| POLITICS: The continued reemergence of large-scale gatherings across the U.S. is handing progressives another tool in their 2021 toolkit as grassroots activists are increasingly likely to turn to in-person events as a means of persuasion in the coming months. As The Hill’s Hanna Trudo writes, bills such as the For the People Act and other key progressive pieces of legislation are expected to spur the left into in-person action in the near future. Democrats are exploring ways to return to physical events, arguing that rallies can be used to show elected officials that there is real support behind these ideas. While many activists are itching to get out there, they must also grapple with the safety and optics of convening large crowds of people. However, the longer they wait, the longer they cede that ground to Republicans, as many activists on the right have shown little hesitation to reconvene en masse in recent months. Elsewhere, Black female candidates are working to build on the political gains of 2020 and are training their sights on governors’ mansions, Capitol Hill and city halls in 2021 and 2022. As The Hill’s Julia Mancheser and Aris Folley report, a year after Harris exemplified those gains by becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to become vice president, Black women remain underrepresented in political offices up and down the ballot. But upcoming elections show they are working to change the dynamic and demonstrate the forces working against them. The New York Times: Democratic report raises 2022 alarms on messaging and voter outreach. > GOP troubles: Problems continued over the weekend for key officeholders in Georgia as Gov. Brian Kemp (R) was booed and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) was censured by Georgia Republican Party convention-goers. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kemp addressed the convention on Saturday, but at one point his speech was drowned out by boos so loud that press members covering the speech could not hear his remarks. Raffensperger, meanwhile, received a formal slap on the wrist as attendees censured him for “dereliction of his constitutional duty.” Politico: Trump unloaded on Georgia’s GOP governor. But Kemp is still standing. The Hill: Sen. Blunt: Trump should focus on 2022 elections instead of relitigating 2020. The Associated Press: Trump’s grievances cloud Republican agenda heading into 2022. 
© Getty Images The issues facing the Georgia GOP pair also stem from another fact: that Trump isn’t going away anytime soon, especially as he reemerges with campaign speeches and public events that will keep the party on edge. As The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in his latest Memo, Trump plan centers on avoiding the slide into irrelevance that has befallen a number of out-of-office presidential losers in decades past. His insistence on being a front-and-center complicates matters for some within the party though as they have little desire to respond to what he says day to day, just as they did when he was in office. The Washington Post: Republican leaders say they want to focus on the future, but Trump is far from done with the past. Reid Wilson, The Hill: Arizona is a microcosm of the battle for the GOP. The Washington Post: How the national push by Trump allies to audit 2020 ballots started quietly in Pennsylvania. The Hill: Pro-gun groups step up lobbying campaign against Biden Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pick. ***** CORONAVIRUS: Biden and the administration’s pandemic response team gave the government weeks to juggle multiple goals that could determine how the public eventually sizes up federal competency and public health management. The president wants to see 70 percent of U.S. adults vaccinated against COVID-19 by what he candidly described as an arbitrary July 4 deadline approaching herd immunity while at the same time helping other countries with donated vaccine doses. The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant and Amie Parnes report on the challenges and urgency tied to both goals. The Washington Post: Slowing rate of shots in the United States endangers Biden’s July Fourth target. Meanwhile, public health authorities and human rights activists are pressuring the United States to do more. The Biden administration announced on Thursday that 25 million donated vaccine doses would be a down payment on 80 million doses over time, but global health experts say the largesse is a tiny fraction of worldwide needs. They call on the United States to help boost manufacturing capacities abroad, despite reluctance among some drug makers to go that route (The Hill). The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. effort to help vaccinate the world is led by Jeffrey Zients, the coordinator of Biden’s coronavirus response. Trying to end a global pandemic primarily through vaccination and immunity is a slow, herculean task involving some 11 billion doses and jabs to about 70 percent of the planet’s population. The New York Times: The rush to vaccinate the world stalls as funds and doses fall short. The Hill: The United States will supply Taiwan with 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). The New York Times: The United States and Europe take different approaches to reopening as COVID-19 cases decline. A Florida law that takes effect on July 1 will make it financially difficult for companies to require customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, even if they are cruise ship companies that want to resume operations and have pledged stringent health requirements for all passengers and crew members, reports the Miami Herald. The Sunshine State says companies can be fined $5,000 each time they ask customers if they are vaccinated against the coronavirus, and as a result, Royal Caribbean International has changed its policy to make COVID-19 inoculations optional for all passengers. The Miami Herald editorial board took Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to task for publicly blaming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rather than what the opinion writers say is the “politics-above-all” attitude of the governor and “the badly conceived vaccine passport law.” The New York Times: The South lags in the rate of inoculations. Public health experts worry that the region could see a summer surge in COVID-19 cases. 
© Getty Images The Associated Press: Summer school for many children is a side effect of COVID-19. | 
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