Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we dig into the GOP’s midterm convention and the next round of primaries in Rhode Island. Plus, Andrea Mitchell writes that the aftermath of 9/11 is still being felt 25 years later.
— Adam Wollner
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‘Trumpapalooza’ and another primary night
It’s a big night on the sports calendar, with the NFL season kicking off and more action at the U.S. Open.
But it’s also a big night on the political calendar, with Republicans meeting for a midterm convention in Dallas, and Rhode Island holding its primary (yes, on a Wednesday, to accommodate the late Labor Day holiday this year).
🎉 ‘Trumpapalooza’: Republicans are kicking off a two-day gathering today designed to boost enthusiasm for the party in the final stretch of the midterm campaign. In addition to hearing from the party’s candidates on the ballot across the country this fall, President Donald Trump is set to speak at 9 p.m. ET tonight, while Vice President JD Vance will address convention-goers tomorrow.
As Sahil Kapur reported, congressional Republicans have been split on whether to attend. On the one hand, speaking at a gathering headlined by Trump could help them turn out his MAGA base in key races. On the other, being tied to an unpopular president amid widespread discontent over the state of the economy and the Iran war could repel swing voters.
The latest NBC News Decision Desk poll found that Trump’s job approval rating sits at 80% among Republicans, but 24% among independents.
According to an NBC News tally, 32 House Republicans have said they will be at the convention, while 35 said they will not.
“We’ve been working really, really hard here, and it just doesn’t get out. So I’m going down there because this is a fantastic platform to tell people what we’ve been doing,” GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents a battleground district in Wisconsin, said in an interview. “We have been accomplishing things, and it’s just so under the radar, unfortunately.”
🦀 Rhode Island primary: On the Democratic side, Gov. Dan McKee is at risk of becoming the first sitting governor to lose a primary in eight years, Adam Edelman notes.
McKee is facing a challenge from former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who has outspent him on the airwaves 3-to-1, according to AdImpact. Foulkes also narrowly lost the 2022 primary to McKee, who replaced Gina Raimondo in 2021 when she was selected by President Joe Biden to be commerce secretary.
While there has been a wave of anti-incumbent energy in Democratic primaries throughout the year, Rhode Island’s contest hasn’t broken along generational or ideological lines. Rather, the race between Foulkes, 62, and McKee, 75, has been defined by hyperlocal issues — most notably the closure of a major bridge in Providence in 2023.
The last sitting governor to lose a primary was Republican Jeff Colyer in Kansas in 2018. He was defeated by then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who was backed by Trump.
🎥 Tune in to the Kornacki Cam at 7:45 p.m. ET to watch Steve break down tonight’s results.
🗳️ New Hampshire recap: As for last night, Republican former Sen. John Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas won their Senate primaries, setting up a battleground state race, Bridget Bowman writes.
A lingering lesson, 25 years after 9/11
Analysis by Andrea Mitchell
Those of us who covered the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago had reported early warnings, although there was no immediate proof.
The Environmental Protection Agency, then led by former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, issued the first official “all clear” about the air quality and safety of drinking water a week later, on Sept. 18. The air from the collapse of the twin towers for the first responders working in the still smoldering pit was safe, tests showed. There were reassuring pronouncements from the city’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, and his immediate successor, Michael Bloomberg.
On Sept. 21, Whitman said that the “EPA has been very aggressive in monitoring for potential environmental problems in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. … New Yorkers and New Jerseyans need not be concerned about environmental issues as they return to their homes and workplaces.” She continued: “More recently, we’ve also tested drinking water supplies and found no sign of asbestos bacterial contamination, PCBs or pesticides.”
Were government officials at the local and federal level — from both political parties — misled by the experts? Or, perhaps, overly eager to reassure the public and Wall Street? Partisans on all sides still disagree. Anecdotally, residents, health officials and first responders were reporting discomfort and more serious respiratory concerns from visible dust and larger debris during the aftermath.
More definitively, the 9/11 Commission reported in 2004 that the EPA “did not have sufficient data and analysis to make such a blanket statement” one week after 9/11. Congress still resisted appeals for survivors’ benefits, even as firefighters and other first responders began succumbing to lung ailments.
On NBC News on Feb. 25, 2019, former first responder and advocate John Feal, a demolition supervisor at ground zero, told me: “Everybody knows these cancers and these respiratory illnesses have different latency periods. I mean, come on, I mean, it’s just insulting. We’re sick and dying, but we’re not stupid.” By then, he had already attended 181 funerals of fellow responders.
It took years after the attacks for Feal and his high-profile fellow advocate, Jon Stewart, to persuade Congress to approve health benefits for surviving first responders and their families, and years more to extend those family benefits until 2090.
“As I sit here today, I can’t help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting healthcare and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to,” Stewart said in June 2019 during congressional testimony. “Behind me a filled room of 9/11 first responders and in front of me a nearly empty Congress.”
“Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one,” he continued. “Shameful. It’s an embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution and you should be ashamed of yourselves, for those who aren’t here, but you won’t be because accountability doesn’t appear to be something that occurs in this chamber.”
And now, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has released 170,000 pages of documents providing substantial evidence of the environmental fallout from ground zero, including asbestos found in air samples half a mile from the twin towers 10 months after the buildings collapsed.
It perhaps serves as a cautionary tale for public policymakers who have long focused on the counterterrorism lessons of 9/11, but not the impact on first responders and others living in the shadow of the twin towers.
Owen Hayes contributed.
➡️ Related: Trump says firefighters near ground zero carried him to safety ‘right after’ 9/11 attacks, by Tara Prindiville, Alexandra Bacallao and Raquel Coronell Uribe
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 🔴 2028 watch: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he has “no plans at this time” to run for president. Read more →
- ⚖️ Redistricting whiplash: Conflicting rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal judge have left Missouri’s congressional map in limbo eight weeks out from the midterms. The Missouri Supreme Court also opened a contempt probe into Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
- 🤖 New frontiers: Josh Vlasto and Zac Moffatt, the bipartisan strategist team leading the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, addressed data centers, AI skepticism and more in an in-depth interview with Allan Smith. Read more →
- 🟪 Game over: The White House removed a game called “Build the Wall” from its website this week after the Tetris Co. issued a statement online alluding to copyright infringement. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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