Here are the main events that occurred in Politics this week:
1. US Economy Adds 1.4 Million Jobs In August, Unemployment Rate Declines To Single-Digits
The US Economy added around 1.4 million jobs last month, reflecting a slow return to labor market growth, according to data released on September 4 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate fell into the single digits for the first time since the Coronavirus pandemic began, dropping from 10.2 percent to 8.4 percent (still the highest rate since 2011), the monthly report showed. Before the coronavirus’ stranglehold on the economy, the rate was at 3.5 percent, the lowest since 1970. “Great Jobs Numbers!” President Donald Trump Tweeted after the numbers were released. “1.37 Million Jobs Added In August. Unemployment Rate Falls To 8.4% (Wow, much better than expected!). Broke the 10% level faster and deeper than thought possible.”
2. 2020 Election: President Donald Trump Raises $210 Million In August, Well Short Of Joe Biden & The Democrats
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party jointly raised $210 million in August, a robust sum but one dwarfed by the record $364.5 million raised by Democrats and their nominee, Joe Biden. Trump’s campaign released its figure on September 9, several days later than usual, and nearly a week after the Biden campaign unveiled its total, the highest for any one month during a presidential campaign. The President’s reelection team said it brought in more money during its party’s convention than the Democrats did in theirs, and officials insisted they “will have all the resources we need” ahead of November. “Both campaigns are raising massive amounts of money but have very different priorities about how to spend it,” said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. “In addition to advertising, President Trump’s campaign has invested heavily in a muscular field operation and ground game that will turn out our voters, while the Biden campaign is waging almost exclusively an air war. We like our strategy better.” The noticeable fundraising gap between the two candidates was certain to further rattle Republicans already nervous about Biden’s advantage over Trump in some battleground states that could decide the election. And whispers about a financial disadvantage led President Trump himself this week to suggest he may put some of his own fortunes into the race.
3. According To Whistleblower Complaint, US Intelligence Officials Told To Halt Russian 2020 Election Meddling Threat Assessments
Acting US Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told a former top aide to stop providing assessments of the threat of Russian interference in the 2020 Election and to play down US white supremacist activity, according to a whistleblower complaint released on September 9. Brian Murphy, a former Homeland Security deputy undersecretary for intelligence, said in the complaint that Wolf told him in mid-May to begin reporting instead on political interference threats posed by China and Iran and to highlight the involvement of left-wing groups in domestic disorder. The instruction had come to Wolf from White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Murphy cited Wolf as saying. The White House and Department of Homeland Security denied the claims. “Ambassador O’Brien has never sought to dictate the Intelligence Community’s focus on threats to the integrity of our elections or on any other topic; any contrary suggestion by a disgruntled former employee, who he has never met or heard of, is false and defamatory,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. Homeland Security spokesman Alexei Woltornist added: “We flatly deny that there is any truth to the merits of Mr. Murphy’s claim.”
4. 2020 Election: Joe Biden Leads Donald Trump By 12% In Latest Polling
Democrat Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 12 percentage points nationally among likely US voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that also showed the number of persuadable voters had shrunk compared with four years ago. The most recent polling poll, released on September 8, found that 52% of likely voters planned to support Biden, while 40% would back Trump. Three percent said they would vote for another candidate, and just 5% said they remained undecided with less than two months to go until the Presidential Election. The survey showed the number of voters who had not yet backed a major-party candidate to be less than half of what it was in 2016, and that Biden currently had the advantage in securing the national popular vote. Even if the remaining undecided voters threw their support behind Trump, the poll showed, he would still lose the popular vote to Biden.
