THE BIG STORY

Is there MAGA without Donald Trump? His family is finding out

Because of President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis in the last stretch of the campaign, the Republican Party has had to test a question: Can MAGA exist without the president?

The last few days have brought an answer: maybe — at least if the president’s family is involved.

With Trump confined to the White House, the massive MAGA rallies have been reduced to smaller vignettes, including one held with his eldest son in a tow truck yard in Florida. Polling shows the state is a tight race with Joe Biden in the lead.

Donald Trump Jr. went all out in Florida, with a particularly on-brand bus tour featuring stars of ultimate fighting.

The Trump campaign announced “Operation MAGA” while the president was in hospital. It’s a new trail strategy meant to push the campaign forward while the president deals with his illness. Read Kadia Goba’s reporting on how the MAGA movement took to it.

The scene at a Trump rally in Tampa, Florida featuring Donald Trump Jr. Kadia Goba / BuzzFeed News

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Judges aren’t buying Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud

President Trump has repeatedly sought to undermine mail-in voting, pushing debunked and unsupported claims that it leads to widespread fraud. But a growing number of judges have examined the evidence he’s presented to back those claims — and found it unconvincing.

The president has lost lawsuits challenging pandemic-related mail-in voting plans in Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, and, most recently, Pennsylvania.

In the Pennsylvania case, US District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan — who was nominated by Trump — wrote, “While Plaintiffs may not need to prove actual voter fraud, they must at least prove that such fraud is ‘certainly impending.’ They haven’t met that burden. At most, they have pieced together a sequence of uncertain assumptions.”

SNAPSHOTS

The next presidential debate has been canceled. The Trump-Biden debate scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami will not take place, although both candidates have agreed to appear for the Oct. 22 date in Nashville, officials announced.

Twitter put a “misleading” warning on Trump’s tweet that he could not get or spread COVID-19. The president has repeatedly claimed that he is immune to COVID-19. His doctors have not said when he last tested negative or if he is still on medication.

Even after the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, Michigan militant groups continue to thrive on Facebook. Facebook banned militias from the platform this summer, but that hasn’t stopped the pages from thriving. In some cases, the groups appear to be simply rebranded versions of previously banned organizations. They still use Facebook to recruit.

Southwest Airlines has apologized to this woman after not letting her fly because of her top. Kayla Eubanks said staff at the boarding gate refused to let her on the flight, and told her that her halter top violated the airline’s dress code. After a video of her encounter went viral, Southwest apologized.

HEARTBREAK AND ANGER

“I can’t vote for someone who I blame for the death of my husband”: Meet the coronavirus widows

Even in mourning, the pandemic has been merciless: Americans who have lost a spouse are left shattered, and forced to endure it in isolation because they cannot mourn with others.

Worsening the grief is the haunting feeling that their partners’ deaths may have been preventable — that perhaps with stronger government action, with shutdown orders and mask mandates and travel bans being put in place sooner, their loved ones might still be alive.

The mourning and the frustration bring together thousands of Americans who have lost a partner during the pandemic. Their grief — and anger — is driving some of them to the polls.

We spoke to the coronavirus widows. Here are their heartbreaking stories.

Clockwise from top: Stacey and David Nagy; Andrea and Tim Mulcahy; Sonya and Mark Hall; Brianna and Lew Berry. Courtesy the families

BEND AND SNAP

Mindy Kaling shared what it’s been like to work on Legally Blonde 3 and it sounds like we’re in for a treat

Look, you’re not new here, you probably knew Legally Blonde 3 is happening. But maybe what you didn’t know is: it’ll be written by none other than Mindy Kaling, along with Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor.

Kaling shared some fun stories about the project. What delighted me most: Kaling mentioned that she and Reese Witherspoon have “been friends for a while and I have always quoted the movies to her." Kaling added, “I was that annoying friend that would be like, ‘bend and snap’ to her.”

Be patient with yourself today,

Elamin