Good morning! In the latest, “because of course he did” moment, Donald Trump announced a new collection of "digital trading cards" featuring AI pics of him for a cool $99 a pop.

In other news, the 2024 Summer Paralympics start today in Paris and run through September 8.

GOVERNMENT

🧹 States sweep millions off voter rolls

You know those things that are probably necessary but also awkward and controversial no matter what? Like confronting your friend for dating a demon someone who’s totally wrong for them. Welcome to voter roll purges.

• Every so often, state governments and their election-running divisions remove people from their lists of registered voters. That is, they unregister voters. Unlike most political decisions, this often causes a ruckus. And every state has a different process.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday that, since September 2021, his state had removed over one million "ineligible voters" from the rolls. Virginia made a similar announcement. Voters removed include:

• 457,000 dead people (RIP)

• 134,000 voters who confirmed that they had moved

• 19,000 who asked to cancel their registrations (can't really blame them...)

• 6,000 convicted felons (they're often ineligible to vote, depending on the state)

• 6,500 noncitizens (they're always ineligible to vote)

• 65,000 who failed to respond

• 463,000 voters on the "suspense list" (they didn't respond to an address confirmation and then didn't vote for a while)

Removing the deceased is a pretty standard house-cleaning measure. As is clearing out people who've moved or canceled their registrations. After that? Things get dicey.

Proponents of this say it's good for democracy and boosts voter trust in the system. Gov. Abbott called it an "election integrity" issue. If you never clear out the rolls, voting fraudulently becomes easier, the state can't tell how many ballots to print, and voting may take longer if Myrtle has to flip through 500 pages to find your name and sign you in.

• Some states have purged thousands of noncitizens from their voter rolls, many of whom have previously voted. That could make the difference in a tight race.

Opponents, like those at the Brennan Center, worry that mistakes will clear out eligible voters (looking at you, New York). Or that someone will miss a piece of mail only to show up to vote and be told they can't. Errors and sloppy processes could toss U.S. citizens who don't speak fluent English or eligible voters with similar names as the ineligible (looking at you, James Smith).

• Fear of deliberate manipulation is also a concern for some — especially when your state is controlled by the evil other party.

UNITED STATES

🪖 The U.S. military, via U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), ran ads on Tinder in Lebanon warning users against joining Iran-backed militants and attacking the U.S. or its allies (read: Israel). CENTCOM is the military’s unified, all-branches command in charge of military operations in the Middle East.

🔋 The Department of Energy and the Federal Highway Administration doled out $521 million to build electric vehicle chargers across the country. The 2021 Biden administration program has been ridiculed in the past for building just seven chargers in the past three years.

🔎 The congressional investigation into the near-assassination of Donald Trump went public on Monday with a tour of the Butler, PA rally site. But some House Republicans who didn’t make the team say they don’t trust the other group and are running their own (much cooler) investigation. They also held an event on Monday.

POLITICS

🗯️ Harris, Trump fire up debate debate again

We’re seeing more debate about the upcoming debate than we’ll see in the debate itself. After a mature, adult conversation earlier this month, Harris and Trump agreed to take part in the September 10 debate originally negotiated by Trump and Biden — with the rules as originally written. Now the Harris camp wants to dump the “mute the mics when they’re not talking” rule, hoping Trump will go too hard in the paint live on stage (à la 2020).

The ad wars are heating up as Harris pushes her plan to build 3 million new homes over four years. On the other side, a new Trump ad plays 2024 Harris talking about high prices against 2023 Harris touting the effectiveness of Bidenomics.

Kamala Harris will campaign with President "Scranton Joe" Biden in Pennsylvania on Labor Day. Meanwhile, her aides are desperately trying to plan the VP’s first sit-down interview since becoming the Democratic nominee. Harris previously said she’d make it happen by month’s end, so the clock is ticking.

Donald Trump, fresh off winning the support of ex-Dem RFK, Jr., added to that by receiving the endorsement of ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D). Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 but left the party in 2022. The Trump campaign responded by adding both to his transition team.

• Transition teams are a part of every campaign. They’re busy making planning, policy, and staffing decisions just in case their candidate wins — don’t want to get caught with your pants down in November if you accidentally get elected president.

In response, more than 200 ex-aides to Republicans George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney endorsed Kamala Harris. Many were higher-level folks, but many were random nobodies. Either way, it’s a good headline for Harris.

The Trump-Foo Fighters war continues. The Trump campaign played the band’s all-time banger “My Hero” at a rally. The band threatened legal action. The Trump camp said, basically, “get over it, we have a blanket license to play it.” Democratic musicians slamming Republican presidential campaigns for using their music is a tale as old as time.

🗳️ Third parties fight for ballot access

Indie candidate Cornel West is off… back on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Democrats worry the left-wing West will only serve to soak up votes that would otherwise go to Harris in this year’s #1 swing state.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein won her battle to stay on the ballot in Wisconsin. She lost that battle, however, in Georgia (as did other minor candidates).

Newly minted Trump backer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is fighting to get his name removed from the ballot in key swing states. So far, he’s won that fight in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. But it looks like he’ll be stuck on the ballot in Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

📊 Polls flood in as election season heats up

A viral poll shows Harris leading Trump by 7% nationally… when voters were primed to think about sex and race ahead of time. Voters without priming came down in favor of Trump by 1%. Other polls say:

• 🔵 Harris leads Trump 47% to 43% nationally

• 🔴 Trump leads Harris by 3% in now-swingy Arizona

• 🔵 Harris leads Trump by just 3% in light blue Virginia

• 🔵 Harris leads Trump by 32% in deep blue Maryland as moderate ex-Gov. Larry Hogan (R) ties Angela Alsobrooks (D) in what should be a safe-D Senate race.

🏛️ Democrats up, Democrats down in battle for Senate

Arizona: Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) won the support of the Arizona Police Association in this swing state Senate fight. The group recently endorsed Trump but soured on Republican Senate nominee, Kari Lake.

Montana: Three-term incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is refusing to endorse Kamala Harris as he trails his Republican challenger in increasingly conservative Montana.

TRIVIA

Barring something unforeseen, either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump will be our next president. Should Trump win, he’d be the first ex-president to be reelected since 1892. Harris’s election would also be a feat. Sitting (not former) vice presidents are rarely elected president. Who was the last sitting vice president to win a presidential election?

Hint: He was a Republican.

BRIEFS

• Ukraine's President Zelensky to present victory plan to Biden next month

• Lowe’s becomes latest big business to ease DEI policies after activist pressure

• Antitrust trial underway this week as FTC fights Kroger-Albertson’s merger

• FDA investigating MDMA company soon after rejecting medicinal use of psychedelics

• Two workers dead after Delta plane’s tire explodes at Atlanta airport

• Federal judge in Texas pauses Biden's path to citizenship program after Republican-led lawsuit

• Today’s SpaceX launch to travel further into space than any since moon landings

• Canada follows U.S. lead, slaps 100% tax on Chinese EVs

QUOTE

ANSWER

We’re looking for George H.W. Bush. His 1988 victory broke the Van Buren Curse. Prior to Bush, the last sitting vice president to win a presidential election was Martin Van Buren aaaall the way back in 1836.