A Trump first. Even though it’s the third criminal case against him this year, yesterday’s indictment of Donald Trump is the first to accuse him in connection with his efforts to subvert voter rights and remain in power …
■ … and it makes him, officially, “the most indicted president in the history of America.”
■ He’s due in court tomorrow …
■ … and, eventually, a jury pulled from largely Democratic D.C. …
■ … but, The Conversation suggests, Trump could boycott the proceedings.
‘An unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.’ See Special Counsel Jack Smith announce the indictment.
■ University of California law professor Gabriel Chin calls the case against Trump “groundbreaking.”
■ Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance: How to read the indictment …
■ … which you’ll find here …
■ … or in a version annotated by The New York Times staff (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square) …
■ … or listen to it here.
■ The Daily Beast: Six things we learned from the indictment …
■ … and, even though the indictment leaves them unnamed, we know the identities of at least five of Trump’s “co-conspirators.”
‘What was it like when Donald Trump was indicted a third time?’ USA Today’s Rex Huppke envisions telling his grandkids “how their grandpa’s eyes popped open as he read the news.”
■ Columnist Robert Reich says this case “will likely contribute to Democratic sweeps of the presidency, Congress, and most state contests. It could also put the current GOP into a death spiral” …
■ … but, HuffPost suggests, “if Trump does win the 2024 election, he’s likely to try to pardon himself.”
■ Flashback to 1975: Columnist Matt Baron reviews the earliest newspaper reference he could find to Trump: A profile of a guy “not necessarily a super landlord to his tenants.”
‘In the 1780s, the average lifespan was 35.’ Pondering the case of enfeebled Kentucky Sen. and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford says the time’s come for something the Founding Fathers couldn’t envision: Age or term limits for elected officials.
■ Cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky checks in on the gerontocracy:
‘Fox News should be liable for thousands of COVID-19 deaths.’ Columnist and former Chicago and network TV reporter Jim Avila calls for a class action suit accusing Fox of killing its own viewers because it convinced them that “vaccines are deadly, COVID-19 is not, and masks are for sheep.”
■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina says we’re in the middle of another COVID-19 wave.
■ Hospitalizations rose in July.
‘This man isn’t smart enough to be president.’ Gov. Pritzker took to Twitter—or is it X?—to slam Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his false criticism of Illinois.
■ Popular Information: The Orlando Magic basketball team—publicly, a supporter of the LGBTQ community DeSantis has demonized—has donated $50,000 to his super political action committee.
Welcome to Chicago! But, you know, we have a music festival coming up … Ahead of Lollapalooza this weekend, the city moved migrants out of a South Loop police station.
■ The mayor’s office says the shift was part of an ongoing plan and “not contingent upon any event.”
■ Charges were pending against one asylum-seeker accused of stabbing another at the Grand Crossing station.
Mail mayhem. In one of a pair of armed robberies targeting postal workers yesterday, a Chicago mail carrier was shot on the Northwest Side.
■ A 16-year-old girl was killed and her 15-year-old girlfriend wounded while walking to a South Side party Monday night.
Big gun brought in. Northwestern University’s recruited a former U.S. attorney general to review its poisoned athletics culture and flawed accountability channels.
■ Its president and athletics vice president pledge they’ll “stop at nothing to safeguard the welfare of our student-athletes.”
■ Add another ex-Northwestern football player to the roster of those suing the school, alleging that he was physically and sexually hazed, racially discriminated against and subjected to dehumanizing acts.
■ Sun-Times sports columnist Steve Greenberg: On other campuses now, “‘Northwestern’ isn’t just a name on the schedule anymore. It’s also a code word for what not to do.”
Chicago upgrades. The Shedd Aquarium is getting half a billion dollars in improvements.
■ A Bronzeville church is now a national monument to a civil rights movement catalyst, the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
‘Spotify, who signed Rogan to a $200 million [contract], sits by idly.’ Media critic Tom Jones finds bloviator Joe Rogan asserting as fact the “dumb and irresponsible” claim that “intelligence agencies were involved in provoking people into the Capitol Building” on Jan. 6, 2021.
■ In light of Spotify’s price hike, Advisorator offers nine ways to save on streaming music.