THIS IS AMERICA by Holly Thomas

Friday, October 23‌

TRUMP CLOSES IN THE GUTTER President Donald Trump opened Thursday night’s debate by falsely claiming a vaccine for COVID-19 was imminent, lied about his refusal to release his tax returns, raised nonsensical allegations about Joe Biden’s son, and ended with mistruths about both his and Biden’s policy accomplishments and proposals, including huge falsehoods about as-yet nonexistent Trumpcare. A CNN fact-checker later ripped apart Trump’s “bombardment of dishonesty,” adding “it just went on and on.” The incumbent needed a dramatic moment to have any hope of improving his chances ahead of Nov. 3. He didn’t get it. (More takeaways from the night here.) [HuffPost]‌

BIDEN CALLS OUT TRUMP ON TAX RETURNS Biden called out Trump for not releasing his tax returns in the debate after Trump accused Biden of taking money from foreign countries and brought up his son Hunter and his business connections in China. “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life. I have released 22 years of tax returns. You have not released a single year. What are you hiding?” Biden said, bringing up reports that Trump maintained a secret bank account in China. [HuffPost]‌

TRUMP: AMERICA IS ‘LEARNING TO LIVE’ WITH CORONAVIRUS As he’s done before, Trump attempted to paint his administration’s botched COVID-19 response as a success by pointing to one of the worst possible death projections — an early estimate found there could be as many as 2.2 million fatalities in the U.S. if no containment measures were taken. “I’ve been congratulated by the heads of many countries on what we’ve been able to do,” Trump said, without naming one. COVID-19 has killed more than 222,000 Americans, and over 1,100 deaths were reported on Wednesday.  [HuffPost]

EYEWITNESS EXPOSES ‘SICK’ TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP’S TREATMENT OF MIGRANT CHILDREN Trump insisted during Thursday’s debate that hundreds of migrant children who were separated from their immigrant parents and held in detention centers are “so well taken care of.” But a reporter who saw how those kids are treated said that’s not the case. “What I saw there was little children sitting on concrete floors covered by mylar blankets supervised by security contractors in a watchtower,” journalist Jacob Soboroff said on MSNBC after the debate. “It makes me sick every time I recall it.” [HuffPost]‌

TRUMP ‘I’M THE LEAST RACIST PERSON IN THIS ROOM’ Trump declared again that he’s the “least racist person” while responding to a question on race in America during the debate. Kristen Welker, the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, challenged Trump for calling the Black Lives Matter movement a “symbol of hate,” for tweeting a video of a Florida supporter chanting “white power” and for slamming Black athletes for exercising their First Amendment rights. Biden slammed Trump’s racist rhetoric, calling him “a dog whistle as big as a foghorn.” [HuffPost]‌

AT LAST, BIDEN LEANS INTO CLIMATE At his final presidential debate, Biden leaned into the issue on which polls show he’s most handily outmatching Trump, a fossil fuel hard-liner who has stubbornly clung to conspiracies and pseudoscience in the face of mounting climate disasters. “Global warming is an existential threat to humanity,” Biden said. “We have a moral obligation to deal with it.” As Trump lied and obfuscated, Biden kept the focus on the economic opportunity of his proposal to spend $2 trillion over four years on renewable energy and clean infrastructure. [HuffPost]

NEW YORK, PORTLAND, SEATTLE SUE TRUMP Trump was sued Thursday by New York, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle for designating them “anarchist” cities that shouldn’t get a penny of federal funding. “This is a figment of Donald Trump’s troubled imagination,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters before the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. “The only anarchy in this country is coming from the White House.” Trump instructed Attorney General William Barr last month to designate the cities “anarchist jurisdictions” following racial justice protests ignited by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. [HuffPost]‌

SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM CALLS FOR PROBE INTO RIVAL’S ABILITY TO OUT-FUNDRAISE HIM Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) indicated that mysterious dark forces — rather than his own unpopularity — are responsible for surging campaign contributions to his Democratic rival Jaime Harrison. He called for a legislative review of the kind of small-dollar donations that are boosting Harrison. “Where’s all this money coming from?” Graham asked in an interview. “Some of these shadowy figures out there running ads, is there any foreign influence afoot?” Graham conceded last month that he’s getting “killed” by Harrison’s fundraising because his foes “hate my guts.” [HuffPost]‌

JUDGE DROPS DEREK CHAUVIN’S 3RD-DEGREE MURDER CHARGE A Minnesota judge dismissed a third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, but left in place a more serious charge of second-degree murder. Hennepin County Judge Peter A. Cahill denied a defense motion to drop all charges against Chauvin and three other former officers involved in Floyd’s death. Chauvin, who was seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes, is still facing charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter. [HuffPost]‌

TRUMP’S FASCIST CRACKDOWN ON DIVERSITY TRAINING One of the president’s most dangerous attacks on civil rights and free speech is getting relatively little attention amid the firestorm of news as Election Day approaches. In an executive order and a series of administrative actions issued over the past month and a half, the Trump administration effectively banned diversity and inclusion training in the federal workforce and at any company or entity that contracts with the government or receives federal funding, a huge swath of American businesses and universities, covering millions of workers and students. [HuffPost]‌

THE OIL LOBBY’S COVID-19 WISH LIST As the coronavirus pandemic upended the U.S. economy, the head of the oil and gas sector’s leading trade association declared that fossil fuel companies weren’t looking for government handouts to stay afloat. But the American Petroleum Institute had already sent a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former fossil fuel lobbyist, a month earlier, outlining two dozen temporary actions it wanted the Interior Department to take to help the industry through the pandemic. These included waiving “non-essential compliance obligations,” conducting remote site inspections and delaying penalties for failing to meet enforcement deadlines. [HuffPost]‌

AS A WALTER REED HOUSEKEEPER, MY COVID-19 EXPERIENCE WAS NOTHING LIKE TRUMP’S Within the walls of Walter Reed hospital, there is a tale of two pandemics. The president received the best medical attention that taxpayer money could buy ― to the tune of over $100,000. But as the housekeepers, janitors, cooks, security and other service workers at Walter Reed, our experience with COVID-19 has been nothing like Trump’s. I had COVID-19 earlier this year, as did several of my colleagues. We all have had several friends and family members pass away from the virus. We did not have the benefit of being rushed to a hospital with a team of doctors devoted to us. [HuffPost]