7 Days In 60 Seconds: Trump's Speeches To His Eclipse Gaffe

It can seem impossible to keep up with all the news these days, so here's what happened this week in a New York minute.

Last weekend, a "free speech" rally in Boston drew far more counter-protesters than actual demonstrators. The rally was planned before the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA took place the weekend before, but the response in Boston showed that people will show up to take a stand against racism.

The president gave two public speeches this week with very different rhetoric, largely because one was read from a teleprompter and one was more spontaneous. In the first, President Trump announced that American troops will stay in Afghanistan for now. At a rally the next day, he blamed the media for misrepresenting his comments on Charlottesville.

Louise Linton, a wealthy Scottish-American actress married to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, responded to an Instagram commenter who criticized Linton's designer outfit by belittling her. The fact that Linton tagged all her designer labels, and used her wealth to talk down another woman online, highlighted how little she knows about what life is like for average Americans.

A newly released excerpt from Hillary Clinton's new book, What Happened, describes exactly how she felt as Trump towered over her throughout the second presidential debate.

Monday's news was all about the eclipse, and President Trump did the one thing experts warned everyone not to do: Look directly at the sun. If nothing else, the photos (and memes) were entertaining.

Refinery29's Connie Wang takes a look at why high school student council presidents are largely girls, but the numbers dwindle in college and beyond.

Despite reports that 67 alt-right rallies were cancelled after the "free speech" demonstration in Boston was overshadowed by counter-protesters, some are still expected to go on. Locals are taking action against planned rallies in their areas, including an "Adopt-a-Nazi (Not Really)" GoFundMe raising money for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in response to a scheduled alt-right gathering in San Francisco on August 26.

You can donate directly to the SPLC here to support its fight to monitor hate groups and teach tolerance. You can also use its template to send a letter to your local officials asking them to take down Confederate monuments.