'A hell of a way to do business'

View in browser  March 1, 2024       Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu and Shelby Rose 'A hell of a way to do business' Biden and Trump at the border in Texas on Thursday. It's going to be a long eight months.   Joe Biden and Donald Trump staged their most direct clash of an all-but-certain rematch on Thursday.   There are two Presidents. But only one will get a second term.   Both Trump and Biden flew to Texas to visit the US-Mexico border, where migrant surges that have overwhelmed a US asylum system designed for Cold War arrivals or refugees from communist states, rather than a modern human exodus driven largely by economic blight, drugs and gang warfare, and environmental degradation caused by climate change.   Trump, who is promising mass deportations and detention camps if he returns as president, used his visit to intensify his attempts to stoke fear about migrants with rhetoric that is increasingly tinged by racial animus and lies. It's only going to get more toxic since Trump thinks he can demagogue the immigration crisis all the way back to the Oval Office.    "The United States is being overrun by the Biden migrant crime," Trump said in Eagle Pass, adding that Biden has "the blood of countless innocent victims" on his hands.   The current President berated Republicans for trashing — at Trump's goading — a Senate bipartisan compromise that would have tightened asylum rules and border controls. The ex-President was apparently keen to deprive Biden of an election-year triumph.    "The majority of Democrats and Republicans in both houses supported this legislation until someone came along and said 'Don't do that, it'll benefit the incumbent,'" Biden said.    "That's a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem," he added. Sign up for Meanwhile in America The world and America At least 112 people were killed in Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire while Palestinian civilians were waiting for food, according to the enclave's health ministry.    Hearse drivers are refusing to take Russian dissident Alexey Navalny's body to his funeral in Moscow, according to his team.   And Nita Ambani is now the most powerful woman in Indian media.   Meanwhile in America, a federal judge in Texas blocked enforcement of a controversial law that would allow state police to arrest people they suspect of entering the country illegally.   A former US diplomat accused of spying for Cuba has indicated he plans to plead guilty, the court docket shows.   And Congress passed a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown. Farewell to 'one of New York's flyest' Just over a year ago, Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl captivated the hearts of New Yorkers when he escaped a vandalized enclosure in Central Park Zoo.   As local authorities repeatedly attempted and failed to recapture Flaco, the free owl became an attraction in Central Park. Birders and others regularly posted updates on X about his whereabouts and eating habits. New York City Mayor Eric Adams dubbed Flaco "one of New York's Flyest."    But New York City is no place for a high-flying bird. Flaco died Friday after colliding with a building in Manhattan, the Wildlife Conservation Society has announced, despite emergency response efforts from members of the Wild Bird Fund.   Between 90,000 to 230,000 birds are killed every year from flying into the Big Apple's gleaming buildings, deceived by windows and other glass surfaces, according to the New York City Audubon Society. Globally, the avian death toll from glass buildings may be up to 1 billion. Everyone get their calendars out  If the day ends in a 'y' Donald Trump is probably in court.   At least on Friday he won't have to travel far. He'll be on hand while a judge in his home state of Florida talks schedules for the ex-president's trial over alleged mishandling of classified documents – a step that could impact other criminal proceedings on Trump's crowded personal docket.   Special counsel Jack Smith wants Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, to schedule a trial, which is sure to be delayed from its currently scheduled late May start, for July 8. He wants to get at least one court date set in stone, but his choice would heighten the political stakes by setting up a collision with the Republican National Convention a week later, where the former president is expected to claim his third straight GOP nomination.   Friday is another one of those days when Trump is at the center of critical court action in two places at once. More than 550 miles to the northwest in Atlanta, another judge will hear closing arguments in a bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from Trump's Georgia election interference case. Her ejection could have huge ramifications for the timing and shape of the racketeering trial.   This double slice of courtroom intrigue follows Wednesday's announcement by the US Supreme Court that it would hear Trump's claim to sweeping presidential immunity. The decision is likely to push the now-delayed start of his federal election subversion trial closer to, or even past, the 2024 edition.   The constant setting and scrubbing of court dates exemplifies the extraordinary crush of legal trials that are entwined with Trump's political campaign and that will make this election year as contentious as any in history. In every case, and to every charge, Trump has entered not guilty pleas.   Something as simple as a calendar – more than the fabled rituals of election season like primaries, party conventions and presidential debates – could be a decisive factor in a year when some polls suggest voters' choices in a close election could be swayed by whether the former president is a convicted felon by Election Day. Thanks for sticking with us through the week.    On Friday Navalny's funeral service will be held in Moscow.    On Saturday, Trump and rival Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley campaign in North Carolina.  On Sunday, US Vice President Kamala Harris joins an annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  What did you think of today's email? Send thoughts and weekend reading tips to meanwhile@cnn.com   You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for Meanwhile in America. 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