WHAT'S BREWING
TRUMP SAYS ANTIFA WILL BE DESIGNATED A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION Trump said the U.S. will designate anti-fascist protesters known as antifa as a terrorist organization amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. Trump, falsely conflating peaceful protests with lawless violence, announced his intentions on Twitter. He blamed “radical left anarchists,” as well as the media, for stirring up trouble in various cities and urged local leaders to shut their demonstrations down “before it is too late!” An American Civil Liberties Union official, responding to Trump’s terrorism call for antifa, called it “abused and misused.” [HuffPost]
BIDEN URGES AMERICANS TO TURN 'ANGUISH INTO PURPOSE' Joe Biden left his home on Sunday afternoon to visit Wilmington, Delaware, where protests erupted the night before to demand justice for the death of George Floyd. In photographs and videos posted to his Instagram account, a masked Biden was seen talking and taking photos with people, who were also masked, at the site. Biden was among several prominent politicians who have urged protesters to continue to voice their anger and frustration without resorting to violence. [HuffPost]
FBI'S TOP LAWYER QUITTING AMID CONSERVATIVE CRITICISM OVER RUSSIA PROBE The FBI’s top lawyer, Dana Boente, who has spent nearly 40 years with the Justice Department but has been targeted for criticism over the last year by some conservative commentators and supporters of Trump for his role in the Russia investigation, is leaving the bureau. Boente has most recently served as the FBI’s general counsel but has held a variety of roles in his 38-year Justice Department career. The FBI said that Boente had given notice on Friday that he intended to retire effective June 30. [AP]
CORNEL WEST: WE'RE WITNESSING THE COLLAPSE OF THE LEGITIMACY OF LEADERSHIP Black activist and prominent social critic Cornel West linked the ongoing protests in America to anger over the “vicious legacy of white supremacy” and the “collapse of the legitimacy of leadership.” “The beautiful thing is we’re seeing citizens who are caring and concerned. They’re hitting the streets,” the Harvard Divinity School professor told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” “The problem is we have a system that’s not responding and seems to be unable to respond,” he added. [HuffPost]
HOW THE REPUBLICANS BECAME THE PARTY OF DEATH PANELS The phrase “death panels” became part of America’s political vocabulary in 2009, when Republicans were trying to stop the legislation that eventually became the Affordable Care Act. Now another national debate is taking place about how to open up businesses in the country amid a coronavirus pandemic that has already killed more than 102,000 people, many of them elderly and unwell, and is sure to kill many more. One one side is a group of people who act as if ― and occasionally even say ― that returning to normality requires tolerating mass deaths among some of society’s most vulnerable groups. [HuffPost]
THEY WERE FERVENT TRUMP SUPPORTERS. THEN COVID-19 HIT. Older Americans were key to securing Trump’s victory in 2016. But some aren’t so firmly in his camp this time around, a shift that could present a hurdle for Trump as he seeks a second term. Among voters 45 to 64 years old, Trump outperformed Clinton by a 4-point margin, according to a survey of more than 64,000 voters organized by Harvard University. The same survey showed Trump won voters 65 and older by a hefty margin of about 13 points. This time around, according to a FiveThirtyEight average of national polls, voters 55 and older are almost evenly split between Trump and Joe Biden. [HuffPost] | 
