Welcome to today’s US election briefing for Australia.
Today national focus in the US shifted, if momentarily, from the presidential campaign to the state of Michigan, where alleged rightwing extremist plots to kidnap the Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and storm the state capitol were revealed. I wish I had a cheerier TGIF diversion for you – but, have you met 2020?
Charges were laid against 13 men in all, including some under Michigan’s anti-terrorism law, the state’s attorney general said.
The story brought renewed focus to the growth of the rightwing and anti-government militia movement amid fears about voter intimidation and civil unrest around the election. Earlier this month the Department of Homeland Security identified white supremacists as the most “persistent and lethal” threat in the country.
Both Whitmer and Joe Biden linked the plot to Donald Trump, with Biden saying Trump’s exhortation on Twitter earlier this year to “Liberate Michigan!” was “heard”. “He’s giving oxygen to the bigotry and hate we see on the march in our country – and we have to stop it,” Biden said.
Trump responded by saying Whitmer – who has imposed strict Covid lockdowns – had done a “terrible job” and suggesting she should have thanked him for foiling the plot.
The president also indicated he wanted to get back on the campaign trail with a rally as soon as Saturday, just over a week after his Covid diagnosis was made public. His personal doctor on Thursday would not say whether Trump has tested negative, or when his last negative test was.
Trump himself wouldn’t answer that question on Fox News either. During the interview with Sean Hannity however, he could be heard coughing down the phone.
The big stories
The presidential debate schedule is in disarray after the commission in charge announced the next debate would be a virtual one, which Trump declared would be a waste of time. Trump and Biden’s campaigns spent the day jostling over when – if ever – the candidates would debate again.
Democrats announced a plan to create a commission to review whether Trump is capable of carrying out his duties or should face removal from office, with Nancy Pelosi expressing concern the president is suffering a “disassociation from reality”.
Trump has suggested he could have contracted the virus from military families who “come within an inch of my face”, as the White House Covid cluster continues to grow.
One of the drugs taken by Trump that he has touted as a “cure” for coronavirus was developed using human cells originally obtained from an elective abortion, a practice repeatedly denounced by the president.
New questions have also been raised about the experimental drug treatments after it emerged the CEO of one of the drug companies involved was a member of a Trump golf club who had previously met with the president.
Facebook has removed hundreds of fake, paid-for profiles it has linked to an affiliated pro-Trump conservative group for carrying out organised attacks on the site, including casting doubt on mail-in ballots and spreading misinformation about coronavirus.
Quote of the day
Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity (sic) are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.
Republican senator Mike Lee, who has coronavirus, saying the quiet part loud on Twitter and doing nothing to dispel concerns about the integrity of the election.
Election view
“The pandemic focused and intensified the need to recognise the interconnectedness of all things,” writes Rebecca Solnit, and our responsibilities to each other. It’s a need, she says, which clashes with the contemporary American right’s entire philosophy.
Video of the day
Texas – a US state once synonymous with conservative politics – could be in play for the first time in generations. Demographic changes, including an influx of Latino voters, have given the Democrats hope that they can flip the the state. This fascinating video takes you into the suburbs and towns of a state in flux.
Around the web
Just how did the White House become ground zero for a large Covid cluster? This New York Times piece, complete with detailed pics, explains how the safety guidelines most of us have been living with for months were completely ignored.
“Snarky”, “rehearsed” and “unpresidential”. These were some of the words undecided voters in focus groups used to describe Kamala Harris at this week’s VP debate. This piece in Vox, however, says other polls were more favourable.
Just when I thought I could stop murmuring “like a heartbeat drives you mad
… in the stillness of remembering what you had …” around the house thanks to that viral skating Fleetwood Mac video, the song is back in my head because of this mash-up with the week’s other big meme – Mike Pence’s fly.
Oh my God. 😂 pic.twitter.com/wOkLpsAj15
— Steely Jan (@Woman_on_Pause) October 8, 2020
What the numbers say: 6
The number of hurricanes that will have hit the state of Louisiana this year after Category 3 storm Delta makes landfall on Friday, US time. Thousands of people are still displaced by previous storms thanks to an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season.
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