Power Up: March for Our Lives wants to rally young people to vote -- for policies

🚨: New York Attorney General Letitia James will make a “major national announcement” this morning at 11:30 a.m., live-streamed here. 

The people

NEW AD CAMPAIGN, WHO DIS: March for Our Lives, a youth movement launched by students activists after a 2018 school shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Fla., is dropping a powerful new ad today targeting Generation Z voters across nine states.

The six-figure digital and television ad buy will air in key electoral battlegrounds: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas and Colorado. On Thursday, it will run on MSNBC during morning programming, along with Fox News — the president’s preferred cable news network.

Narrated by Emma González, a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and co-founder of March for Our Lives, the pandemic-era ad urges youth activists and protesters to continue to embrace their “power” in the fight against gun violence and systemic racism. González specifically calls out demands for “weapons of war to be banned for good,” for lawmakers to listen to young people, and to end the killing of Black people at the hands of police officers.

• “When we were stuck inside we wondered, will we face the plague of gun violence again?” González says in the ad. “Will we fear gathering in our schools and our churches again? Will we be shot for the color of our skin again? The fight for justice forced us out to fill the empty streets.”
• “It’s clear the fight for racial justice is still on and we won’t live without it,” she adds.
• Read our full story here. 

The intersectional message pieces together the organization’s long-running campaign against gun violence with the fight for racial justice sparked in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. This is the first time since the Parkland shooting the group has engaged politically in a presidential election year.

The ad is also a rallying cry for young voters aged 18 to 25 who made an extraordinary showing in the 2018 congressional midterm elections, hitting a 100-year-high, to turn out again in November.

Polling shows young voters are motivated to oust President Trump, and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads Trump among all young Americans (51 percent to 28 percent), according to a Harvard Institute of Politics youth poll released at the end of April.

But don’t expect “Dump Trump” slogans or anti-Trump attacks as the group makes its final push: the March for Our Lives activists say the mission of the organization largely run by Gen Zers and millennials is not about Trump and all reaching young people motivated by issues not candidates to drive youth participation. 

• Step 1: With just under 90 days until the election, this first ad is part of the group’s “persuasion phase” to influence young voters who to connect with the group; a second ad explicitly encouraging young people to turn out and “vote for our lives” will soon follow.
• The presidential contest ranks behind local races in the group’s playbook: the students are prioritizing turnout for gubernatorial, Senate, and attorney general races where they’ve already seen their efforts drive change on the gun policy front.

“We endorse policies, not people,” said Eve Levenson, the 20-year-old policy and government affairs manager for the group. 

• “The most change we’ve seen in gun violence prevention happens on the state and local level …. And there’s already so much information out there on the presidential,” she added.
• Levenson pointed to a slate of gun-control laws that finally passed in Virginia after Democrats flipped the legislature to take control of state government for the first time in a generation.

Younger voters are less inclined to support Trump than older ones, but Democrats are still worried the demographic’s enthusiasm for Biden and the Democratic establishment is too milquetoast. Young people preferred more progressive candidates advocating for systemic change during the Democratic primary like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). But young people didn’t turn out in the droves that Sanders expected during the primary.

• “Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in?” Sanders told reporters in March after losing most Super Tuesday states to Biden. “The answer is no.”

Biden’s initial struggle to capture young voters might help explain why March for our Lives is pushing policy not personalities, focusing its pitch on gun control, climate change, student debt, health care, and racism.

• “He’s getting the benefit of the doubt — and now they’re beginning to like him,” John Della Volpe, the Harvard Institute of Politics polling director said in an interview about young people’s relationship to Biden. “They want to know, listen and feel better about him.”
• Della Volpe said “the most active of activists” understand that electing Biden is necessary to “make systemic change on these issues” and that his “coattails” at the top of the ticket may “bring in a Democratic Senate.”
• “That’s what active young people understand and are inspired by,” he added.

The student activists rolled out an ambitious policy proposal, “A Peace Plan for a Safer America,” last summer. The organization still stands by the demands they’ve made for federal change — a federal gun buyback program, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the creation of a national licensing and gun registry, and the installation of a “national director of gun violence prevention.” 

But it’s directing the thrust of their efforts toward change at a local level in the run-up to election day. Trump has done little to address the outrage from young people and their families in the wake of multiple mass shootings. Senate Republicans blocked efforts from Democrats to expand background checks. Thusly, March for Our Lives is spending more of their efforts working around Trump.

• “It’s not always about the president,” said Daud Mum, a 19-year-old March board member.
• “When we engage folks at a local level, and present them with the opportunity to talk with people in the same state or town or city they grew up in, they are more motivated to get the work done because they are making a difference for the place they grew up in,” said Maxwell Frost, the group’s 24-year-old national organizing director. He conceded the pandemic has thrown a bit of a wrench into election year activity, but said the digitally native group has transitioned successfully to online organizing.

In the wake of the pandemic, March for Our Lives, along with The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Team ENOUGH, a youth-led lobbying group for gun reform, also launched a campaign focused on voting rights. The joint campaign will provide literature and tool kits to assist organizers in 10 states across the country navigate concerns and confusion surrounding voter access and mail-in voting. The campaign will also provide poll workers with personal protective equipment.

• “We’re channeling all of the actions we’ve taken — not just over the past couple of months but the uprising that’s happened over the past two years since [March for Our Lives] launched,” said Crystal Cooper, the group’s communications director. “And one simple action in November, or October if you’re voting by mail, can really propel the movement. ”

On the Hill

BOTH SIDES REMAIN FAR APART ON RELIEF PLAN: “Trump threatened to take executive action to extend an eviction moratorium, suspend collection of the payroll tax and boost unemployment benefits unless a coronavirus relief deal can be reached quickly with Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Erica Werner, Karoun Demirjian and Jeff Stein report.

• White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump will act if no deal is made by Friday: “And in a sign the White House could be preparing to act, the Trump administration has asked federal agencies to identify all of the money they have not yet spent from the $2 trillion Cares Act, which passed in March, according to two people briefed on the effort. White House officials are trying to determine whether this money could be redirected and used for other purposes, such as temporary unemployment benefits or the eviction moratorium.”

The latest on where things stand: Meadows told reporters trillions separate Democrats and the White House. The two sides will meet again at 5 p.m. Here's where some of the big issues are at, per our colleagues:

• The enhanced $600 in unemployment assistance: Democrats continue to insist on the $600 weekly in extra benefits. Republicans offered one week of the expired payments and are now at $400 weekly through early December.
• State aid: Senate Republicans offered no new funding in their Heals plan (Democrats had $1 trillion in the Heroes Act). Trump repeated his long-held position to reporters at the White House that such money remains a “bailout” of poorly managed states. The administration is now offering $150 billion and wants other funding, such as $105 billion for schools, to count for this category — Democrats reject such accounting.
• The Postal Service: Democrats are increasingly focused on mail delays ahead of November's election. They are now seeking $10 billion for the USPS in a year, a chance from $25 billion over three years.

Not a good look: "I want to get an outcome,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Politico Wednesday. “And I think the best way to get an outcome and to maximize the potential on our side — and we are divided on this — is to make sure everybody knows what’s going on.”

• “Some Republican senators and aides are privately complaining that McConnell waited too long to develop a GOP alternative to the Democrats’ nearly $3.5 trillion-plus HEROES Act that the House passed two months ago,” Politico reported.
• “But McConnell and other GOP leaders maintain they needed to see how the implementation of the March $2 trillion CARES Act unfolded before deciding a new proposal was even needed or how it should be structured. And more than $1 trillion remained unspent by late July, according to the Office of Management and Budget.”

Global power

AT LEAST 135 PEOPLE ARE DEAD IN BEIRUT: “International rescue workers and aid began arriving in the Lebanese capital Thursday as a shocked city took in the extent of its losses in twin explosions this week,” Sarah Dadouch and Louisa Loveluck report.

• What we know: “At least 135 people were killed Tuesday as blasts engulfed central Beirut, wounding more than 4,000 and leaving scores of people unaccounted for as shock waves gutted the heart of the city. The immediate cause appeared to be an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer and bombmaking ingredient, stored in a warehouse at the port for years despite repeated warnings over the risk it posed.”

The country is in need of assistance: “The losses may total up to $5 billion, Beirut governor Marwan Abboud told reporters, a sum that Lebanon, already in the throes of financial disaster, is ill-equipped to absorb,” our colleagues write.

• More details: “An estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer and bombmaking ingredient, has been identified as the immediate cause of the blast that engulfed the city on Tuesday, killing at least 135 people, injuring more than 3,000 and leaving more than 100 unaccounted for. The material had been stored in a warehouse since being seized by customs authorities in 2014, despite repeated warnings from port officials that it was a risk.”
• The blast was heard 150 miles away on the island of ­Cyprus.

The explosion is a microcosm of Lebanon's problems: “A weak state, inept government, corrupt officials and, many said, the existence of a parallel state run by the powerful Hezbollah movement, as well as other Lebanese factions that used the port for smuggling operations,” our colleagues write.

Outside the Beltway

SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES CRACK DOWN ON TRUMP: “Facebook and Twitter took extraordinary action against [Trump] for spreading coronavirus misinformation after his official and campaign accounts broke their rules, respectively,” Heather Kelly reports.

• The details: “Facebook removed from Trump’s official account the post of a video clip from a Fox News interview in which he said children are ‘almost immune’ from covid-19. Twitter required his Team Trump campaign account to delete a tweet with the same video, blocking it from tweeting in the interim.”
• More: “The twin actions came roughly three months before the elections in which Trump’s performance on coronavirus is a key issue, and the social media companies have made it clear in recent months that they will not tolerate misinformation on the global pandemic.”

What's the word? “Twitter said it hid the campaign’s post and that the account would not be able to tweet again until the message is deleted, although the campaign can appeal the decision. The account was active again late Wednesday night. Trump’s personal account also reshared the video originally posted by Team Trump, but it was removed after the original tweet was blocked,” Heather reports.

• “Twitter spokeswoman Liz Kelley said the tweet 'is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before'they can Tweet again.'"

From the courts

TRUMP'S BANK SUBPOENAED IN N.Y. CRIMINAL PROBE: “The New York prosecutors who are seeking [Trump’s] tax records have also subpoenaed his longtime lender, a sign that their criminal investigation into [Trump’s] business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known,” the New York Times's David Enrich, Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin Weiser report.

The Manhattan DA subpoenaed Deutsche Bank last year and later complied with the request, the Times reports: “The criminal investigation initially appeared to be focused on hush-money payments made in 2016 to two women who have said they had affairs with [Trump].”

• The bank has previously been mentioned in Trump-related investigations: “But the subpoena from the office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., appears to be the first instance of a criminal inquiry involving Mr. Trump and his dealings with the German bank, which lent him and his company more than $2 billion over the past two decades." 

The campaign

LEFT-WING CANDIDATES KEEP TAKING OUT INCUMBENTS: “The latest example of the liberal surge came this week in a primary race in Missouri, where Cori Bush, a 44-year-old Black Lives Matter activist, defeated Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr., 64, the heir to a St. Louis political dynasty, for a reliably Democratic House seat,” Paul Kane and David Weigel report.

• Three Democratic incumbents have lost this year, five since Trump took office: “ A constellation of liberal organizations that helped push Bush to victory are now turning their focus on defeating other establishment figures, such as Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), the powerful chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.”

ELSEWHERE ON THE TRAIL:

Tlaib easily dispatched a primary challenge: Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a member of the self-proclaimed “Squad,” defeated Brenda Jones, 60, the president of the Detroit City Council, the New York Times's Luke Broadwater reports. With 98 percent of the vote in, Tlaib still holds a 66 percent to 34 percent lead over Jones, who she beat by just 900 votes in 2018.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is still losing, but the first step in his comeback bid is still too close to call: Jerry Sheridan, Arpaio's former deputy, holds a 541-vote lead in the Republican primary over former Arpaio, according to the county's elections department. While sheriff, Arpaio was held in criminal contempt for violating the rights of Hispanic people. Trump later pardoned Arpaio before he was sentenced. 

• The winner will face Sheriff Sheriff Paul Penzone (D), who crushed Arpaio in 2016, and ran unopposed in his primary.

Trump campaign fundraising in July outpaced Biden's campaign, a reversal from the previous two months: The president's reelection fundraising “brought in a staggering $165 million raised between the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and affiliated committees,” Michelle Ye Hee Lee reports. Biden and the Democratic National Committee brought in $140 million.

At the White House

BIPARTISAN PUSH BACK ON WHITE HOUSE CONVENTION SPEECH: “Local and national leaders pushed back against [Trump’s] desire to deliver his convention acceptance speech from the White House, warning that the event could bring protests and coronavirus spread to the nation’s capital while violating historic norms that separate political activity from the seat of presidential power,” Michael Scherer, Fenit Nirappil and Josh Dawsey report.

• It's not just Republicans named Romney this time: “Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called it ‘problematic,’ Sen. John Thune (S.D.) questioned the legality of political events at the White House and Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) suggested that other plans should be made.”

Trump said he would prefer to speak from 1600 Penn.: The president on “Fox and Friends” “described the White House as a ‘beautiful setting’ that is ‘greatly representative of our nation’ where the logistics would be easy and inexpensive to arrange,” our colleagues write.

• Pence is looking at Fort McHenry: “A Republican involved in the planning said it was highly likely that Trump’s speech would be delivered at the White House, perhaps on the South Lawn, but various locations were being discussed. Vice President Pence was considering Fort McHenry in Maryland, the site of a major battle in the War of 1812, to give his convention speech.” 

BIDEN WON'T BE GOING TO WISCONSIN: The former vice president “will deliver his speech accepting the nomination later in August in his home state of Delaware, organizers said, adding that all other speakers who had been planning to travel to Milwaukee will no longer do so,” Felicia Sonmez, Matt Viser and Michael Scherer report.

In the media

75 YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA: “On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima that obliterated much of the city and sent a mushroom cloud tens of thousands of feet into the air. After 75 years, it continues to cast a shadow over world affairs,” Rick Noack reports.

• The devastation was immediate: “At ground zero, the bomb generated a hot core of about 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit. People nearby were turned to ash. One dead man was seen still on his bicycle, leaning against a bridge railing. Many had their faces and ears melted off. The odor of burned hair was in the air,” Michael E. Ruane reports in a story that traces back the Enola Gay's fateful flight and the firsthand accounts of those who survived the blast.

Americans among those caught in the city forever associated with the horrors of the atomic bomb: “A dozen servicemen, crew members of aircraft downed in the final days of the war and held as prisoners, died after the bomb detonated. But hundreds, some say thousands, of other Americans also perished or suffered and bore witness,” Ted Gup reports.

• “I am at that twilight zone where I am one of the youngest guys who remember the experience of the Hiroshima bombing, and after me, there is probably no one else. Those younger will not remember,” Howard Kakita, a retired computer engineer, who was seven years old when he saw the city leveled, told Gup.

The Japanese government still looks after these survivors: The “country’s government made a lifetime commitment to serve them, dispatching teams of doctors to the United States every other year to track their health,” our colleague writes. “For decades, these doctors have met with survivors, collected blood, measured vitals, taken X-rays and interviewed them about what ails them, be it the lingering effects of radiation or the complications of aging.” 

THE OTHER LEGACY: The bombing of Nagasaki three days later was the second and final time the atomic bomb was used in a war, but nations across the world, led by the United States, built and tested their nuclear arsenals for decades after, Noack reports.

• “In the decades since 1945, the United States, the Soviet Union and at least six other countries set off a total of more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions, which caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world, according to some estimates, along with displacement and environmental degradation that long remained secret and continue to affect communities today.”

No country has conducted more nuclear tests than the United States: “No one has calculated an accurate global body count linked to nuclear testing, or a figure for major U.S. test sites. The United States conducted tests in Nevada, which saw nearly 1,000 nuclear tests, and the Marshall Islands (located between Hawaii and the Philippines), which saw 67,” our colleague writes.

TODAY IN THE CITY: The mayor of Hiroshima warned the world about the rise of ‘self-centered nationalism’ and appealed for greater international cooperation to overcome the pandemic,” Simon Denyer reports.

• “Last year, [Mayor Kazumi] Matsui also warned against rising nationalism, but his latest appeal takes on an added significance — the New START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and Russia, is due to expire in February, and there is speculation it may not be renewed, unwinding decades of efforts to limit nuclear arsenals.”