--- title: An Unprecedented Week description: It's been an unprecedented few days in politics. President Obama declared Donald Trump "unfit" for the office and supports TPP. canonical: https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T15:29:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:44:17.126Z article:section: Politics og:title: An Unprecedented Week og:description: It's been an unprecedented few days in politics. President Obama declared Donald Trump "unfit" for the office and supports TPP. og:url: https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141404370f6b0b9c/6988a100bc6cfc29803de1be/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Press Briefing At The Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An Unprecedented Week twitter:description: It's been an unprecedented few days in politics. President Obama declared Donald Trump "unfit" for the office and supports TPP. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141404370f6b0b9c/6988a100bc6cfc29803de1be/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An Unprecedented Week > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 3, 2016 3:29 PM UTC  Paul Ryan answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol June 23, 2016 in Washington, DC. Paul Ryan answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol June 23, 2016 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 3, 2016 3:29 PM UTC **_If you only read one thing:_** _It’s been an unprecedented few days in politics. The Republican Party nominee has continued his fight with a Gold Star family and picked a new one with a baby. That candidate has also suggested that the November election would be rigged against him, said he always wanted a Purple Heart, and refused to endorse his party’s 2008 presidential nominee and sitting Speaker of the House in their upcoming primary races. Meanwhile, his spokeswoman suggested that Obama was to blame for the death of a U.S. soldier years before he entered the White House. Donald Trump is struggling to maintain his grip on the Republican Party, as Establishment-types make themselves scarce, or even plot their defections to Hillary Clinton. All the while, a sitting President declared one of his would-be successors “unfit” for the job at a joint press conference with a foreign leader. There are still 97 days left until November 8, but the sheer magnitude of these statements and events rivals anything we’ve seen yet this cycle, and further feeds the question that has hung over this race: Will any of this matter to voters?_ Obama also had strong words for Hillary Clinton at his press conference. When asked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Obama said he’d continue to push for it, despite opposition from Clinton and Trump. “Right now I’m president and I’m for it. And I think I’ve got the better argument,” he said, before linking the agreement to national security and the credibility of the nation abroad, warning that if the deal goes down both could be damaged. Obama went on to imply that some of the opposition to the agreement was due to politics, rather than facts—viewed as a rebuke to Clinton. Clinton’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment on Obama’s rebuke. Shakeup at the Democratic National Committee. Trump’s team agreed to limiting rally sizes. And a new pro-Clinton super PAC [ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsMXoW%5FqXco&feature=em-uploademail) features Republicans bashing Trump. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [President Obama: Donald Trump Is ‘Unfit’ to Serve as President ](http://time.com/4435282/president-obama-donald-trump-unfit-president/)An unprecedented statement by a sitting president \[TIME\] [Heads Roll at the DNC ](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/dnc-ceo-resigns-amid-turmoil-226570)Three top officials were ousted Tuesday, as the organization struggles to right itself \[Politico\] [Donald Trump Steps Up Criticism of Khans and G.O.P. Leaders ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/us/politics/donald-trump-gop.html?ref=politics&%5Fr=0)Party schism in the works \[New York Times\] [For Trump, a New ‘Rigged’ System: The Election Itself ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-trump-a-new-rigged-system-the-election-itself/2016/08/02/d9fb33b0-58c4-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2%5Fstory.html)A move to question the outcome in advance if he doesn’t win \[Washington Post\] **Sound Off** “His opponent is a big fan of what I’m saying. Big fan. His opponent who’s running a very good campaign obviously. You may have heard. His opponent sent me a very scholarly and well thought out letter yesterday. All I did was say thank you very much for your very nice letter.” — Donald Trump on Paul Ryan’s primary challenger “He said, ‘that’s my real Purple Heart I have such confidence in you.’ And I said, ‘Man that’s like big stuff. I’ve always wanted to get the real Purple Heart.’ This was much easier.” — Trump after a veteran presented him with a Purple Heart at a rally **Bits and Bites** [Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart](http://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/) \[TIME\] [Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Humayun Khan’s Death. But Gets Her History Wrong](http://time.com/4436473/trump-spokeswoman-blames-obama-for-humayun-khans-death-but-gets-her-history-wrong/) \[TIME\] [François Hollande Says Donald Trump Makes ‘You Feel Like You Want to Retch’](http://time.com/4436529/francois-hollande-donald-trump-retch/) \[TIME\] [President Obama Digs In Heels on Trans-Pacific Trade Deal](http://time.com/4435467/president-obama-tpp-singapore-lee-hsien-loong/) \[TIME\] [Khizr Khan: I Feel Sorry for Republicans Who Support Donald Trump](http://time.com/4436076/khizr-khan-donald-trump-john-mccain/) \[TIME\] [Documents Show Trump Officials Agreed to Limit Rally Size, Contradicting the Candidate](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/donald-trump-2016-rally-size-214132#ixzz4GFuy7Ynd) \[Politico\] [Judge blocks release of Trump’s video testimony](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d7b278d2ed8640288e1a5be80b374dee/judge-blocks-release-trumps-video-testimony) \[Associated Press\] [Donald Trump transcript: The Republican nominee in his own words](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-transcript-the-republican-nominee-in-his-own-words/2016/08/02/77e9fa68-58eb-11e6-831d-0324760ca856%5Fstory.html?postshare=5501470189385920&tid=ss%5Ftw) \[Washington Post\] [CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski: Was Obama a citizen when he went to Harvard?](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-birther-corey-lewandowski-226607) \[Politico\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/"},"headline":"An Unprecedented Week","datePublished":"2016-08-03T15:29:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:44:17.126Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: August 3","url":"https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141404370f6b0b9c/6988a100bc6cfc29803de1be/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141404370f6b0b9c/6988a100bc6cfc29803de1be/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Press Briefing At The Capitol","caption":"Paul Ryan Holds Weekly Press Briefing At The Capitol","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4436481/an-unprecedented-week/","name":"An Unprecedented Week"}}]}] ```