JULY 10, 2020
Kuttner on TAP
Donald, It’s Not About You
Trump looks at every issue through the lens of whether it makes him look good or bad. And he projects this premise onto his critics. Thus, the Democrats are delaying school openings in order to make him look bad.

As the Twit-in-Chief tweeted, "The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families."

Actually, the nation’s governors, mayors, and school officials (many of them Republicans) are trying to balance agonizing choices. On the one hand, kids need face-to-face learning. And their parents rely on schools as safe places for their children while they go to work.

On the other hand, a reversion to normal school schedules obviously isn’t safe.

Trump isn’t making these awful trade-offs any easier. He’s denying schools extra funding in the face of a collapse of state and local revenues. And he’s doing nothing to relieve the extra pressure on child care systems, as more learning is necessarily done remotely.

So this is not about Democrats trying to make Trump look bad. It’s about doing what’s safe for America’s kids, in dire circumstances.

One thing, however, is about Trump—the election. And it takes no extra help from Democrats for Trump to look bad. He achieves that all by himself.

Why We’re Still Fighting the South
The irrepressible conflict continues to be 
between oligarchy and democracy. BY RICHARD R. JOHN

Biden’s New Economic Nationalism: Better Than You May Think
And some of it seems to have been inspired by Elizabeth Warren. BY ROBERT KUTTNER

In the Race for Joe Kennedy’s Successor, an Anti-Kennedy Emerges
Ihssane Leckey, a Moroccan immigrant, faces a coterie of Ivy-educated résumé-stuffers in a crowded House primary. BY DANIEL BOGUSLAW

‘Impunity Is the Story of Our Times’
An interview with filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer BY KAREN NUSSBAUM

Unsanitized: Labor Repression in Mexico and Dangers in the COVID Workplace
Also, the testing problem. This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for July 10, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

 
 
 
 
 
 
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