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Trump’s taxes reveal that he’s heavily in debt and doesn’t pay income taxes, Republicans want to make Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination about her Catholicism instead of her opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and Joe Biden prepares to face off with Donald Trump in the first of three presidential debates. Then Obama campaign manager David Plouffe talks to Jon Favreau about prepping for debates and the battleground states that Joe Biden needs to hit 270 electoral votes.

Show notes

Trump’s Taxes

• NYT: LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP’S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE
• NYT: Trump insists he ‘paid a lot’ in taxes after an investigation reveals new details about his personal finances.
• NYT: 18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records
• WaPo: Trump avoided paying taxes for years, largely because his business empire reported losing more money than it made, report says 
• The Guardian:  Six key findings from the New York Times’ Trump taxes bombshell
• NY Mag: The Key Takeaways From the Times’ Trump Tax Return Investigation

Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett 

• C SPAN: Supreme Court Nominee Announcement
• White House: Remarks by President Trump Announcing His Nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• NYT: Trump Announces Barrett as Supreme Court Nominee, Describing Her as Heir to Scalia 
• WaPo: Trump announces Judge Amy Coney Barrett is his pick for the Supreme Court
• CNBC: Amy Coney Barrett pays homage to conservative mentor Antonin Scalia — ‘His judicial philosophy is mine too’
• AP: Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court nominee, is Scalia’s heir
• NYT: Barrett’s Record: A Conservative Who Would Push the Supreme Court to the Right
• Politico: How Amy Coney Barrett might rule
• Vox: The legal theories of Amy Coney Barrett, explained
• The Nation: Amy Coney Barrett Is an Extremist—Just Not the Kind You Think
• CNN: How Trump picked Amy Coney Barrett over Barbara Lagoa for the Supreme Court
• NYT: Biden, With Strong Polls, May Have More at Stake in the Debate: This Week in the 2020 Race 
• NBC News: Trump is navigating competing demands from evangelicals over Supreme Court pick 
• CNN: How Trump picked Amy Coney Barrett over Barbara Lagoa for the Supreme Court
• Slate: Conservatives Are Already Playing Up Hypothetical Anti-Catholic Bias Against Amy Coney Barrett
• NYT: Trump and Biden Court Catholic Vote, in Very Different Ways 
• WaPo: The Trailer- The Trailer: Why conservatives want the court fight to focus on Catholicism
• Vox: Who is Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court?
• AP: GOP attacks Harris amid battle for Catholic voters’ support
• Politico: Schumer to Democrats: Focus on health care to beat Barrett 
• Reuters: Biden, fellow Democrats focus on healthcare in Supreme Court fight
• NYT: Democrats Don’t Want to Get Personal in Debate Over Barrett
• WaPo: Democrats intent on making fight over Trump’s Supreme Court pick about threat to Obamacare 
• The Hill: GOP, Democrats look to galvanize women with SCOTUS fight
• WaPo: Supreme Court vacancy spotlights Roe v. Wade 
• NBC News: Senate Democrats promise ‘major focus’ on Obamacare in Supreme Court fight 
• The Atlantic: Democrats’ SCOTUS Message Could Really Work in Swing States 
• NYT: Voters Believe Winner of Election Should Fill Court Vacancy, Poll Shows 
• NYT: Obamacare Returns as Galvanizing Issue After Ginsburg Death, Barrett Nomination
• CBS News: Tight races in Georgia and North Carolina, while Supreme Court is another factor — Battleground Tracker 
• Kaiser Family Foundation: 5 Charts About Public Opinion on the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court
• Kaiser Family Foundation: KFF Health Tracking Poll: The Public’s Views on the ACA 
• NBC News: Supreme Court battle after Ginsburg’s death could fracture Trump’s coalition 
• Slate: Reminder: The Majority of Americans Support Abortion Access 
• CBS News: Americans weigh in on issues before the Supreme Court – CBS News poll 
• Pew Research: U.S. Public Continues to Favor Legal Abortion, Oppose Overturning Roe v. Wade (8/2019)
• ABC News: Support for legal abortion matches its 24-year high: Poll (7/2019)
• NBC News: Polling shows solid growth in support of legal abortion (6/2019)
• WaPo: Majority says winner of presidential election should nominate next Supreme Court justice, Post-ABC poll finds 
• FiveThirtyEight: Most Americans Want To Wait Until After The Election To Fill The Supreme Court Vacancy 
• The Guardian: Trump says overturning Roe v Wade ‘possible’ with Barrett on supreme court
• Slate: What Should the Democrats Do Now? 

First Debate 

• CBS News: Topics for the first presidential debate include coronavirus and Supreme Court 
• CNN: First Trump-Biden debate to focus on Supreme Court, coronavirus and race 
• WaPo: ‘Race and Violence in our Cities’? A topic for the first presidential debate draws criticism. 
• CNN: Trump and Biden enter critical weekend as they prepare to face each other in first debate
• LA Times: Biden is prepping for first debate. Trump is watching TV news and testing attack lines
• FiveThirtyEight: Who’s ahead in the national polls? 
• Politico: Polls: Biden remains ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin
• WaPo: Post-ABC poll: Biden maintains lead over Trump nationally in stable presidential race
• NYT: Trump Faces Challenges Even in Red States, Poll Shows, as Women Favor Biden 
• USA Today: Exclusive: More Americans predict Trump will win the presidential debates than Biden, USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll shows 
• NYT: By Lowering the Debate Bar for Biden, Has Trump Set a Trap for Himself? 
• AP: How Trump, Biden are preparing for first presidential debate
• ABC News: Trump targets Biden’s mental health in debate lead-up, despite aides’ efforts to raise expectations
• The Atlantic: The Debates Could Seal Biden’s Fate
• AP: Biden: ‘I hope I don’t take the bait’ in debate with Trump
• The Guardian: Biden’s team hopes for repeat of his 2012 performance as Trump debate nears 
• NYT: Biden, With Strong Polls, May Have More at Stake in the Debate: This Week in the 2020 Race
• WaPo: Trump readies a debate onslaught — and Biden allies worry 
• Politico: Trump team plots how to bust Biden in the debates 
• WaPo Opinion: I played Trump in Clinton’s debate prep. Here’s what Biden can expect. 
• Axios: Debate commission co-chair: We don’t expect moderators to fact-check candidates 
• CNN: Chris Wallace won’t fact check Trump and Biden during the debate
• Politico: Beware the ‘Rebel Alliance’: A new twist on post-debate spin 
• The Hill: Democrats on edge as Biden readies to go after Trump at debate (9/18)