As COVID-19 continues its spread through the White House

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It's in times of crisis that credibility matters most. Over the past few days, we've seen in real time how a lack of credibility can lead to confusion and undue speculation. The White House has spent more than three years equivocating, concealing, or outright lying about a whole host of issues, so it's understandable that Americans aren't quite sure what to believe regarding the president's health. However, theorizing without evidence can lead to the spread of misinformation, so we should be cautious about engaging, especially this close to the election. Skip the online guessing games, and focus instead on getting out the vote. In most states, there's still time to register or request a mail-in ballot, and in some states, early voting is already underway. Make sure your family and friends have the information they need and a plan in place to vote for leaders whose credibility we can count on. —Mindy Finn

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** Back to the White House
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After a weekend filled with ambiguous and conflicting reports from doctors and White House staff, staged photos purportedly showing a president hard at work, and an ill-advised joyride around Bethesda, Md., President Trump says he's leaving the hospital after his three-day stay to treat symptoms of COVID-19. He tweeted this afternoon: "I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don't be afraid of Covid. Don't let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!" Omg. ([link removed])
* — Still spreading. He'll return to convalesce at the White House, where the spread of COVID-19 continues unabated. White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany announced she had tested positive for the virus this morning and will enter quarantine. Others in the president's orbit who tested positive over the weekend include former adviser Kellyanne Conway and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped prep the president for his debate with Joe Biden last Tuesday. —Associated Press ([link removed])
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* — "That should never have happened." Members of the Secret Service have voiced escalating concern at what many of the agency's personnel have determined is total disregard for their well-being amid the deadly, highly contagious pandemic. A driver and two Secret Service agents were forced to share confined space with the president in a vehicle during a brief motorcade parade yesterday so he could wave to his supporters. —CNN ([link removed])
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* — Who else has been exposed? Possibly hundreds of supporters. Trump attended a fundraiser in Bedminster, N.J., on Thursday, despite having been in close contact with aide Hope Hicks, who had already been diagnosed with the virus and was displaying symptoms. Trump then failed to disclose a positive result from a rapid test for COVID-19 later on Thursday, while awaiting the findings from a more thorough screening. He also asked one adviser not to disclose results of their own positive test. "Don't tell anyone," he said. —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])

MORE: Conspiracy theories are everywhere about Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis. He helped make them happen —BuzzFeed News ([link removed])


** NYT Ed Board: Americans deserve the truth
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"Efforts by the administration to manipulate the public fuel distrust and frustration. Moreover, Trump is not suffering from an infirmity particular to him. He has contracted a virus that has already killed more than 209,000 Americans. His refusal from the start to be straight with the public about the severity of this disease has made it harder for the country to get the pandemic under control, and an untold number of lives have been lost as a result. However sick the president may be, the truth cannot be more harmful than the thick fog of confusion the White House has created." —The New York Times ([link removed])

MORE: Reality wreck—misinformation and how truth became a partisan issue [podcast] —The Economist ([link removed])


** Texas AG accused of bribery, abusing office
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Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery, and other potential crimes against the state's top lawyer. ([link removed])
* — In a letter to the state agency's director of human resources, seven top executives in the office said they are seeking an investigation into the Republican "in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas," a position he has held since 2014. ([link removed])
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* — The letter says that each named petitioner "has knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and has provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement." ([link removed])
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* — Paxton's office said in a statement: "The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office. Making false claims is a very serious matter, and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law." Stay tuned. —Austin American-Statesman ([link removed])


** Maine RCV ruling still unsettled
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Maine's highest court has rejected, for a second time, the state Republican Party's bid to stop ranked-choice voting in the upcoming presidential election, clearing the way for a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ranked-choice voting system was approved by Maine voters in 2016, but became a partisan issue after Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin lost re-election in 2018 despite collecting the most first-place votes. ([link removed])
* — On Friday, the Maine GOP formally asked the Supreme Court for either an injunction stopping RCV in the presidential race, or a temporary injunction to allow "for a full briefing and consideration." The case will likely be assigned to a single justice for emergency review. ([link removed])
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* — At issue is the GOP's effort to reinstate a statewide "People's Veto" referendum, which would have triggered an automatic delay of RCV in the 2020 presidential election. Maine courts have ruled that the GOP did not collect enough signatures in support of the referendum. ([link removed])
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* — The attorney general's office argued that voting is already underway, and it's too late to reprint ballots. It would be confusing if voters were told the presidential contest will be decided by a plurality even though the ballots are in a grid format for ranking candidates, the state said. — ([link removed]) CBS News ([link removed])

MORE: Ranked-choice voting is on the rise. What is it? —The Christian Science Monitor ([link removed])
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** Yang & Weld: Ranked-choice voting will improve our elections
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"Ranked-choice voting provides many benefits at all levels. Research shows more women and people of color run and win with this reform. Because candidates seek second-place votes, negative campaigning is diminished. Barriers for new competition will be reduced for candidates outside of both major parties. ... Ranked-choice voting is a promising, non-partisan reform that may soon hit a tipping point. By the next presidential primaries in 2024, it should be the rule rather than exception—a goal that state legislatures and state parties can begin working toward now." —USA Today ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, author, founder of Humanity Forward, and a former 2020 presidential candidate. Bill Weld served as the 68th governor of Massachusetts and is a former 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate.


** Global roundup
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As long-simmering tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have flared, one international voice has remained largely silent. Observers of the Caucasus see in the U.S.'s virtual silence over the matter an example of American diplomatic disengagement from world, amid a hollowing out of the State Department in recent years. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made one comment on the dispute, in response to an interview question. "Our view is that this has been a longstanding conflict between these two countries in this particular piece of real estate," he said. "We're discouraging internationalization of this." —The Guardian ([link removed])
* — Germany. As Jewish people observed the holiday of Sukkot, a Jewish student coming out of a Hamburg synagogue was attacked with a shovel and gravely injured yesterday. The suspect, who was quickly arrested, was carrying a piece of paper with a swastika in his pocket. The assault occurred less than a year after a deadly synagogue attack in the German city of Halle. The number of anti-Semitic crimes in Germany has nearly doubled in the past three years. —The New York Times ([link removed])
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— Russia. A Russian journalist died on Friday after setting herself on fire in front of an interior ministry office in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after her apartment was searched by police. Prior to her death, Irina Slavina wrote on her Facebook page: "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death." Slavina worked as editor-in-chief at Koza Press, an opposition news source that advertised itself as having "no censorship, no orders 'from above.'" —Al Jazeera ([link removed])
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* — United Kingdom. Demonstrators have gathered in London in recent days to protest China's treatment of certain groups, including Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, and people in Hong Kong. One of the organizers, Rahima Mahmut of the World Uyghur Congress, said countries are choosing trade over human rights. Rallies took place at the site of China's new British embassy, in an area of the city where four in 10 residents are Muslim. —CNN ([link removed])

MORE: EU sanctions Belarus over election, gets in-kind response —The Boston Globe ([link removed])


** Holloway: Fight for principles, not culture wars
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"While there are competing ideas over what it means to be American, what unites all of us is our Constitution. Our Constitution secures the rights that Americans treasure so dearly. The numerous variations of culture wars come and go, but our country's principles and ideals found in the Constitution remain the same. The Know Nothings demonstrated that lasting political impact cannot endure if it is fueled by a culture war. Good and lasting political impact can happen if it is guided by voters who are grounded in constitutional principles and ideals." — ([link removed]) Deseret News ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Bryant Holloway is a program associate for Stand Up Republic.


** A very special pen pal
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Over the last decade, "Grandpa Ron," as he is known, has volunteered thousands of hours every year at local schools in Ronald, Wash. But it wasn't until classes moved online due to COVID-19, that Ron Jacobson realized his legacy. That legacy reached far deeper than being a school volunteer. He had become a treasured friend. ([link removed])
* — "These kids who relied on me being there for them had suddenly lost me," Jacobson said. "When they started doing their schoolwork online, several complained to the faculty that they missed 'Grandpa Ron.'" ([link removed])
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* — The school received so many requests for Grandpa Ron that administrators added Jacobson's contact information to the school's online directory, allowing students to keep in touch with him. Students immediately began sending Jacobson emails and letters, and he responds to every one. ([link removed])
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* — The Veterans of Foreign Wars has honored Jacobson—a Vietnam veteran—by naming him a spokesman for their campaign, #StillServing, highlighting the good works of America's veterans after leaving active duty. "The Marine Corps taught me [that] the two things that are most important are: complete the mission, and take care of your troops," Jacobson says. "I'm still taking care of the troops." Semper fi, Grandpa Ron. —Good News Network ([link removed])

Ed. Note: 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!

I read that Mr. Trump and many of his sycophants are mad at White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for telling the truth about Mr. Trump's condition as it relates to the coronavirus. Mr. Meadows did not go along with the ruse that was being spewed, so HE is the problem? Incredible, but not a surprise.

It is beyond pathetic. They just want to put a "happy face" on his condition? The same "happy face" that has killed thousands needlessly. The same "spin" that has caused far more cases and deaths when compared to other nations, normalized for population. —Bill T., Arizona
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** 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.
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Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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