Monday Briefing: Judge Postponed Trump’s Sentencing

The presidential election is less than 60 days away. This is what we’re watching.

The judge who presided over Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan postponed Trump’s sentencing until after Election Day, guaranteeing that the American people will vote without knowing whether Trump, the first former president convicted as a felon, will spend time behind bars. The delay raised a question: Is he above the law?

Despite his legal troubles, Trump has enjoyed remarkably resilient support. A national poll of likely voters conducted by The New York Times and Siena College found Trump narrowly leading Vice President Kamala Harris, 48 percent to 47 percent. The results are in line with polls in the pivotal battleground states, where Harris is tied with Trump or holds slim leads, according to New York Times polling averages.

Your questions:

We’re asking readers what they’d like to know about the election and taking those questions to our reporters. Today, we gave one to Edward Wong, who covers U.S. foreign policy and the State Department.

Edward: The two candidates have very different views on America’s traditional security alliances. If Donald Trump were to be president again, he might not bolster America’s traditional alliances; he could very well weaken them instead. Vice President Kamala Harris has not talked much about foreign policy since becoming the Democratic candidate this summer. But most analysts think she will carry on President Biden’s efforts to strengthen traditional U.S. alliances.

Most American voters do not see foreign policy as a decisive issue or a priority in U.S. elections, unless American troops are directly involved in a disastrous war, so candidates generally do not spend much time talking about