Critics condemn Trump’s rewrite of race in America in DC speech – live | US news

Here’s what you have missed amid a Thursday full of historic debate:

• Kamala Harris made a pit stop in Pennsylvania as Democrats tapped into Black Voting Power
• Critics have condemned Donald Trump’s revisionist American history
• Meanwhile, the House energy and commerce committee wants answers from senior advisor Stephen Miller and health and human services secretary Alex Azar about a “show of hands” vote on child separation
• A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s operational changes at the US postal service

Stay up to date as my colleague Lauren Aratani provides you with all the latest from the rest of Thursday right here on the politics liveblog.

Following reports of a scrapped plan to send masks to all US residences, a federal judge in Washington state has temporarily blocked proposed operational changes within the US postal service, accusing Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of being “involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service”.

The ruling grants a request from 14 states to temporarily block the changes, blaming them for a slowdown in mail delivery that could potentially disrupt the 2020 presidential election.

From the Washington Post:

Stanley A. Bastian, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, said that harm to the public “has already taken place” by changes put in place under DeJoy. Bastian ruled from the bench Thursday afternoon after a two-and-a-half hour hearing.

“The states have demonstrated that the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service. They have also demonstrated that this attack on the Postal Service is likely to irreparably harm the states’ ability to administer the 2020 general election,” he said.

Texas governor allows businesses to expand occupancy

Texas governor Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that some businesses across the state will be allowed to expand to 75% occupancy as early as this week.

After emerging as a hotspot in the coronavirus pandemic, Texas data now shows low hospitalization levels. But public health experts expect those numbers to surge as businesses and schools reopen.

Those permitted to expand capacity include restaurants, gyms, shopping centers, libraries and museums. However, bars will remain closed.

Until additional medical treatments are available, we must continue the safe practices that slowed the spread [of Covid-19] this summer. That includes staying at home if you’re sick, sanitizing your hands, maintaining safe distances & wearing a mask.

Greg Abbott, governor of Texas

More of the fallout from the White House on American history:

Following a revisionist speech at the first White House Conference on American History, in which Donald Trump introduced the 1776 Commission that will establish “patriotic” and “pro-America” education: members of the Trump administration – including education secretary Betsy DeVos – remain mum on the backlash.

The US House energy and commerce committee announced it has called on Alex Azar, US secretary for health and human services, following an NBC News report detailing White House senior adviser Stephen Miller’s “show-of-hands” vote on family separations.

The NBC News report alleges that Miller and “other Trump administration officials were invited to a May 2018 meeting in the White House Situation Room where they voted by a show of hands to separate migrant children who crossed the border illegally with their parents”.

New from correspondent Jacob Soboroff:

The backlash is swift for Donald Trump following the White House Conference on American History, where he delivered remarks earlier today that critics and journalists quickly factchecked as blatantly false.

The president, who called curriculum on race “toxic propaganda, an ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds”, continued his administration’s efforts to restrict the telling of American history in schools to erase a legacy of racism, genocide and imperialism. More on that from Politico:

Trump recently threatened to nix federal funding for California schools that teach the 1619 Project, while the White House issued a government-wide directive to stop what it called “un-American propaganda training sessions” about race.

Responding to the president’s remarks, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project’s author, made an observation on who isn’t included in Trump’s retelling of American history:

This is Kenya Evelyn in Washington briefly taking over our politics live blog. Here’s what we’re following right now.

The campaign for Joe Biden continued its outreach to black voters Thursday, with running mate Kamala Harris making a stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to engage community leaders in the battleground state.

The California senator and VP nominee maintained social distance, however, bouncing elbows with people. Harris later called on Congress to pass voting rights legislation at a “Sister to Sister” community panel on women’s empowerment.

Democrats’ fight for black voters ramped up as polls showing the race tightening in states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan following the national convention. Harris was just in Milwaukee, where the scaled-down national convention left Democrats with a void of black voter enthusiasm.

As anti-racism protests enter their fourth straight month around the globe, the former vice-president and Harris will make additional stops in key states where Black Americans have disproportionately been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and recession that followed.

Key up with the Guardian’s coverage of black voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election with our latest series: Black Voting Power.

Donald Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on education at a history conference in Washington DC, claiming children have been subjected to “decades of leftwing indoctrination” and saying the founding of America “set in motion” the end of slavery.

“Our children are instructed from propaganda tracts, like Howard Zinn,” Trump said. “The left has warped, distorted, and defiled the American story.”

Trump said children should know “they are citizens of the most exceptional nation in the history of the world”.

The government, Trump says, is planning to introduce a “pro-American education” – “that celebrates the truth about our country’s great history”.

Trump then attacked the New York Times’ 1619 Project. The Pulitzer Prize-winning project was published last year to cast a spotlight on the 400th anniversary of the first slave ship arriving in America.

The 1619 project “warped” the American story, Trump said. The president said the project claimed the US was “founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom”.

Instead, “America’s founding set in motion the chain of events that abolished slavery”, Trump claimed.

Trump then moved on to statues – “leftwing mobs have torn down statues of our founders”, he says – in a classic appeal to his base, who disapprove of monuments to slave owners being removed.

I didn’t know Mike Pence was due to speak at this National Archives event – officially the event is called the White House history conference – but here he is.

Pence sets the scene with a run through of the Declaration of independence and the constitution – “the greatest charters of freedom the world has ever known”, Pence says.

Then its a straight-up attack on education and, seemingly teachers:

“Sadly we live in a time when some are seeking to erase our history,” Pence says.

Millions of people in the US are educated by people who “seek to wipe out our history”, the vice president claims.

Pence seems to be setting up Trump to – as reported – denounce some US schools’ focus on slavery and racism in history lessons.

Donald Trump is about to speak at the National Archives in Washington – where he’s expected to attack some US schools’ focus on slavery and racism in history lessons.

As we noted earlier: “The president will specifically criticize the New York Times’ ‘1619 Project.’ The Pulitzer Prize-winning project was published last year to cast a spotlight on the 400th anniversary of the first slave ship arriving in America.”

We’ll post updates, and video of the event is live here.