Midday NewsWrap 08.06.20: Trump, Twitter, COVID-19 & Virtual Conventions

On today's edition of the News Wrap, reporter Tamara Keith, NPR's White House correspondent and host of its Politics Podcast, joins Tom with her perspectives on a busy news week in Washington, with fewer than 100 days remaining before the November 3rd general election...President Trump’s approval rating has taken a hit in recent polls. In recent days he has made several controversial statements about everything from accused sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell and the evils of voting by mail, to dismissive comments about the late Civil Rights icon John Lewis. And in a week of disturbing reversals in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in several states, President Trump said things that were at odds with reality and with the government’s own coronavirus experts — suggesting during an interview with Axios correspondent Jonathan Swan that the pandemic is under control, that the US is doing "very well." When reminded that about 1,000 Americans are dying every day, he responded that “it is what it is.”Meanwhile, Congress has yet to agree on another round of economic relief measures. Supplemental unemployment benefits for millions of Americans expired nearly a week ago. Hangups include funding for the post office, money for elections, and money for schools.To help us sort some of this out, NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins Tom via Comrex from her home studio in Washington, DC.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.