WHAT'S BREWING
BIDEN HITS TRUMP BOAST WITH BRUTAL REALITY CHECK The markets crashed in March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. And while they’ve since recovered, millions remain without work and the GDP plunged by a historic 32.9% for the second quarter, the most on record. Biden tweeted a new video saying the Trump administration’s poor response to the pandemic is responsible for the deflated economy. And he took a dig at the president’s personal history with money in the process. [HuffPost]
GEORGIA SCHOOLS REOPEN TO PACKED HALLWAYS AND STUDENTS WITH COVID-19 Reopened schools in Georgia’s Paulding and Cherokee counties drew negative attention this week after viral photographs appeared to show students packing hallways with little regard for social distancing or mask-wearing. The most prominent images were taken on Tuesday by a 10th grader in North Paulding High School. Prior to schools reopening on Monday, North Paulding High School’s principal Gabe Carmona sent a letter to parents alerting them that members of the football team had contracted COVID-19, not specifying the numbers or the severity of their cases. [HuffPost]
TRUMP FINDS A BIG-MONEY UNDERWRITER FOR HIS CAMPAIGN: YOU! White House advance teams spent weeks preparing a remote oil rig site for a presidential visit, at a total cost of millions, so that Trump could get on stage and attack Biden. And who picked up tab? If you pay U.S. taxes, you did. More than any president in modern times, Trump has openly conscripted American taxpayers into underwriting the costs of his reelection campaign, from travel aboard $273,000-an-hour Air Force 1 to the dozens of staff who arrange his trips to the salaries of his own White House employees who regularly ― and illegally ― engage in politics on his behalf. [HuffPost]
TRUMP EYES WHITE HOUSE FOR RNC ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Trump on Wednesday proposed accepting the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in a speech from the White House, prompting the country’s leading elected Democrat to accuse him of politicizing the historic residence. Separately, the Democratic Party announced that Biden will accept its nomination in an address from his home state of Delaware rather than in Milwaukee as planned. [Reuters]
FOX NEWS DOCTOR BOASTS THAT TRUMP IS 'COGNITIVELY ADVANCED' The Fox News doctor who once said the “worst-case scenario” for the coronavirus was that it “could be the flu” is now boasting of Trump’s cognitive skills. Dr. Marc Siegel said Trump is “very cognitively advanced,” a conclusion he reached because he spent an hour with the president during an interview last month. That was the infamous interview in which Trump bragged of acing a cognitive test in part by remembering “person, woman, man, camera, TV” in order, a feat he claimed wowed his doctors. [HuffPost]
IN THE PANDEMIC, AUTHORITARIANS SPOT AN OPPORTUNITY At first glance, Venezuela looks like one of the world’s biggest coronavirus success stories. Amid worries that COVID-19 would overwhelm the crisis-stricken state, socialist President Nicolás Maduro locked down the country and seemingly stopped the spread. For months, though, there have been abundant signs that the situation is actually very dire. Doctors have reported that case numbers are far higher than the government asserts and that the country’s beleaguered health system is on the brink of collapse. [HuffPost] | 
