Top 5 US news stories
August 21 2025
Democrats Face Registration Crisis as Millions Leave Party
Trump Revokes Security Clearances for 37 National Security Officials
Amazon Makes Major Push into Groceries with Expanded Same-Day Delivery
Venezuela Mobilizes Its Militia After U.S. Deploys Military Forces to Waters Around Latin America
China Pivots to Global South, Boosting Trade Amid US Tariffs
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1. Democrats Face Registration Crisis as Millions Leave Party
The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls. Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot. That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from. The stampede away from the Democratic Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states, too, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by The New York Times. The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm.
Few measurements reflect the luster of a political party’s brand more clearly than the choice by voters to identify with it — whether they register on a clipboard in a supermarket parking lot, at the Department of Motor Vehicles or in the comfort of their own home. And fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats. In fact, for the first time since 2018, more new voters nationwide chose to be Republicans than Democrats last year. All told, Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections in the 30 states, along with Washington, D.C., that allow people to register with a political party. (In the remaining 20 states, voters do not register with a political party.) Republicans gained 2.4 million. There are still more Democrats registered nationwide than Republicans, partly because of big blue states like California allow people to register by party, while red states like Texas do not. But the trajectory is troublesome for Democrats, and there are growing tensions over what to do about it.
NYT
2. Trump Revokes Security Clearances for 37 National Security Officials
President Trump revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials, many of whom worked on Russia analysis or foreign threats to U.S. elections, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Mr. Trump has stripped security clearances throughout his administration, including from his best-known rivals like former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. But the actions announced on Tuesday were a deeper cut, pushing far into the national security establishment. At least three current senior officials at various intelligence agencies, all with reputations for nonpartisan work, are among those who lost their clearances and their jobs. They included Shelby Pierson, a senior intelligence official who warned Congress about Russian meddling in the 2020 election; a senior C.I.A. analyst currently serving undercover; and Vinh X. Nguyen, a senior National Security Agency data scientist.
NYT
3. Amazon Makes Major Push into Groceries with Expanded Same-Day Delivery
Amazon.com might have finally cracked the code for the online-grocery business. But that alone doesn’t mean other players will end up in the clearance aisle. The e-commerce titan that now generates more than $670 billion a year in total revenue has never managed to be more than a bit player in groceries. Amazon’s share of the U.S. grocery market hovers around 3%, according to market research firm Numerator. And that is after its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, as well as the opening of more than 60 stores under the Amazon Fresh brand since. That has never been enough for Amazon, given the size of that market and the need to find significant new avenues of growth for its already massive business. So the company’s latest effort bears watching. Amazon last week announced same-day delivery for fresh groceries in 1,000 U.S. cities, with plans to more than double that number by year-end. The company also significantly lowered the price threshold for free delivery to a $25 minimum order size for members of its Prime shipping service, compared with $100 earlier. The news shows that Amazon is leaning into two of its competitive strengths—a vast same-day fulfillment network and its popular Prime program—to make a bigger dent in groceries. The latter alone is significant. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated that Amazon Prime had 197 million subscribers in the U.S. at the end of June.
WSJ
4. Venezuela Mobilizes Its Militia After U.S. Deploys Military Forces to Waters Around Latin America
The United States has dispatched three Aegis-equipped destroyers to waters off Venezuela as part of President Trump’s intensified campaign against drug cartels in the region. This deployment complements prior U.S. actions, including designating Venezuelan criminal groups as terrorist organizations and offering a $50 million bounty for the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro. In response, Maduro mobilized 4.5 million members of Venezuela’s National Militia, pledging to arm rural populations with rifles and framing the U.S. moves as imperialist aggression. Venezuelan officials have vehemently rejected U.S. accusations of narco-trafficking, denouncing them as false pretexts for intervention. These developments mark a significant escalation in an already volatile standoff, with military deterrence, deepening political confrontation, and the rhetoric of national sovereignty all coming into stark relief.
Cipher Brief/CNN
5. China Pivots to Global South, Boosting Trade Amid US Tariffs
China is rapidly expanding trade and investment with the Global South to reduce dependence on the U.S., a shift S&P analysts say could reshape global commerce. Exports to developing nations have doubled since 2015 and grown 65% in the past five years, far outpacing sales to the U.S. and Europe. China now exports around US$1.6 trillion to the Global South, over 50% more than to the U.S. and Europe combined. Much of this expansion is tied to manufacturing and resource industries, with annual investments in Southeast Asia quadrupling over the past ten years. Indonesia has become a prime example, using Chinese capital to build its nickel and EV supply chain. Chinese carmakers have also surged in South and Southeast Asia, with sales multiplying across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Vietnam. Though risks remain – from weak legal systems to regulatory backlash – analysts expect China’s Global South pivot to accelerate under U.S. tariffs.
Cipher Brief/SCMP
August 21 1863: Guerrillas massacre residents of abolitionist settlement of Lawrence, Kansas
The Civil War took a very different form in Kansas and Missouri than it did throughout the rest of the nation. There were few regular armies operating there; instead, partisan bands attacked civilians and each other. The roots of conflict in the region dated back to 1854, when the Kansas-Missouri border became ground zero for tension over slavery. While residents of Kansas Territory were trying to decide the issue of slavery, bands from Missouri, a slave state, began attacking abolitionist settlements in the territory. Abolitionists reacted with equal vigor.
When the war began, the long heritage of hatred between partisans created unparalleled violence in the area. In August 1863, the Union commander along the border, General Thomas Ewing, arrested several wives and sisters of members of a notorious band led by William Quantrill. This gang of outlaws had scorched the region, terrorizing and murdering Union sympathizers. On August 14, the building in Kansas City, Missouri, where the women were being held collapsed, killing five.
Quantrill assembled 450 men to exact revenge. The army, which included such future western outlaws as the Younger brothers and Frank and Jesse James, headed for Lawrence, Kansas, long known as the center of abolitionism in Kansas. After kidnapping 10 farmers in order to guide them to Lawrence, the gang murdered each of them. Quantrill’s men rode into Lawrence and dragged 182 men from their homes, many in front of their families, and killed them in cold blood. They burned 185 buildings in Lawrence, then rode back to Missouri with Union cavalry in hot pursuit.
This incident incited the North and led to even more killing by both sides along the Kansas-Missouri border.
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Sources
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/us/politics/democratic-party-voter-registration-crisis.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/trump-security-clearances.html
- https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazons-big-bet-on-groceries-isnt-a-knockout-blow-for-rivals-76735839?mod=hp_lead_pos11
- Cipher Brief, https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/americas/venezuela-maduro-militia-us-military-deployment-intl-latam
- Cipher Brief, https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322225/chinas-exports-investments-global-south-surge-age-tariffs-report?module=inline&pgtype=article
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