Aug 3, 2017 - Politics & Policy

West Virginia's governor will swap parties at tonight's Trump rally

Walter Scriptunas II / AP

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a billionaire coal magnate, will announce that he's switching parties — from Democrat to Republican — during a rally in Huntington, West Virginia with President Trump this evening, per The New York Times.

Think back: Trump won West Virginia by 42 points in 2016, his biggest margin of victory of any state, and Justice refused to endorse Hillary Clinton. It's also worth noting that Justice has previously registered as a Republican, Democrat, and independent throughout his life.

Why it matters: West Virginia is the epicenter of the Trump shift in American politics — a battleground that's tended historically Democratic, but with an aging, white, working-class population focused on issues like coal, gun rights, and social issues it is increasingly allied with Trump's version of the Republican Party.

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Trump tightens screws on ByteDance to sell Tiktok

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

President Trump added more pressure Friday night on China-based TikTok parent ByteDance to exit the U.S., ordering it to divest all assets related to the U.S. operation of TikTok within 90 days.

Between the lines: The order means ByteDance must be wholly disentangled from TikTok in the U.S. by November. Trump had previously ordered TikTok banned if ByteDance hadn't struck a deal within 45 days. The new order likely means ByteDance has just another 45 days after that to fully close the deal, one White House source told Axios.

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Axios
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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m. ET: 21,056,850 — Total deaths: 762,293— Total recoveries: 13,100,902 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m ET: 5,306,215 — Total deaths: 168,334 — Total recoveries: 1,796,309 — Total tests: 65,676,624 — Map.
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  5. Cities: Coronavirus pandemic dims NYC's annual 9/11 Tribute in Light.
  6. Business: How small businesses got stiffed — Unemployment starts moving in the right direction.
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Harris: "Women are going to be a priority" in Biden administration

Sen. Kamala Harris at an event in Wilmington, Del. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In her first sit-down interview since being named Joe Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris talked about what she'll do to fight for women if elected VP, and how the Democrats are thinking about voter turnout strategies ahead of November.

What they're saying: "In a Biden-Harris administration women are going to be a priority, understanding that women have many priorities and all of them must be acknowledged," Harris told The 19th*'s Errin Haines-Whack.

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