As anoth­er month of rent came due Sep­tem­ber 1, ten­ant orga­niz­ers were greet­ed with a rare bit of good news. The Trump admin­is­tra­tion announced a sweep­ing mora­to­ri­um on res­i­den­tial evic­tions through the end of the year, pro­vid­ing an unex­pect­ed 11th-hour reprieve to mil­lions of renters who had run out of options.

It is a stun­ning move from a pres­i­dent who began his career in a fam­i­ly busi­ness syn­ony­mous with hous­ing dis­crim­i­na­tion — and an unmis­tak­able piv­ot meant to draw vot­ers’ atten­tion away from the Trump administration’s dis­as­trous mis­han­dling of the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic in advance of the Novem­ber elec­tion.

Read more at In These Times.