NPR Politics is reporting that President Trump closed the Republican National Convention in Dallas as the party's biggest asset for turning out voters, and also its greatest obstacle to keeping power. It said the president faces record low approval ratings, an unpopular war in Iran, rising gas prices and the historic expectation that the party in power loses. Despite claims of an overflow crowd, NPR said there were thousands of empty seats at the American Airlines Center, and other speakers offered little distance from the president. It said Trump made headlines in his keynote address with what appears to be an impossible promise to give American adults $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate, and reiterated the GOP message that paints November as a choice between "common sense versus crazy."
NPR is reporting that voters in both parties are fed up with data centers, and that both parties are trying to capitalize on the issue and figure out how to message on it. It said a majority of 13 Michigan swing voters in two online focus groups observed by NPR this week said they worry Trump's tariff standoff with Canada could worsen an affordability crisis, and nine said they were concerned the tariffs would affect what they personally pay for some products.
NPR is reporting that federal law enforcement seizing ballots once seemed impossible, and that judges and election officials are now preparing for it as Trump continues his hunt for voter fraud. It said uncertainty over vote-by-mail is creating challenges for millions of voters, including a Texas-registered voter stationed out of state with her active-duty husband who is making contingency plans. NPR said some swing voters describe the state of the country as "chaotic," "dumpster fire" and "stuck."
NPR is reporting that people who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks gathered with first responders and others Friday morning to mark 25 years since the attacks. It said ceremonies in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania honored those killed when hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers, the Pentagon and a field outside Pittsburgh, along with thousands more who later died of related causes. NPR said political and cultural divisions surfaced ahead of Friday's commemoration.
NPR is reporting that the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk sparked a surge of interest among high school and college students looking to get involved with his organization, Turning Point USA. One year later, it said some of Kirk's young supporters describe a movement facing questions about its future, one that has yet to fully coalesce around a new leader and is grappling with the same divisions causing friction within the Republican Party more broadly.