Today in 5 Lines
President Trump continued to publicly criticize Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the party’s failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. During a brief press appearance, he declined to say whether McConnell should resign, but told reporters they should ask him again down the road. Trump also doubled down on his threats to North Korea, saying that the country should “get their act together or they’re going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world.” Trump announced that he is declaring the opioid crisis a national emergency. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain declared “America is adrift in Afghanistan,” and said that he will seek a vote on his “strategy for success” when the chamber returns from recess.
Today on The Atlantic
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A Line in the Sand: Pro-choice activists are worried the Democratic Party is sidelining their agenda, after party leaders said they wouldn’t impose a litmus test on abortion in 2018. (Clare Foran)
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‘The Brown and the Gray’: In pushing for a proposal that would drastically cut legal immigration to the United States, Ronald Brownstein argues that President Trump has made a serious miscalculation about Americans’ interdependence.
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Questionable: On Thursday, two professors revealed a poll showing that more than half of Republican voters said they would be willing to delay the 2020 election if President Trump said it was necessary. Here’s why readers should be dubious about those results. (David A. Graham)
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A Radioactive Situation: Mark Bowden, author of The Atlantic's July/August cover story about the limited, bad options for dealing with North Korea, sat down with Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson to talk about this week's revelations, in a special news episode of Radio Atlantic. “The heat has been turned up on the whole question,” Bowden says, “but the harsh facts of the situations haven’t changed and the consequences of a military attack haven’t changed. I think it’s just coming to a head.”
