In the campaign for president, this was the week when back-to-back natural disasters became an inescapable part of the race, when Vice-President Kamala Harris chose to meet the press and when Donald J. Trump faced new accusations of cozying up to Russia’s president.

The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Astead W. Herndon, Maggie Haberman and Nate Cohn try to make sense of it all.

Guest: 

• Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.”
• Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A national Times/Siena poll found Ms. Harris with a slim lead over Mr. Trump.
• Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars on anti-trans ads, part of an attempt to win over suburban female voters.
• The journalist Bob Woodward cited an unnamed aide as saying that Mr. Trump had spoken to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as many as seven times since leaving office.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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