THE BIG STORY

Trump defended the Kenosha protest shooter but criticized the Portland protest shooter

At a press conference Monday, President Donald Trump delivered divisive messages about the shootings at two protests in the past week, split clearly along political lines.

Trump defended the alleged shooter in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who had previously attended a Trump rally, and claimed the suspect “probably would’ve been killed” if he had acted differently.

Meanwhile, the president decried the alleged shooter in Portland, who was reportedly protesting law enforcement and whose identity still has not been confirmed by authorities.

Trump has spent weeks seeking to split the nation over the protest movement that was reignited after a police officer killed George Floyd in late May and starting back up with force after an officer shot Jacob Blake in the back in Kenosha.

In tweets and at the weeklong Republican National Convention, Trump has sought to paint protesters against systemic racism and police brutality as dangerous radicals in “Democrat-run” cities.

Trump speaks at a news conference at the White House on Aug. 31, 2020. Andrew Harnik / AP.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Joe Biden’s most direct case against Trump: the president is a “toxin.”

Joe Biden’s go-to frame for this election has been an extensive metaphor. The election is “a battle for the soul of the nation,” his campaign has argued. But yesterday, he broke from this approach and delivered a far more direct attack on President Trump.

With the nation consumed by the coronavirus pandemic, the shooting of another Black man by a white police officer, and violence erupting between pro-Trump demonstrators and anti-racism protesters, Biden explicitly condemned Trump as a dangerous agent of injustice.

“He can’t stop the violence, because for years he has fomented it,” Biden said in remarks delivered in Pittsburgh.

Biden during a campaign event in Pennsylvania, August 31. Saul Loeb / Getty Images.

SNAPSHOTS

Michael Flynn’s fate is unsettled again after an appeals court said it wouldn’t force a judge to dismiss his case. The case now goes back to a district judge to decide whether to approve the Justice Department's request to dismiss Flynn's criminal case.

A family rode out and survived Hurricane Laura. Then their generator killed them. Rosalie Lewis, a trailblazing postal service worker, and three of her family members were killed by generator fumes. At least 11 people in Louisiana and Texas have died this way.

Trump staff keep spreading manipulated videos of Joe Biden. The president’s reelection campaign circulated two videos that had been manipulated to negatively portray Biden. Both videos spread widely on social media before being flagged as false or manipulated.

Porn actor Ron Jeremy has been charged with assaulting 17 women. The plethora of charges includes forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint, and lewd conduct with a minor. According to court documents, Jeremy is accused of assaulting women over the span of 16 years, from 2004 to Jan. 1, 2020.

THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE

Scientists are still studying the world’s most controversial drug, but they can’t find enough people to take it

Hydroxychloroquine wasn’t always a site of political controversy. It was just a malaria medication, doing its thing. Then the pandemic came.

Researchers set out to see if the medication could prevent coronavirus infections, something test-tube research hinted at. But those scientists never dreamed that President Donald Trump would baselessly call hydroxychloroquine a “game changer,” or that a fraudulent study would cast a pall over the whole field.

At first, there was quite a bit of interest in clinical research involving hydroxychloroquine. Now, scientists can barely get anyone to participate. The uncertain fate of the clinical studies shows what happens when science gets politicized.

Hydroxychloroquine was one of the most heavily studied drugs this spring, and study after study has shown that it’s not an effective treatment for sick patients. But scientists still don’t, and may never, know if it works as a prophylaxis that prevents infections.

MOVING WORDS

Michael B. Jordan reflects on Chadwick Boseman’s death: “I wish we had more time”

Jordan paid tribute to his Black Panther co-star after Boseman died last week at 43 of colon cancer.

In a moving Instagram post, Jordan wrote, “You are my big brother, but I never fully got a chance to tell you, or to truly give you your flowers while you were here.” The whole thing is lovely.

Put on some music that inspires you to get moving (and share it with me!),

Elamin