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Unfit leaders do more than embarrass and demoralize a nation. Their incompetence and negligence can have huge consequences for the people they serve. The stubborn refusal of the president and his allies in state governments to heed health officials’ warnings about how to protect against COVID-19 has caused outbreaks of the virus that have forced some states to pause their reopenings. On social media, the president amplifies voices of hate, further hurting and dividing a nation already beset with racial strife. And in a shocking display of disloyalty, the president’s lack of concern for our troops has allowed the same Russian intelligence group who backed his campaign in 2016 to pay Afghan terrorists to kill American troops, without a whiff of retribution or even condemnation. Fortunately, Trump appears to be losing support in battleground states, so more Americans are apparently realizing that we need leaders who work to keep Americans safe, heal our divisions, and protect our troops. —Evan
McMullin
Top Ten

Click here for shareable version ([link removed])
1. Intel says Russia targeted US troops Hardly a weekend goes by that there isn't a bombshell news story of some sort these days, but Friday night gave us a particularly grave one. The New York Times reported that American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for targeting and killing coalition forces in Afghanistan—including American troops—amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there. The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House's National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, but the White House has yet to respond. Since then, Trump has invited Russia to rejoin the G7. —The New York Times ([link removed])
* — Deny, deny, deny. Both Trump and Russia have dismissed the reports as "fake news." In line with Russia's denials, Trump tweeted, "Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an 'anonymous source' by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us..." He later claimed that U.S. officials dismissed the intelligence. —Forbes ([link removed])
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* — Three Marine deaths may be linked. Intelligence officials have reportedly been investigating an April 2019 attack on an American convoy, which killed three U.S. Marines, to determine if it was connected to Russian bounties. Officials are also looking at other unspecified incidents from 2019 to determine if there is any connection. The administration briefed select Republican members of Congress on the matter today. —The Daily Beast ([link removed])
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* — Troop deal still in the works. The Trump Administration is close to finalizing a decision to withdraw more than 4,000 troops from Afghanistan by the fall, paving the way for a U.S. exit, which the president remains determined to achieve. The discussions are taking place against the backdrop of a recent uptick in violence from the Taliban against the Afghan government. —CNN ([link removed])

More: US fighters have rushed to intercept 8 Russian bombers approaching Alaska in the past week (Business Insider) ([link removed])

2. Hiatt: Impeachment, updated ([link removed])

"Yes, maybe Trump is obtuse enough to believe that [China's Uighur population likes being in concentration camps]. And maybe obtuseness is no more impeachable than incompetence. But consider [former National Security Advisor John] Bolton's explanation of Trump's motive: He was begging [Chinese President Xi Jinping] to buy U.S. farm products to aid his re-election. Which dovetails neatly with—remember this one?—withholding a White House meeting from the democratically elected president of Ukraine to extort dirt on his 2020 Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. Which is the theme of every article in our updated indictment: putting personal, political gain above the interests and values of the nation." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

3. 'The window is closing' Over the weekend, worldwide cases of COVID-19 hit 10 million, with 500,000 deaths. The U.S. remains one of the global epicenters of the virus, and states like California, Florida, and Texas had to institute new measures to help grapple with their rising infection rates. Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar warned that the latest outbreaks threaten to spiral out of control without immediate intervention. "We have to act, and people as individuals have to act responsibly," he said. "We need to social-distance. We need to wear our face-coverings if we're in settings where we can't social-distance, particularly in these hot zones." —Politico ([link removed])
* — Protections for me, but not for thee? Even as measures meant to protect Donald Trump from catching the coronavirus have scaled up dramatically, his presidential campaign directed the removal of thousands of "Do Not Sit Here, Please!" stickers from seats at the Tulsa, Okla., arena where he held a campaign rally last week. The stickers were intended to promote social distancing among attendees. —CNN ([link removed])
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— Pence relents. At an event at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence implored Americans to wear face masks, practice social distancing, and stay away from senior citizens to protect them amid a new spike in COVID-19 cases. Pence also postponed two campaign events scheduled for this week due to the surge in infections. —The Washington Post ([link removed])
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* — "The stakes are much too high." On CNN yesterday, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, also urged the president to wear a face mask "when it's appropriate" to help end the political debate over wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic. —Axios ([link removed])

More: Masks could help stop coronavirus. So why are they still controversial? ( ([link removed]) The Wall Street Journal) ([link removed])

4. 'Thank you to the great people of The Villages' For a second time in his presidency, President Trump has described racist supporters in glowing terms, as he retweeted a video of a man in a Trump shirt shouting, "White power!" at protesters in Florida. The video, which was later deleted from the president's feed, showed Trump protesters and supporters in The Villages retirement community shouting profanities at each other. "There's no question that he should not have retweeted it and he should just take it down," said Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican. The White House later said that Trump didn't notice the white supremacist chant before retweeting the video. —Reuters ([link removed])
* — Trump signs EO to protect monuments. Late Friday, the president signed an order calling on the U.S. government to prosecute individuals who damage statues or monuments, with a potential prison sentence of 10 years. The order also calls for limiting federal funds to state and local jurisdictions and police agencies that "permit the desecration of monuments, memorials, or statues." —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
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— Another Confederate symbol bites the dust. On Saturday, both houses of the Mississippi legislature voted in favor of a redesign of the state flag, which contains an image of the Confederate battle flag. Gov. Tate Reeves had previously stated that he would sign whichever flag bill the legislature decided on. Good move, Mississippi. —New York Daily News ([link removed])
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* — Starbucks jumps into social media boycott. The coffee chain has joined a growing list of corporate entities suspending advertising on social media platforms, saying that it stands "against hate speech" and believes "both business leaders and policymakers need to come together to affect real change." —The Verge ([link removed])

More: Coronavirus, BLM protest conspiracy theories collide on Facebook and Twitter (CNET) ([link removed])

5. Colvin: Attacks undercut confidence in vote "[In 2016], as now, election experts have repeatedly discredited [Trump's] claims about widespread fraud in the voting process. In a country with a history of peaceful political transition, a major-party candidate's efforts to delegitimize an election amounted to a striking rupture of faith in American democracy. But to do the same as president, historians say, is unprecedented. 'Never,' said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley when asked whether any past U.S. president had ever used such language. 'What you're seeing is someone who's an autocrat or a dictator in action.'" —Associated Press ([link removed])

More: No presidential winner on election night? Mail-in ballots could put outcome in doubt for weeks ([link removed]) (USA Today) ([link removed])
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6. ICYMI: Quick takes from the weekend

If you were too busy with summer activities this weekend to check on the news, good for you. Here's a roundup of other key stories you may have missed...
* — Migrants to be released. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled on Friday that the U.S. government must release migrant children held in the country's three family detention centers, located in Texas and Pennsylvania, by mid-July, due to the coronavirus pandemic. —CNN ([link removed])
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* — Raiding Pentagon funds for wall illegal. A federal appeals court in California on Friday ruled that the Trump Administration's diversion of defense, military, and other funding to build a wall on the southern border violates the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse. —The Hill ([link removed])
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— A 51st state? In a 232-180 vote, the House passed a bill Friday to make Washington, D.C., the 51st U.S. state. The legislation would give Washington residents—who pay federal taxes but have no voting representation in Congress—one House member and two senators, but is unlikely to gain traction in the Senate. —CNBC ([link removed])

* — China vs. U.S. In response to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement that Washington will impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials responsible for restricting freedoms in Hong Kong, Beijing will impose a visa ban on U.S. citizens who "interfere" with its sweeping national security legislation. —Bloomberg News ([link removed])
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* — North Korea threatens to deploy nukes. The warning is supposedly to counter "threats" the North perceives from the U.S. The provocation, delivered via its state news service, follows a steady escalation in North Korean aggression in recent weeks. —U.S. News ([link removed])

7. Crespo & Parker: Flynn's prosecution isn't over ([link removed])

"As lawyers like [federal prosecutor Aaron] Zelinsky risk their careers to protect the Justice Department's credibility, the public needs to see justice done in its courts. Every judge on the D.C. Circuit has a stake in ensuring that the judiciary's integrity is not undermined by a premature acquiescence in the department's attempt to give yet another irregular and improper break to someone in Trump's inner circle. When the integrity of our legal system is at stake, the federal Appeals Court should at the very least speak together as a whole." —The Boston Globe ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Andrew Manuel Crespo is a professor of criminal law and procedure at Harvard Law School. Kristy Parker is the former deputy chief of the criminal section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and is a lawyer with Protect Democracy.

More: How Michael Flynn's defense team found powerful allies (The New York Times) ([link removed])

8. Poland votes in pandemic Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, fell short of securing a majority of the vote yesterday in Europe's first socially distanced election, exit polls showed. The result will force a runoff vote in two weeks against second-place finisher Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw. ([link removed])
* — Poles turned out in droves, despite several obstacles, including sweltering heat, concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, and long lines, as polling stations gave each voter a three-foot zone of personal space in all directions. ([link removed])
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— Trzaskowski promises to draw the country closer to the European Union, veto laws that he says pose a threat to Poland's democratic institutions, and protect the rights of the LGBTQ community. Duda has attacked homosexuality as an ideology comparable to communism. —The New York Times ([link removed])

* — In Malawi, a rerun of its contested presidential election, held on Saturday, after a court overturned the previous vote, has led to the defeat of the incumbent, President Peter Mutharika. Opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera's victory was a result of months of protests and a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court that widespread irregularities in the May 2019 election—including the use of correction fluid on ballots—could not stand. —The Christian Science Monitor ([link removed])

More: Will democracy in Latin America become another casualty of the coronavirus? (The National Interest) ([link removed])

9. DN Ed Board: The living Declaration of Independence "We concur with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Nobel Prize speech: 'I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.' On this July 4, we say the Declaration's ideals of liberty and equality are still worth celebrating. The shortcomings of our actions and attitudes are worth evaluating. The principles and policies that will guide the nation are worth debating. The hopeful future of the nation is worth contemplating. That is why, despite America's faltering steps on the road to its potential, it is still the model freedom-seeking people around the world are emulating." —Deseret News ([link removed])

10. An American Story: Hopewell Helpers Will Titus, a college sophomore, is the founder of the student-run organization Hopewell Helpers, comprised of himself and other college students, to complete odds-and-ends jobs, projects, and household tasks for people in the Hopewell, N.J., area. ([link removed])
* — Titus came up with the idea while delivering groceries to a couple of older people about a month ago, and by the end of this week, the group will have served 45 clients. ([link removed])
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* — Hopewell Helpers also offers a unique pricing model: pay what you want. "People can pay what they can afford, and what they feel is fair, and what they want to pay for jobs, but we're not exclusionary in our pricing," Titus said. "You're able to pay financially what you can." ([link removed])
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* — Titus said he plans to continue the organization throughout the summer, and he'd like to see it continue into the fall, but that depends on having enough local high school students involved when the others go back to college. —NJ.com ([link removed])

Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis and recent unrest, and promoting American values. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Thank you!
What's Your Take?

The stable genius in the White House, who, according to him, is a "perfect person," retweeted a video of a supporter yelling, "White power!" this weekend. The tweet was later taken down, and the White House claimed he didn't hear that part of the video. But since "perfect stable geniuses" don't make mistakes, I'm guessing it was no accident. —Carol M., Pennsylvania

Click here to tell us what you think about today's stories. ([link removed])
The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.

Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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