President Trump's racist tweets had an unintended consequence: They gave House Democrats a new rationale for impeachment.
Why it matters: This has the potential to fundamentally change the conversation around impeachment, which has so far mostly focused on possible instances of obstruction of justice as laid out by Robert Mueller's findings.
The House voted 240-187 to condemn President Trump's racist tweets against 4 Democratic congresswomen of color on Tuesday, after an embattled argument on parliamentary procedure.
Context: House Republicans attempted to hold Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words out of order on Tuesday, after she said Trump's tweets against Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib were racist. Trump said the congresswomen should "go back" to where they came from.
There's no such thing as a "front-runner" until Iowa Democrats caucus in January, but it's increasingly clear that 5 campaigns have a structural advantage entering the fall.
The big picture: Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have built campaigns that can raise piles of cash — which they can use to build donor lists to raise even bigger piles of cash.
President Trump's racist tweets over the weekend attacking Democratic congresswomen of color have drawn some pushback from his Republican colleagues.
What they're saying: Republicans have come out to condemn the president's comments — with Michigan Rep. Fred Upton saying that he was "appalled" and found the president's rhetoric "flat out wrong and uncalled for."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told a small group of reporters Tuesday that he will support legislation proposed by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to establish a commission to study reparations for slavery.
Why it matters: As the top Democrat in the Senate, Schumer's support strengthens not only the legislation's future, but also benefits a continuing conversation on the reparations issue.
Interest in the 2020 Democratic primary plunged last week as articles about the candidates generated just 6.5 million combined social media interactions — the fewest since mid-January, according to data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios. Articles about President Trump generated 23.2 million interactions.
Why it matters: It's a reminder of the president's stranglehold on the public interest. He's capable of single-handedly steering the news cycle, as he did with his attacks on Democratic congresswomen.
Amazon is expected to generate nearly $6 billion in sales from its Prime Day promotion, but also is facing worker strikes and protests over everything from wages to bathroom breaks to the company's relationship with ICE. Dan and Axios' Erica Pandey break it down.
Peter Thiel doubled down last night on his "Google has maybe been infiltrated by the Chinese government" claim, which was eventually picked up by President Trump. When (lightly) pressed for evidence, Thiel simply said he was "asking questions."
Why it matters: You don't propose that someone deserves to face a firing squad without at least a single receipt.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Axios' Mike Allen at an Axios event Tuesday that he shares President Trump's frustration with U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
With the Fed universally expected to cut U.S. interest rates this month, central banks around the globe are doing the same, and an increasing number of policymakers aren't even waiting for Powell to make the announcement.
Why it matters: The central banks represent 3 of the world's largest emerging market countries and their actions send a clear signal that even with global debt rising to new highs, especially in EM, policymakers are prioritizing easy money and stimulus.
Until election day on November 3, 2020, Axios will be tracking the fundraising of every candidate for federal office.
Why it matters: President Trump raised more money than any other candidate for a second straight quarter, according to fundraising reports filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission, but even with Democratic contributions split among a wide field of candidates, top candidates are demonstrating they can compete with Trump in the money race.
Why it matters: Immigration-court backlogs "are basically crippling the whole system," Georgetown Law professor and former immigration judge Paul Schmidt told Axios.
Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and Trump supporter, told Fox News' "'Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday of his concerns about 2020 Democratic candidates, saying he's "most scared" of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as she's "talking about the economy."
"Almost all the others are equally unimpressive in the sense that it’s all identity politics of one flavor or another, and I wouldn’t want to rank how unimpressive they are, since that would be forcing me to rank the different identities and which one’s more privileged and more special ... But I think Elizabeth Warren’s the dangerous one."
Attorney General Bill Barr said in a speech during the Combating Anti-Semitism Summit at the Justice Department Monday that groups fighting "under the banner of identity politics" are dividing Americans.
"[U]nder the banner of identity politics some political factions are seeking to obtain power by dividing Americans and they undermine the values that draw us together, such as a shared commitment to our country's success. This is the breeding ground for hatred and we must reject it."
