In a historic first, the Democratic National Convention was conducted virtually this week. It featured established liberal politicians and potential rising stars alike. Former Vice President Joe Biden was formally confirmed as the party’s nominee for president. The president he served with, Barack Obama, gave a speech in which he excoriated President Donald Trump
From the former president’s keynote:
I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.
But he never did. For close to four years now, he’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy claimed that he would walk back policies that states have claimed have slowed down mail delivery considerably. But evidence of that claim remains scant. DeJoy is scheduled to testify before the Senate on Friday. It will be the first time he’s answered lawmakers’ questions publicly.
Wildfires have rapidly spread through California this week, forcing thousands of evacuations. The fires were started by a number of lightning strikes. But the number of operational fire crews has been cut due to prison lockdowns. Many inmates work on the state’s fire crews.
We review all the top domestic news from this week.
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