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McEnany defends Trump’s Goodyear boycott tweet

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that Blue Lives Matter is an "equity issue," noting that "MAGA is pretty much unanimous" with the group.

Driving the news: Trump advised Americans not to buy Goodyear tires in a tweet Wednesday morning, claiming the company announced a ban on "Make America Great Again" hats for his re-election campaign.

Reality check: Goodyear says it tells its employees to "refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party," as well as advocacy "outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues."

  • The company explained its position in a statement after a Goodyear employee released a photo they claimed was taken during a company diversity training, which listed "Black Lives Matter" as an acceptable organization to support at work, as opposed to "Blue Lives Matter" and "MAGA attire."
  • The photo identifies "political affiliated slogans or material" as a whole unacceptable, but does not list a left-leaning example alongside the slogan for Trump's campaign.

What they're saying: Goodyear "failed to clarify their policy," McEnany told reporters on Wednesday. She said she had seen Goodyear's explanation that it broadly asks employees to refrain from political speech.

  • "As far as I'm concerned, Blue Lives Matter is an equity issue. There have been police officers across the country that have been targeted because they wear the badge."
  • "The reason he called for the boycott was over MAGA. MAGA is pretty much unanimous with Blue Lives Matter these days, if you've seen the endorsements," she said.

Go deeper

Axios
Aug 27, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Kayleigh McEnany shares personal story at RNC about preventative mastectomy

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night that she had a preventative mastectomy in 2018, and received support from President Trump even though she did personally not know him at the time.

Why it matters: McEnany said that through her experience, she knows that Trump supports health care coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions, an issue the president has recently emphasized as important to the GOP. Her comments did not address the fact that Trump administration is currently arguing before the Supreme Court that the Affordable Care Act — which protects pre-existing conditions — should be struck down.

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Jonathan Swan, Alayna Treene
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

USAID chief tests positive for coronavirus

An Air Force cargo jet delivers USAID supplies to Russia earlier this year. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images

The acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development informed senior staff Wednesday he has tested positive for coronavirus, two sources familiar with the call tell Axios.

Why it matters: John Barsa, who staffers say rarely wears a mask in their office, is the latest in a series of senior administration officials to contract the virus. His positive diagnosis comes amid broader turmoil at the agency following the election.

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Bryan Walsh, author of Future
3 hours ago - Health

COVID-19 shows a bright future for vaccines

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Promising results from COVID-19 vaccine trials offer hope not just that the pandemic could be ended sooner than expected, but that medicine itself may have a powerful new weapon.

Why it matters: Vaccines are, in the words of one expert, "the single most life-saving innovation ever," but progress had slowed in recent years. New gene-based technology that sped the arrival of the COVID vaccine will boost the overall field, and could even extend to mass killers like cancer.

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