| THE BIG STORY
Donald Trump has the coronavirus
A little over thirty days before the election, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. Both have entered quarantine. It’s a destabilizing event in a long line of destabilizing events as the most hotly contested presidential election in modern memory draws near.
It is not immediately clear what the president having the virus will mean for how his administration functions in the short-term.
In a memo to the White House Press Secretary, the president’s physician wrote, “I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.”
Many people who contract the virus have limited health concerns, outside of a cough, high fever, or shortness of breath; some people are not symptomatic at all. Trump, who is 74, is at higher risk of becoming seriously ill, according to guidelines from the CDC.
This is seismic. Matt Berman, our politics editor, says he, the freakin’ politics editor, has no idea what happens next: “It is… pretty OK and accurate to be really thrown off by this one.”
👉 The big picture here: The president has spent months downplaying the severity of COVID-19, refusing to regularly wear a mask, undercutting the government's top scientists, and so severely mismanaging the nation's response to the pandemic that more than 200,000 Americans are now dead.
👉 Worth noting: Shortly before the president announced that he tested positive, Hope Hicks, who traveled with Trump, also tested positive.
Pool / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is closing all but one dropoff location for mail-in ballots in each county
Abbott issued a proclamation on Thursday that would make it far harder for Texas residents to vote by mail in the 2020 election, setting off widespread criticism and accusations that state Republicans are engaging in voter suppression.
The proclamation — framed as an effort to enhance election security — will close all but one drop-off location for mail-in ballots in each of Texas's 254 counties. The move severely limits voters access to the polls in large and populous counties.
This comes as polls show that Texas is more politically competitive than it has been in decades.
SNAPSHOTS The Trump administration lost millions of dollars of food and water meant for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. A new government report shows his administration lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of potentially lifesaving food and water, as thousands died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Timothy Ray Brown, the first person to be cured of HIV, has died of cancer at 54. Brown, widely known as “the Berlin patient,” was cured of HIV when he underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, which he separately had. Brown became renowned as a symbol of hope for those facing HIV and AIDS diagnoses.
Trump urged his supporters to go to polling places and watch. Here’s what poll watchers actually do. In most states people can't just show up at a polling place and say they want to watch what's going on. There's a process — and rules on how to do it.
An Asian American woman accused of killing her parents was exonerated after prosecutors’ racist emails were discovered. Frances Choy, who spent 17 years in prison after being accused of killing her parents in a house fire, was exonerated partly because of racist emails exchanged by the prosecutors.
TAKE THE POWER BACK Startups in India want to build their own app store to bypass Google’s
Starting next year, Google will require app developers to use its in-app payment system, and give 30% of in-app payments to the tech giant.
In response, dozens of prominent startups in India, one of the world’s largest internet markets, are creating a coalition to fight the decision. The coalition’s ambitions are big: they want to fight Silicon Valley's influence on the Indian internet and set up an Indian app store as an alternative way to the Google Play store.
The move comes in the context of a larger fight: Around the world, developers have begun an orchestrated push against Apple and Google, accusing them of using their monopolies over the App Store and the Google Play store to collect unreasonable commissions.
SLOW IT ALL DOWN Invite some calm into your life and spend time with these longreads I’ve spent the pandemic watching the entire Real Housewives empire. I will never be the same. Shannon Keating resisted the Housewives Universe for a long time — until she eventually gave in. Here’s what she found: “The Housewives dramas so often go deeper than the surface-level petty bullshit to reveal profound, and profoundly human, anxieties about identity and belonging.”
Emmylou Harris’s Wrecking Ball has become my pandemic balm. This week, Wrecking Ball turned 25. This one is from me — I wrote about listening to that album through the pandemic, and the lessons it teaches us about surviving: “Its opening notes ask: Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to come out of all this unchanged? Wouldn’t it be a shame if you go through all this chaos, trying not to let it affect you?”
Kid A, 20 years later. Duelling essays on Radiohead’s revered and respected album. Mat Honan wrote about listening to Kid A at the end of the world. I wrote about why Kid A is...fine. It's a decent album but its legacy is how it transformed fandom.
Take stock of all the new ways you've had to be brave this year, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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