President Biden's Legacy, Trump Campaign Focus, Ukrainian Buffer Zone

0:28Good morning, eh? Biden gives the keynote speech tonight. It's not going to be a fair law speech, in our opinion. What's he expected to say and what else is on the agenda? I'm Leila Faldin. That's A. Martinez. And this is Up First from NPR News.

0:44The Trump campaign is on a whirlwind tour of swing states this week. They're visiting five battleground states to try to counter Democrats' recent surge in the polls. What's their message? And Ukraine continued its push across the Russian border in several directions, destroying two key bridges, making it harder for Moscow to replenish forces and evacuate civilians. Ukraine's president said the plan is to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.

1:17This message comes from NPR sponsor Walmart. Did you know that Walmart is one of Fortune's 100 best companies to work for in 2025? It's no surprise. Walmart is investing$1 billion in training and development to help associates build lasting careers with or without a degree. In fact, 75 % of Walmart management started in hourly roles. With benefits like health care, paid parental leave, and tuition support, Walmart isn't just a place to work. It's a place to grow. Learn more at walmart.com slash spark. This was supposed to be President Biden's convention. But now he's a supporting player at the Democratic Party's coronation of Vice President Harris.

2:03Biden will deliver the keynote address at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention later today in Chicago. First Lady Jill Biden will introduce him. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith has covered Biden throughout his presidency. He joins us now from Chicago. Tam, you're going to be in the arena tonight. What kind of speech do you expect Joe Biden to deliver? Based on what aides have told me in some ways, this sounds a lot like a speech I could have imagined him giving if he was still the nominee. Drawing contrast with Trump, saying democracy is on the line this election, and talking about the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration.

2:38But with one big exception. Instead of advocating for his own re-election, he'll be urging voters to support his partner in the White House, Kamala Harris. So Biden is going to say that these weren't just his accomplishments. They were Vice President Harris's accomplishments, too. Aides say the president plans to make a strong case for the Harris Walls ticket and then, quote, hand off the convention to them. But while he's speaking, Tam, I got to admit, I'll be wondering how Biden is feeling about all of this, this dramatic turn of events over the last couple of months. I've been wondering that, too.

3:09I spoke with longtime Biden friend Ted Kaufman, and he wanted to make very clear that this is not a swan song for Biden. It's not going to be a farewell speech, in my opinion. It's going to be a, OK, guys, this is really, really, really important. It's really, really, really important that we elect President Harris in Election Day. I asked him if this is going to be hard for Biden, and he said that Biden has lived through many hard things in his life, and this isn't hard. He said the president is excited about Harris's candidacy and really believes that if Democrats pull together, she will win.

3:45There are still a few months left in President Biden's term. Any sense of what his legacy will be? Well, I can tell you he is going to get a hero's welcome at this convention for stepping aside and endorsing Harris, which really paved the way for her to walk into the nomination unchallenged. How Biden's story is written in the history books is going to have to wait until November, though. Already, he has done something that few presidents have done before, which is step aside when he had one more race to run, though it took three weeks of battering from within his own party after his disastrous debate performance for him to see that he should step aside.

4:20All right. So aside from tonight, what else can we expect for the rest of the convention? There's still a few more nights after tonight. There will be speeches from former presidents and first ladies, you know, a stark contrast from the Republican convention, where there were no former presidents or party nominees or even former Vice President Mike Pence on hand. In Chicago, there will be musicians, there will be celebrities, there will be the traditional roll call to tally the votes of delegates from around the country. Organizers are hyping it as fun and innovative. There will be lots of video elements and everyday Americans telling their stories about what's at stake in the election.

4:56And the overall theme of this convention is for the people, for our future. which is an echo of Harris's 2020 presidential campaign slogan for the people and a nod to her history as a prosecutor. So even though she's been the nominee for less than a month, this is very much a convention transformed in her image. Harris is running a much more optimistic, joyful and forward looking campaign than Biden was. She's making the case that if voters want change and they almost always do, then she's the change candidate. And this convention reflects that shift in tone. That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Tim, thanks.

5:33You're welcome. All right. While the DNC in Chicago will draw tens of millions of viewers this week, former President Donald Trump will be trying to get his own share of attention. Yeah, Trump has put together a packed week of events in swing states to try to counter Vice President Harris's recent polling search. For more on what Trump has planned, NPR's Daniel Kurtzlein joins us from Chicago. Danielle, the Democrats are getting their week in the spotlight in Chicago. So what will Donald Trump be doing this week? he'll be doing a run of swing state events along with his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D.

6:04Vance. So today they both hit Pennsylvania. Tuesday, Trump is in Michigan. Vance is in Wisconsin. Wednesday, they go to North Carolina. After that, Trump goes to Arizona and Nevada. So really, a lot of travel, trying to talk to a lot of crowds. Now, the goal is to define Harrison Walls, as they've been trying to do for weeks. And it's to really hit them on areas that the Trump team believes they're weak on. They have themes for each of these days that Trump and Vance are out. For example, economy, crime, immigration areas they've been attacking Harris on. Really, the Trump team is just trying to go on offense and end the Harris-Walls honeymoon that Democrats are having.

6:44Now, Donald Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania over the weekend. You were there. What was there to learn from that one? You know, it was a lot like a lot of other Trump rallies. It was pretty full. The crowd was enthusiastic. He meandered quite a bit. He said a lot of outlandish things. He made a lot of personal attacks. At one point, he argued that he's better looking than Kamala Harris. That was new. But I think it's important to pull out how Trump talks about policy as he's making these more pointed attacks on Harris's economic plans. So at this rally, he defended the tariffs that he wants to impose on goods from abroad.

7:17Here he is. A tariff is a tax on a foreign country. That's the way it is, whether you like it or not. A lot of people like to say, oh, it's a tax on us. No, no, no. It's a tax on a foreign country. It's a tax on a country that's ripping us off and stealing our jobs. Now, to hear him describe it there, you'd think that the Chinese government, for example, might shell out money to the U.S. Treasury because of U.S. tariffs. But that is not at all how it works. U.S. businesses, U.S. importers pay those tariffs. And the costs are passed on to U.S. consumers in the form of higher prices, or potentially they might affect foreign businesses who have to, for example, lower prices or sell elsewhere.

8:01Now, I tell you all this because this is important while we look at their economic plans. While it's true Harris hasn't laid out specifics on a lot of her agenda, and she's getting dinged for that, it's also true that Trump has some of these policies that he has talked about for a while. And these policies not only could have real economic consequences, but he's also on these tariffs, for example, either unclear on or lying about how they'd work. Now, the Harris-Waltz campaign just wrapped up a bus tour in Pennsylvania. Trump is going to do another rally in Pennsylvania on Monday in York, and Trump has promised to go back to Butler.

8:36That's where he was nearly assassinated. So remind us why Pennsylvania is so crucial. Why are we talking about Pennsylvania so much? It's a tightly matched state with a lot of electoral votes. It has 19 of those votes. It's tied with Illinois as a state with the fifth most. And really, when you look at scenarios of how this election might go, which states are solidly blue, solidly red, Pennsylvania is just crucial for anyone to win. That's NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben in Chicago. Thank you, Danielle. Thank you.

9:10For the first time, Ukraine's president has clearly stated the objective of Ukraine's military incursion into Russia. Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address yesterday that Ukraine's surprise attack on the Kursk region of Russia earlier this month was intended to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border. Russian forces appear to be struggling so far to fend off the new counteroffensive. Two and a half years after Russia's full-scale invasion began, Ukrainian forces are now fighting on three fronts in eastern Ukraine, in the Black Sea, and on Russian territory in Kursk.

9:45Christopher Miller is the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times, and he's been traveling near the border with Ukrainian troops. Joins us from Kiev. Chris, what have you seen about how Ukraine is consolidating its position in Kursk? Well, it's clear that this is a big operation, and everything indicates that Ukraine is still pressing ahead with it. Ukrainian soldiers and heavy weapons are still streaming into Russia's Kursk region, and they're digging trenches, blowing up bridges, working to strengthen their grip on the Russian region, while Russia is really struggling to respond. You mentioned strengthening their grip.

10:16How strong is the Ukrainian position on this new front? Well, Ukraine's committed upwards of 10 ,000 soldiers to this Kursk operation, including many from its most elite and experienced airborne and mechanized brigades. Many of these were meant to be a part of Ukraine's strategic reserves and were kitted out for the potential operations to shore up defenses in eastern Ukraine. So this is not just a distraction. They have taken control of Russian territory, and this is the first time a foreign army has done so since the Second World War. So what do you think about the overall objective here that has been laid out?

10:48Yeah, this is a big issue. There are several objectives, I think. Zelensky outlined one key aim overnight, saying it's meant to create a buffer zone to defend against Russian attacks inside Ukraine. Another is taking territory as leverage in future peace negotiations with Moscow that might take place. Then Ukraine also wants to draw Russian forces from other flashpoint areas in eastern Ukraine. But unfortunately for Ukraine, we haven't seen many Russian units pulled from those areas yet. And then yet another goal is to boost morale of Ukraine and its war-weary troops. And this operation certainly has accomplished that.

11:20I'd say finally that another major goal that Zelensky has himself spoken about is Ukraine capturing thousands of prisoners of war to replenish what he calls an exchange fund or to capture as many Russian POWs as possible to swap for thousands of Ukrainians held by Moscow. Now, all this, though, Christopher, sounds like a gamble. So what exactly is Ukraine gambling here? It is a gamble. A lot is at stake, particularly territory and resources and maybe, you know, even the outcome of the war. Soldiers I've spoken with are optimistic at the moment, but they also have concerns. The front line before this operation was already more than 600 miles long, and Ukraine was outmanned and outgunned by Russia at that stage still.

12:01So now Ukraine has stretched that front line and its resources further, so they could have a hard time the longer this operation goes on and as Russian forces continue their own advances inside Ukraine. And something to note here is that Ukraine is almost completely reliant on Western partners for military support, especially the U.S. So they're using up a lot of valuable equipment here that might not be immediately replenished. And one more thing, Christopher, I mentioned how you're in Kiev. How are people there feeling? What's the feeling there? The mood is upbeat. You know, this is the first time Ukraine has been on the offensive for more than a year now.

12:32And they would like to see their troops march further if possible. But again, there are some concerns about what this means overall in the eastern part of the country here as Russians advance there. Christopher Miller is the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times. He's also author of the book, The War Came to Us, Life and Death in Ukraine. Christopher, thanks. Yeah, thank you, guys.

12:56And that's up first for Monday, August 19th. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Leila Falden. Join us tonight for NPR's live special coverage from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The team from the NPR Politics Podcast will be live tonight with coverage and analysis starting at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific. that's on your local NPR station, in the NPR app, npr.org, or on your smart speaker. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kristen Dev Callimore, Jan Johnson, Jenea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Nina Kravinsky. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

13:33Join us again tomorrow.