Trump’s approval rating drops as US breaks daily Covid-19 case record – live

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

The Trump administration is weighing issuing an executive order that would ban undocumented people from being counted in the census, Politico reported Friday.

Such a move, if executed, would be unprecedented and have severe lasting consequences. The US constitution mandates that the government count all “persons” every 10 years, regardless of their immigration status.

The 2020 census is going on right now and the total from that tally is used to determine how $1.5 trillion in federal funds get allocated as well as how electoral districts get drawn for the next decade. Not counting undocumented persons in the census would put areas where they live a severe disadvantage when it comes to funding and representation.

The White House declined to comment and the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau, did not respond to an inquiry.

It’s unclear how exactly the Trump administration could actually exclude undocumented people from the census. None of the 10 questions on the decennial survey, which goes out to every household, asks about citizenship status. The Trump administration had previously attempted to add a question asking about citizenship to the census, but the US supreme court blocked the question last year.

After the supreme court’s decision, Trump issued an executive order instructing the Census Bureau to use existing records from other federal agencies to try and determine citizenship status. Four states have also agreed to provide the Bureau with driver’s license records.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention co-wrote an editorial urging Americans to wear masks.

The editorial from Dr Robert Redfield and two other senior CDC officials, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, argues wearing a mask is a “civic duty.”

“At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide favorably in national and global efforts against COVID-19,” Redfield and his colleagues wrote.

The CDC director has previously urged Americans, especially younger Americans, to cover their faces in order to limit the spread of the virus.

More than half of US states have issued statewide mask mandates, but a number of states that have recently reported surges in new cases — including Georgia, Florida and Arizona — have refused to do so.

More than half of US states have now issued statewide mask requirements to limit the spread of coronavirus, as this NBC News graphic shows.

Two more governors — Republican Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas and Democrat Jared Polis in Colorado — issued statewide mandates yesterday, as coronavirus cases surge in dozens of states.

However, governors in some of the hardest-hit states are still resisting statewide mask requirements. Georgia, Florida and Arizona — all of which have seen record-high levels of new cases in recent weeks — still do not have statewide mandates.

Georgia governor Brian Kemp has also filed a lawsuit against Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over her executive order requiring city residents to wear masks. The Republican governor, who has strongly encourages residents to wear masks, accused the Democratic mayor of overstepping her authority.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The US again broke its record for the number of new coronavirus cases reported in one day. The country reported more than 77,000 new cases yesterday, and a poll out this morning indicates Trump is losing support because of the alarming trend. The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March.
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been receiving treatment for a recurrence of cancer. The 87-year-old justice said she is “encouraged by the success of my current treatment” and intends to remain on the court.
• Defense secretary Mark Esper effectively banned the display of the Confederate flag at military bases. Esper issued a memo on the display of flags at military bases, which included a list of acceptable flags to display. The Confederate flag is notably omitted from the list.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

As a reminder, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow Barack Obama to fill Antonin Scalia’s supreme court seat because the late justice died during an election year.

The Republican leader argued that the winner of the 2016 election, which was still months away, should fill Scalia’s seat, infuriating Democrats.

After winning the election, Trump filled Scalia’s seat with conservative justice Neil Gorsuch.

But when McConnell was asked last year what he would do if a justice died in 2020 before the election, he smiled and replied, “Oh, we’d fill it.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made clear she does not plan to leave the court anytime soon, despite her recurrence of cancer. However, McConnell has already made clear what he would do if she had to step aside.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized earlier this week for treatment of a possible infection, but she said the hospitalization was unrelated to her recurrence of cancer.

Ginsburg was released from the hospital a day after being admitted, but the liberal justice’s health issues have sparked fears among her admirers that she may soon step down from the court.

Conservatives currently have a narrow 5-4 advantage on the supreme court, and if Ginsburg retires, Trump would get the opportunity to fill a third seat.

The news of Ginsburg’s cancer diagnosis will certainly only intensify liberals’ fears, although the 87-year-old justice said she has no intention of stepping down anytime soon.

Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has announced she is receiving chemotherapy treatment for a recurrence of cancer.

“On May 19, I began a course of chemotherapy (gemcitabine) to treat a recurrence of cancer,” Ginsburg said in a statement released by the court.

“A periodic scan in February followed by a biopsy revealed lesions on my liver. My recent hospitalizations to remove gall stones and treat an infection were unrelated to this recurrence.

“Immunotherapy first essayed proved unsuccessful. The chemotherapy course, however, is yielding positive results. Satisfied that my treatment course is now clear, I am providing this information.”

Ginsburg said she was “encouraged by the success of my current treatment” and would continue to receive chemotherapy on a biweekly basis.

The 87-year-old justice is a four-time cancer survivor, and she announced in a January interview that she was “cancer free.”

Despite her recent health issues, the liberal justice said she has no intention of stepping down from the court in the near future.

“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam,” Ginsburg said in the statement. “I remain fully able to do that.”

Progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman has officially been declared the winner of his primary race against longtime congressman Eliot Engel in New York.

The Associated Press called the race this morning, more than three weeks after New York held its primaries.

Bowman was already well ahead of Engel in the initial results, but the AP waited to call the race because of the high number of outstanding absentee ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, Bowman celebrated his win as a victory for the progressive, grassroots support that powered his campaign.

“I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress,” Bowman said. “But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative.”

He added, “The world has changed. Congress needs to change too. But if we can take on entrenched power and wealthy interests here in Westchester and the Bronx, then we can do it all across this country.”

Bowman’s win is also a key victory for progressives in Congress, who are seeking to expand their ranks with this year’s elections.

Defense secretary Mark Esper has issued a memo on the display of flags at military bases. The memo includes a list of acceptable flags to display at bases, and the Confederate flag is notably omitted from the list.

The memo does not explicitly mention the Confederate flag, but it defines the American flag as the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.”

“Flags are powerful symbols, particularly in the military community for whom flags embody common mission, common histories, and the special, timeless bond of warriors,” Esper said in the memo.

“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”

The policy change appears to be Esper’s effort to circumvent Trump, who has expressed opposition to changing the names of Army bases named after Confederate military leaders.

Confederate statues and monuments have come under intensified scrutiny in recent weeks, as protests against racism and police brutality have spread across the country.

Last month, the governor of Mississippi signed a law to change the state flag, the last in the country to feature the Confederate flag.

Barack Obama offered fond remembrances of the Rev CT Vivian, a civil rights activist who worked alongside Dr Martin Luther King and died at the age of 95 earlier today.

“Today, we’ve lost a founder of modern America, a pioneer who shrunk the gap between reality and our constitutional ideals of equality and freedom,” the former president said in a statement.

Obama said Vivian became “a source of wisdom, advice, and strength” to him during his first presidential campaign in 2008. “I will miss him greatly,” Obama said.

The former president closed his statement on a hopeful note, reflecting on the recent nationwide protests against racism and police brutality in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.

“I have to imagine that seeing the largest protest movement in history unfold over his final months gave the Reverend a final dose of hope before his long and well-deserved rest,” Obama said.

Trump said on Wednesday that he would soon issue an announcement about steps the federal government will take to rein in “out of control” cities.

The president said he would make an announcement next week “with the attorney general, the FBI and others concerning our cities, because the left-wing group of people that are running our cities are not doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing, and it’s not a very tough job to do if they knew what they were doing.”

Trump specificlaly cited recent protests against racism and police brutality in Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis, before pivoting to discuss the recent gun violence in Chicago.

“We have other cities that are out of control, they’re like war zones,” Trump said. “And if the city isn’t going to straighten it out, if local politicians or in this case, let’s say this for political reasons, they’re all Democrats. They’re liberal left-wing Democrats. And it’s almost like they think this is going to be this way forever.”

A reporter asked if Trump intended to follow through on his Monday comment that the government would enforce change in the cities “even if we have to go in and take over.” The president deflected that question.

Trump’s comments came as Portland activists warned recent incidents involving federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters may foreshadow the federal government’s actions in other cities.

The acting secretary of the department of homeland security, Chad Wolf, visited Portland, Oregon, yesterday and offered a hard-line message about cracking down on “violent extremists.”

As Portland activists expressed alarm about federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters, Chad said in a tweet, “Our men and women in uniform are patriots. We will never surrender to violent extremists on my watch.”

Chad also shared photos of his trip to Portland, which showed messages in graffiti, such as “BLM” and “If not us, who? If not now, when?”

Chad defended the actions of federal law enforcement officers in Portland, saying, “These valiant men and women have defended our institutions of justice against violent anarchists for 48 straight days. We will prevail.”

Oregon activists have warned the alarming incidents in Portland may foreshadow the steps Trump will take against other cities that have seen protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.

Activists in Portland, Oregon, are expressing severe alarm about recent incidents involving federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports:

Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off. …

Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the protests so far, while others have been arrested and released, including Pettibone. They also left one demonstrator hospitalized with skull fractures after shooting him in the face with so-called ‘less lethal’ munitions July 11.

Authorities have said the federal law enforcement officers are there to defend federal property amid the recent protests against racism and police brutality in response to the police killing of George Floyd.

However, OPB notes:

[I]nterviews conducted by OPB show officers are also detaining people on Portland streets who aren’t near federal property, nor is it clear that all of the people being arrested have engaged in criminal activity. [Two demonstrators] said they think they were targeted by federal officers for simply wearing black clothing in the area of the demonstration.

Portland activists have warned the strategy may indicate how the Trump administration plans to crack down on other cities that have seen protests in recent weeks.

“I think Portland is a test case,” Zakir Khan, a spokesman for the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Washington Post. “They want to see what they can get away with before launching into other parts of the country.”

Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s lawsuit over the city’s mask mandate shows he is “putting politics over people.”

Speaking to the Today show this morning, Bottoms said, “This filing of a lawsuit is simply bizarre, quite frankly.” The Democratic mayor noted several other Georgia cities have required residents to wear masks, but the lawsuit is aimed at Atlanta and specifically Bottoms.

Bottoms added, “I don’t think it happenstance that this lawsuit came the day after Donald Trump visited Atlanta and I pointed out that he was violating city law by not having on a mask at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.”

Kemp has strongly urged Georgians to wear masks, and the Republican governor even launched a statewide tour to encourage residents to cover their faces and take other precautions to limit their risk of contracting coronavirus. But Kemp said Bottoms’ executive order overstepped her authority.

When specifically asked if she believed Kemp was motivated by politics, Bottoms replied, “I absolutely do. He is putting politics over people.”

Mike Pence is visiting Wisconsin today, marking the vice president’s latest in a series of trips to swing states in recent weeks.

According to the Trump campaign, the vice president will visit Ripon, Wisconsin, to deliver “a major address today where he will outline the dangers of socialism and the extreme Sanders-Biden agenda in the birthplace of the Republican Party.”

Trump has similarly sought to paint Joe Biden as an extreme socialist in an effort to tie him to politicians like Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

However, the president’s strategy does not seem to be working, likely in part because voters generally view Biden as more of a centrist than Trump.

According to a Politico/Morning Consult survey released earlier this month, only 17% of registered voters consider Biden to be more liberal than most Democrats, and 23% of voters in that poll said they viewed Biden as a moderate, compared to only 9% who said that of Trump.

The Cook Political Report has shifted the ratings of 20 House races in Democrats’ favor, as a series of national polls released this week showed Trump trailing Joe Biden by double digits.

Cook’s Dave Wasserman has more on the ratings change:

President Trump’s abysmal polling since the pandemic began is seriously jeopardizing down-ballot GOP fortunes. We may be approaching the point at which dozens of House Republicans will need to decide whether to cut the president loose and run on a ‘check and balance’ message, offering voters insurance against congressional Democrats moving too far left under a potential Biden administration. …

Republicans began the cycle hoping to pick up 18 seats to win the majority back. Now they’re just trying to avoid a repeat of 2008, when they not only lost the presidency but got swamped by Democrats’ money and lost even more House seats after losing 30 seats and control two years earlier. For the first time this cycle, Democrats have at least as good a chance at gaining House seats as Republicans on a net basis.

So even if Trump can somehow manage to hold on to the White House, it’s looking less and less likely that he will be governing with a Republican-controlled Congress, as he did at the start of his first term.

If Democrats can hold on to the House, it will make it much more difficult for Trump to pass any major legislation after winning reelection.

Good morning, live blog readers. This is Joan Greve in Washington.

Coronavirus cases in the US continue to break records, and a new poll out this morning indicates Donald Trump is losing support as a result of the alarming trend.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 77,255 new cases were reported in the US yesterday, marking the first time the country’s daily caseload has surpassed 70,000.

Meanwhile, a new poll out this morning shows Trump’s approval rating on his handling of coronavirus continues to deteriorate.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March. Disapproval has simultaneously climbed to 60%, up from 53% in May and 45% in March.

Trump is clearly aware he is in trouble, and his decision this week to shuffle his campaign staff shows he is worried about his re-election bid.

But if the president cannot change some minds on how he has responded to the pandemic, he may not have much of a path to victory.