August 20, 2026

Good morning, everyone!

On my Notes page, I publish daily historical snapshots and impactful quotes, part of Everything Briefing’s effort to contextualize the day’s news developments with the history of the past.

Today, we will look at gas prices, the Democratic Party, and a series of historical snapshots.

Let’s get to it.

United States

-The average U.S. gas price stood at $4.08 yesterday, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to AAA.

Meanwhile, diesel prices are approaching an all-time high.

-Florida state Representative Angela Nixon scored an upset victory against Alexander Vindman in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

In her victory speech, Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), declared, “We showed the world what organized people can accomplish.”

Nixon’s defeat of Vindman, who was a central figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, is the latest in a slew of victories for the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. It also marks the first time a DSA member has won a major-party nomination for a statewide office.

Nixon will now face off against Republican Senator Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the seat following Marco Rubio’s confirmation as Secretary of State.

Following Tuesday’s election, Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the race from “Likely Republican” to “Safe Republican.”

Meanwhile, David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, said on election night, “I reject the DSA. I reject socialism. I’m a capitalist and I think capitalism provides the greatest amount of economic mobility.”

Jolly will face off against Republican Byron Donalds in the general election.

-Fifty-one percent of Democratic voters say they would vote for a Democratic socialist, while just 26% of all voters say the same, according to a new Financial Times poll.

-The national debt surpassed $40 trillion yesterday.

-Data center construction is surging nationwide, a new Washington Post analysis shows.

Read a new PolitiFact breakdown on the facilities.

-Refugee admissions have fallen sharply since Trump returned to office last year.

-Trump spoke about the myriad of ongoing White House construction projects yesterday.

View it here:

-Trump is set to appear on Michael Cohen’s podcast today.

-Michigan Democratic candidate for governor Jocelyn Benson announced State Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks as her running mate.

Her Republican opponent, John James, named Congressman Jay DeBoyer as his running mate last week.

-On this day in 1619, the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia.

In 1833, Benjamin Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio.

He would go on to become the 23rd president of the United States.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act into law, containing nearly $1 billion in anti-poverty initiatives.

The landmark bill was part of Johnson’s declared “War on Poverty” and “Great Society” agenda.

Find a podcast series on the Great Society here.

In 1974, President Gerald Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to serve as vice president.

In 2014, President Barack Obama delivered a statement condemning the execution of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State, saying, “The entire world is appalled by the brutal murder.”

In 2015, former President Jimmy Carter announced that he had melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain.

In a press conference at the Carter Center, Carter said that he would undergo treatment while reflecting on his life.

Other Links:

Kennedy Center tells court it won’t try to restore Trump’s name to the building before Sept. 8 - AP

Trump nominates Heidi Overton to lead the FDA - NBC

Jimmy Gomez being investigated for ‘sexual harassments and assault,’ lawyers allege - Politico

Moskowitz taunts Piker after primary win - The Hill

Manchin calls for change in elections: ‘There’s no competition’ - The Hill

Lindsay Clancy trial ends earlier than expected Wednesday due to “unforeseen circumstance” - CBS

Here’s why Utah prosecutors say Tyler Robinson should face the death penalty in Charlie Kirk’s killing - The Salt Lake Tribune

Florida teacher who made Charlie Kirk comments should be reinstated, court recommends - CBS

Judge removed from Texas track meet killing case as Karmelo Anthony seeks new trial - AP

Derek Chauvin asks state to reconsider George Floyd murder conviction - The Hill

Forecasters warn another tropical system could be brewing southeast of Hawaii after Lala left 2 dead - AP

Africa

-The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the deadliest in the country’s history, with the death toll from the disease surpassing 2,325 people.

The current outbreak is the country’s 17th since 1976.

-The U.S. State Department said yesterday that four Americans died in a helicopter crash in Samburu County, Kenya.

Michele Sensi-Contugi, Ecuador’s intelligence chief, along with his wife, also died in the accident.

-On this day in 1960, Senegal declared independence from the short-lived Mali federation.

Léopold Sédar Senghor would be sworn in as president the following month and would rule the West African nation for 20 years.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton ordered strikes against terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan.

The strikes came 13 days after the August 7, 1998, U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 224 people and wounded 4,500 others.

Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks.

In a national address, Clinton said the attack was meant “to strike at the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Laden,” calling him “perhaps the preeminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today.”

Other Links:

Trump administration can target Ethiopians for deportation - BBC

Congo’s Ebola outbreak reaches 5,000 cases as it outpaces response efforts at unprecedented speed - AP

Liberia charges former vice president with drug trafficking and other offenses - AP

Ugandan UN candidate stresses reform, invokes St Francis - Reuters

Dozens killed in Central African Republic gold mine collapse - Africa News

Americas and the Caribbean

-Lawmakers in Bolivia voted to censure Economy Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza yesterday for failing to appear before the body for testimony.

Under the country’s constitution, President Rodrigo Paz has 24 hours following the vote to remove the censured minister.

However, a spokesman for Paz said that the lawmakers lacked the requirements needed to take such action and that the move should be reviewed by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Paz assumed office last November, ending nearly 20 years of rule by the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.

-Three U.S. Democratic socialist congressional candidates are set to attend a gathering of progressive lawmakers in Uruguay this weekend.

The candidates, New York Assembly member Claire Valdez, organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Pennsylvania state Representative Chris Rabb, will join Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Illinois Congressman Chuy Garcia at the confab known as the Panamerican Congress.

-On this day in 1940, Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated at his compound in Mexico City.

Other Links:

After killing hundreds in boat strikes, US military expands campaign on land in Latin America - AP

OAS warns Haiti needs help as it prepares to hold elections for the first time since 2016 - AP

Head-on collision between bus and lorry in Brazil kills more than 20 - BBC

Discord suspends livestreams in Brazil amid backlash over girl’s suicide - CBS

Nayib Bukele’s Content Machine Is Reshaping Latin America - The New Yorker

Asia/Indo-Pacific

-President Trump said yesterday that he could meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as early as November.

The remark came just days after Trump substantially reduced the scale of annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises that commenced this week, citing his “very good relationship” with Kim.

-New satellite imagery shows that China has completed the first phase of construction on Antelope Reef in the Paracels archipelago.

The man-made island in the disputed South China Sea comes as Beijing ramps up its military maneuvers to assert its territorial claims over the waters.

-Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent claim that Pyongyang is preparing to deploy an additional 50,000 soldiers to Russia to assist in its war effort against Kyiv, calling it “groundless.”

There are currently an estimated 14,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia.

-China and South Korea are considering holding a summit meeting in November.

-China’s LandSpace successfully landed a ground-based, leg-landed recovery of a rocket booster yesterday as Beijing seeks to keep pace with U.S.-based SpaceX and Blue Origin.

-Bangladesh will hold a presidential election today.

-On this day in 2009, Afghanistan held its second presidential election following the U.S. ouster of the Taliban.

Incumbent President Hamid Karzai secured reelection, winning 49.67% of votes cast.

Other Links:

China’s backflipping robots leap to blockbuster stock market debut in latest sign of AI boom - NBC

Alleged sexual assault by local official and businessman sparks outrage in China - BBC

India Stocks Top Indonesia as Asia’s Least-Favored in BofA Poll - Bloomberg

Why the Philippines Is Central to America’s Strategy in Asia - The Wall Street Journal

After deadly floods in India’s Assam, experts call for better warnings and long-term planning - AP

Afghan farmers turn their grapes into raisins after border closures slash fruit exports to Pakistan - AP

Europe

-Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed last month, is calling for a presidential election to be held.

Zelenskyy fired Fedorov just six months into his tenure as part of a wider cabinet reshuffling and disagreements over war strategy, causing rare street demonstrations in opposition to the move.

In a video posted to his social media this week, Fedorov demanded elections be held, saying the country’s years-long war with Ukraine could not forestall a vote.

Under Ukrainian law and the country’s constitution, national elections cannot be held during an emergency, which Zelenskyy declared following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

-András Baka was inaugurated as Hungary’s president yesterday in Budapest.

Earlier this month, lawmakers elected Baka, who previously served as the country’s Supreme Court chief justice.

The move is part of the government’s effort to purge loyalists of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

-On this day in 1961, Vice President Johnson concluded a two-day visit to West Berlin just days after the Soviet-backed East German government erected the barbed-wire structure that became the Berlin Wall dividing the city.

In 1968, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia as Moscow sought to crush the “Prague Spring” democracy movement.

Other Links:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy sacks senior aide amid Ukraine corruption crisis - The Guardian

Second Ukrainian arrested in connection with Nord Stream pipeline explosions - Euronews

Andy Burnham received £345,000 of donations ahead of becoming PM - BBC

Harry and Meghan Will Move Back to Britain After 6 Years in U.S. - The New York Times

France slams far-right Israeli minister’s ‘inhumane’ call for mass killings in Gaza - France 24

Middle East

-Global oil prices remained elevated yesterday amid the ongoing regional conflict between the United States and Iran.

-The United Arab Emirates suspended trade with Iran yesterday after the Gulf nation said it had come under fire from the country.

-The Pentagon is reportedly assessing whether to scale down U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf following the end of hostilities with Iran.

-An Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a police station in the besieged Gaza Strip yesterday.

The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hamas militants it said operated from the station.

-The Israeli government opened bids for the construction of roughly 1,200 settlement homes in the area of the West Bank east of Jerusalem.

Currently, there are approximately 146 government-backed settlement communities in the West Bank and another 400 unauthorized outposts and pastoral farms.

The United Nations has repeatedly called the settlements a violation of international law.

-On this day in 1988, the Iran-Iraq war ended in a United Nations-brokered ceasefire.

An estimated 1 million to 2 million people died in the nearly eight-year conflict, which began in September 1980 when Iraqi forces launched a full-scale invasion of Iran.

View a documentary on the conflict here:

Other Links:

How the U.S. Navy Is Helping Get Oil Through the Strait of Hormuz - The New York Times

Israel’s military to investigate Gaza attacks, and other major developments in the Middle East - AP

Lebanon hands Assad-era general to Syria in first such transfer since Assad’s fall - Reuters

‘Don’t’: Netanyahu says he warned Turkey before Israel struck Syrian base - The Times of Israel

Mossad chief, Syrian foreign minister discussed Turkish military deployments before strikes, sources say - Reuters

That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.

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