‘The debate is not for you.’ Previewing eight things to know about tonight’s Republican presidential debate, the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet breaks the news to Illinois Republicans: The candidates don’t care about you.
■ Take a bow if you can name more than two of the non-Donald Trump candidates participating.
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce says every word in one paragraph of an Atlantic profile should disqualify one of those candidates.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “The party has unwittingly instituted a system that should help voters reject every candidate who shows up” …
■ … or, as Noah Berlatsky writes at Public Notice: The debate shows that Trump’s “hostile takeover” of the Republican Party is complete.
Want to watch? The debate begins tonight at 8 Chicago time, but you don’t have many choices that aren’t branded Fox.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy says the news media are failing in their coverage of Fox: “Either most of the country’s leading outlets lack the understanding … to spell out the ugly truth to their audiences—or they lack the spine.”
■ Watch or not, PolitiFact will be PolitiFact-checking the festivities live …
■ … and Politico’s offering Debate Night Bingo cards.
‘Surrender parade.’ That’s Mother Jones’ term for the co-defendants who’ve begun turning themselves in as Georgia’s prosecution of Trump unfolds.
■ Next up: A “seething” Rudy Giuliani.
■ In a development that historian Heather Cox Richardson suggests (middle of her latest column) bodes ill for Republicans, a key witness in the federal case against Trump has retracted false testimony after replacing his Trump-funded lawyer with a public defender.
■ This afternoon at 2, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law hosts a free virtual session to discuss all the cases against Trump.
■ Columnist and former Chicago and network TV correspondent Jim Avila: Trump and Hunter Biden are not equals, and reporters need to act accordingly.
■ Fresh Trump parody from Randy Rainbow: “Don’t Arraign on His Parade.”
‘We’re asking the average Chicagoan Do you want to pay less in real estate transfer taxes?’ Mayor Johnson’s allies are excited about a proposed referendum on a plan that would fund homelessness assistance programs by raising taxes on the sale of real estate for $1 million or more and cutting taxes for sales below.
■ Asked by the Tribune to name low points in his first 100 days, Johnson answered: “There’s no low point. The Cubs are at two games out of first place. We’re good.”
■ OK, but the White Sox are threatening to skip town—again.
Heat-beating tips. As Chicago confronts miserably warm weather, relief can be found at cooling centers, libraries and park district fieldhouses …
■ … or splash pads.
■ The Sun-Times says hot weather’s linked to higher suicide rates, lousy test scores, bad moods and more emergency room visits …
■ … so hospitals are on alert.
■ Chicago schools have canned sports events for today and tomorrow …
■ … and some area schools are cutting the class day short.
■ Correction: IBM’s sold The Weather Channel Company—once part of a firm co-founded by long-ago Chicago TV meteorologist John Coleman.