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Trump's Day: President Trump has lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This evening, he delivers remarks at a Congressional Medal of Honor Society reception and meets with supporters in Washington.

Hurricane Watch: Hurricane Florence has swelled in size over the Atlantic, and officials in the Carolinas and Virginia are preparing for a disaster that could knock out power for weeks. Track the storm here.

Primary Election: Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is the latest Democratic establishment incumbent trying to fend off a threat from the party’s progressive wing. She's up against Matt Brown in the primary today. 

Businesses are joining forces to persuade President Trump that tariffs are hurting U.S. industries. Today, organizations representing thousands of companies in industries including farming, retailing, toy manufacturing and technology are set to announce that they are cooperating on a lobbying campaign called Tariffs Hurt the Heartland to oppose tariffs on imports, Brody Mullins and Andrew Duehren report.

Workers at two of the biggest U.S. steelmakers are demanding higher compensation. Tariffs on foreign metal have pushed prices and profits to their highest point in years, but union leaders say U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal aren’t passing those benefits to workers, reports Bob Tita.

Chinese leaders are stepping up a charm offensive with U.S. multinationals and sheathing earlier threats of retaliation. Beijing is changing tack to keep the trade fight with Washington from scaring off foreign investors, report Lingling Wei and Yoko Kubota. This weekend, Vice President Wang Qishan is scheduled to meet with Wall Street executives.

President Trump was updating reporters on Hurricane Florence yesterday when another storm got in his way.

"We are absolutely totally prepared," Mr. Trump said at the outset of his Oval Office briefing with his FEMA and Homeland Security chiefs at his side. But a few minutes later, the president veered into an extended defense of his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.

Prompted by a reporter’s question, Mr. Trump hailed the government’s much-criticized Puerto Rico relief effort as an “incredible, unsung success.” The president noted the precarious status of the island’s electricity grid before the storm and the logistical challenges emergency workers faced in the aftermath, but concluded the effort had been “tremendous.”

“I think, in a certain way, the best job we did was Puerto Rico,” Mr. Trump said. “But nobody would understand that.”

Maria left nearly 3,000 people dead, according to the latest estimate, and the island is struggling to recover almost a year later.

“Trump simply does not get it,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a frequent Trump critic, wrote on Twitter yesterday afternoon. “Thus his neglect towards Puerto Rico cost about 3,000 lives.” In turn, Mr. Trump called her "totally incompetent" this morning.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) wrote on Twitter that nearly 3,000 deaths was "the complete opposite of 'success,'" deriding the president’s comments as “offensive, hurtful and blatantly false.”

Mr. Trump’s comments—coming as millions of people brace for another potentially catastrophic storm—was a jarring reminder of how hurricanes test elected officials. The storms speak to one of the most basic questions in governance: Can the government keep the public safe?

When the answer is “no,” leaders' political fortunes often fall. The government's immediate response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left a cloud over President George W. Bush's second term.

Mr. Trump said he will spare no expense on Florence. And he’s issued multiple warnings that this storm is the real deal. Prepare for flooding, he said. Prepare for winds. Prepare for power outages.

“But unlike Puerto Rico, you have very strong power companies,” Mr. Trump said during his briefing. “They are going to do a great job.”

Write to Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com

Under the Trump presidency, economic growth has continued and strengthened. But does he deserve all the credit for the improved economy?

Nearly 600 Russia-linked Twitter accounts tweeted about the health law and U.S. health policy from 2014 through May 2018, new data show. The majority of the nearly 10,000 tweets on the Affordable Care Act seem intended to pit one side against the other, Stephanie Armour and Paul Overberg report. They provide a snapshot of a continuing strategy, one that is likely now aimed at November’s midterm elections, experts said.

Protesters who were attacked at a 2016 campaign rally can’t proceed with a lawsuit against Mr.Trump, an appeals court ruled. “Get ’em out. Get ’em out of here,” Mr. Trump said of protesters at the event. The protesters alleged that Mr. Trump incited the violence.

New Hampshire's establishment Democrat has advanced. Voters in a perennial swing House district chose Chris Pappas over a well-funded female military veteran. In the gubernatorial race, Democrats chose a woman to be their nominee, adding to the record number of women running for governor this year. Read more in Campaign Wire.

President Trump is leaning toward Emmet Flood as the next White House counsel, succeeding Don McGahn, but West Wing officials have urged him not to rush the pick, report Peter Nicholas and Michael C. Bender. Mr. Flood would bring to the counsel’s office a wealth of experience fending off congressional investigations of the White House. He wants autonomy to hire his own staff and freedom to restructure the office as he sees fit, according to people familiar with the matter.

The White House is blaming Iranian-backed militias for attacking U.S. facilities in Iraq. U.S. officials haven’t made public any evidence that Iran ordered the attacks, and some U.S. officials said the Shiite militias may have been acting on their own. The White House statement faults Iran for failing to stop the attacks, which it alleges were carried out by proxies Tehran has armed, trained and financed, Michael R. Gordon reports.

The U.S. military is in talks to expand its operations in Greece, including using more air and naval bases there, Nancy A. Youssef reports. The talks signal a potential move toward the eastern Mediterranean amid growing tensions with Turkey, officials said.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a high-profile hearing on the privacy practices of big tech companies later this month, signaling intensifying government interest in a thorny issue for the industry, reports John D. McKinnon.

• It came as a surprise to "everyone" when California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order committing California to total, economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2045. (Vox)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that Russia and Japan sign a peace treaty formally ending hostilities in World War II. (AP)
• In a farewell speech, outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned of the dangers of "knee-jerk nationalism." (Bloomberg)

This newsletter is a production of the WSJ Washington bureau. Our newsletter editors are Tim Hanrahan, Kate Milani and Troy McCullough. Send feedback to capitaljournal@wsj.com.