Notable Quote of the Day

“In many ways, 2020 is 1980 in reverse. That year, Ronald Reagan won a landslide victory and Republicans made remarkable congressional gains. Entering the fall campaign, President Carter’s approval rating stood at a dismal 38 percent. Carter hoped to overcome his poor marks by making his opponent the issue. Many saw Reagan as too old (he was 69 and would be the oldest president at that time); too out-of-touch (he called the Vietnam War a ‘noble cause’); and too gaffe-prone (he said trees were a major cause of pollution). Carter’s chief strategist, Hamilton Jordan, chortled that it was ‘delicious’ watching Reagan ‘stumble from one controversy to the next.’ The Carter game plan was clear: Make the election a choice, not a referendum.

This year, Donald Trump seeks to replicate Carter’s strategy. Trump repeatedly avows that the 77-year-old Biden has lost a step and would be put in a nursing home if elected. Just as Carter tried to sow fear – arguing that Reagan would cut Social Security and Medicare – Trump is engaging in fear mongering, contending that a mentally challenged Biden would be controlled by extremist elements within his party. But, like Carter, Trump’s game plan is deeply flawed. In 1980, Reagan reassured voters that they had nothing to fear. Today, most voters are not afraid of Joe Biden.”

– John Kenneth White, professor of politics at the Catholic University of America

Election Updates

• The University of Notre Dame withdrew from hosting the first presidential debate scheduled for September 29. Rev. John Jenkins, the university’s president, said that “the necessary health precautions would have greatly diminished the educational value of hosting the debate on our campus.” The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic would instead co-host the first debate.

• Joe Biden launched a $14.5 million ad campaign in seven battleground states—Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—targeting voters older than 65. The TV component features a woman whose grandmother died from COVID-19. The digital ad focuses on dignity for seniors.

• The Biden campaign asked its staff members to delete TikTok from both their personal and work phones. Staffers were also banned from trading individual stocks without approval from the campaign’s general counsel.

• More than 600 Democratic delegates have signed a pledge to vote against the party platform if it does not include a plank supporting Medicare for All. The coalition is led by Sanders delegates from Nevada. 

• Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would accept the Republican presidential nomination in North Carolina in August. Plans to hold most of the convention in Jacksonville, Florida, were canceled last week.

• According to an analysis by Bloomberg, 92% of Trump’s state-based spending this month has been in states he won in the 2016 presidential election, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Flashback: July 28, 2016

Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket.