wouldn’t exactly say — as he baselessly claimed the election is rife with “fraud.”

In response to the interruptions, at one point Biden quipped, “would you shut up, man?” He then followed up with, “This is so unpresidential.”

The big picture:

👉 Trump attacking Biden’s living son while Biden spoke about his late son was a jarring moment of amorality, Katherine Miller writes.

👉 The debate section on "race and violence in our cities" had more dog whistles than we could count.

👉 Even Trump diehards thought the debate was a mess. “I'm disappointed as an American voter,” one Trump fan told us at a campaign watch party.

Democracy is going great. Commission on Debates

SNAPSHOTS

Lots of voters in New York City are getting mail-in ballots with the wrong return envelopes. Elections officials don't know how many people are affected by the screwup, which they're blaming on a vendor error.

Scars, tattoos, and license plates: this is what Palantir and the LAPD know about you. Newly revealed documents show how Los Angeles police were trained to use the flagship product of the most secretive company in law enforcement.

A judge has temporarily blocked Trump from raising fees for asylum-seekers and citizens. The new rules would have established a $50 fee for asylum-seekers and raised the prices for immigrants applying to become US citizens from $640 to upward of $1,170.

The Biden camp slammed Facebook for refusing to take down misleading Trump posts. Biden’s campaign accused Facebook of failing to live up to its recent promises to clamp down on election-related falsehoods.

DISTORTING REALITY

Anti-vaxxers are feeding off concerns that Trump is rushing a coronavirus vaccine

Earlier this month, AstraZeneca announced it was pausing its coronavirus vaccine trial. The company explained that it was “a routine action,” to figure out if a participant’s illness was linked to the vaccine.

Scientists pointed out that this is exactly how trials are supposed to work: putting safety first.

But Children’s Health Defense, a group that has pushed conspiracy theories about vaccines for years, painted another story. The group’s founder, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., declared without basis that pharmaceutical companies “have always been able to dismiss these sort of tragic outcomes as sad ‘coincidence.’”

President Trump has openly pushed for a vaccine to be ready by the election. This push has consequences: Concerns that politics is being prioritized over science are emboldening fringe groups that have long spread conspiracy theories about the dangers of vaccines.

One expert told us, “All of this stuff is just a gift to the anti-vaccine movement.”

OFFICE SPACE

This mom’s hack to keep her 6 chatty kids focused during virtual school is pretty genius

It’s hard enough focusing on online school if you live alone. What if you were one of six siblings, all trying to do school work?

Jaala James, an 18-year-old college student who is doing her first semester remotely, lives at home with five other siblings. She's not alone in trying to get some studying done. But it's hard to do that without getting distracted.

So Jaala’s mom went next level. She bought all the siblings… cubicles. Actual office cubicles that they set up in their entertainment room.

Jaala posted about the cubicle solution on TikTok, where it went viral and people were so impressed.

Root yourself in your boundless capacity to be kind,

Elamin