Less than 24 hours after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, President Donald Trump was flown to Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, D.C., where his deteriorating condition includes a fever, coughing and congestion. He’s been given an experimental antibody treatment as well as the antiviral remdesivir. White House staffers reportedly clamored for tests while the list of those infected around Trump grew: The first lady, his campaign manager, former senior aide Kellyanne Conway and two U.S. senators, many of whom joined Trump last Saturday to mark Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.

Sources: NYT, CNN, Fox News

2. Coming Up: The Recovery Slows to a Crawl

The recovery may not be measured in months. “We will be counting the employment recovery in years,” suggested a University of Tennessee economist, after seeing Friday’s unemployment report. U.S. jobs rose by 661,000 in September, according to the Labor Department. That’s slightly better than some had predicted, but it still leaves unemployment at 7.9 percent and represents a much slower job growth than during the summer months. Meanwhile, investors, unsettled by the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis, sent stocks down initially, with more volatility expected through Election Day.

Sources: WSJ (sub), Business Insider

3. Are Lawyers and Guns Aiming to Disrupt Nov. 3?

They’re gunning for ballots. According to a New York Times investigation, Republican operatives have spent a decade building justification for challenging votes based on unproven examples of voter fraud. Meanwhile, militia groups investigated by The Atlantic appear to have amassed tens of thousands of loosely organized volunteers, many of them police and soldiers, to take up arms as a “last resort” to defend President Trump from what members need little convincing will be fraud if he loses the election. With one effort breathing life into the other, chances of an orderly change of power seem as dim as they’ve ever been.

Sources: NYT, The Atlantic

4. Macron Angers Muslims With ‘Separatism’ Speech

“The repression of Muslims has been a threat. Now it is a promise.” That’s how French Muslim activist Yasser Louati interpreted President Emmanuel Macron ’s Friday address vowing “no concessions” would be made in a new effort to purge religious expression from the public sphere. Macron singled out “Islamist radicalism” affecting a faith that is “in crisis” everywhere. The speech announced a bill his government would submit to Parliament in December tightening a 1905 law separating the government from religion, but in particular regulating how Islam is observed to “fight Islamist separatism.”

Sources: Al Jazeera, Washington Post

5. Also Important …

COVID-19 deaths reported in India have passed 100,000. Recordings of grand jury proceedings on the death of Breonna Taylor showed disagreements over whether officers who killed her announced themselves before entering her apartment. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that with two of its members infected with the coronavirus, the Senate Judiciary Committee should delay a confirmation hearing on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.

In the week ahead: On Sunday, Kyrgyzstan holds parliamentary elections. Christie’s in New York plans to auction off a Picasso and a T-rex skeleton on Tuesday. And each day this week, Nobel Prizes will be announced, concluding with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Black Leadership in Corporate America: Former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns and Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson talk about the obstacles they encountered on their paths to success and how the system can change in “Leading in the B-Suite,” a new LinkedIn interview series led by Adam Bryant, a former New York Times columnist, and Rhonda Morris, a Chevron executive. Check it out today!

You know him as Chidi, the nervous philosophy professor on NBC's The Good Place, and while actor William Jackson Harper isn't nervous, he's certainly philosophical. He joins Carlos to talk about thriving in the unusual, his unique approach to Black masculinity, and his real-life Romeo and Juliet romance. It's one you won't want to miss.  Be sure to subscribe to the OZY YouTube channel to be notified when it's live, and remember — new subscribers will be entered for a chance to win an invitation to a Zoom taping with a celebrity guest!

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The president is sick — and so is the candidate. Aside from the political implications, there are legal and constitutional considerations beyond the nightmare ballot challenges already envisioned. If Trump dies before Nov. 3, a Republican mini-convention nominates a new candidate. But with many people already voting, states can’t reprint ballots. That triggers a more complicated scenario in which the deceased or incapacitated president is reelected, explains political analyst Ed Kilgore. In that case, electors would likely be called upon to choose their party’s nominee, setting aside the voters’ choice in their states.

Source: NY Magazine

2. The Time for Black Influencers Is Now

They have power. More power per follower, that is, than the traditional rich and famous social media influencer. That’s why brands are willing to pay real money to microinfluencers, those with just a few thousand followers who generate 85 percent higher engagement than their big-time counterparts. In this time of societal tumult, that’s particularly true of Black influencers, OZY reports, as companies know that to regain the trust of the African American community, they’ll need to take it to the next level. Marketers spending billions on such exposure know it’s worth it in order to reach a market that’s quadrupled since 1990 to $1.3 trillion.

Sources: OZY

3. The Pandemic’s Hidden Suffering: Restaurant Support

Restaurants across the U.S. have lost more than 3 million jobs. But what of the florists who decorate them and those who deliver supplies like kegs of beer that aren’t being sold under pandemic restrictions? There are an estimated 8 million workers who depend on the restaurant industry, including such esoteric vocations as beer tap line cleaners. You may laugh, but it gets ugly when the suds get stopped up. And linen services providing clean tablecloths and aprons serve not only small restaurants but also big concerns like cruise ships, which few people are clamoring to sail on these days.

Sources: The Counter

4. How Did a Fake Terrorist Become a Hit Podcast?

It may be the first time someone is jailed for not being a terrorist. This week, Canadian police arrested 25-year-old Shehroze Chaudhry on charges of “hoax-terrorist activity.” Chaudhry’s account, in which he claimed to have executed two people when he was an ISIS militant in Syria in 2014, was featured in the hit New York Times podcast series Caliphate. Now the Times says it’s reviewing the series by reporter Rukmini Callimachi, whose work has raised journalistic and ethical questions in the past, even while collecting prestigious awards.

Sources: The New Republic

5. Lakers up 2-0 in NBA Finals Against Battered Heat

With center Bam Adebayo and point guard Goran Dragic both out with injuries, the Miami Heat just couldn’t keep up with the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James last night. King James did not disappoint, scoring 33 points while teammate Anthony Davis dropped in 32 with 14 rebounds, making the pair the first to top 30 points for the Lakers in a finals game since 2002. That 124-114 victory puts L.A. two games from the pro basketball championship in Orlando, Florida’s fanless bubble as they head into Game 3 tomorrow night.

Sources: USA Today, CBS