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We regret to inform you that 2020 is only halfway over, even though it feels like it’s been going on for half a century.

Every year typically has a few defining moments, but the past six months have contained so many world-changing, paradigm-shifting developments that it’s getting hard to believe we’re not in a simulation that’s running every possible scenario at once.

But there’s no time to be exhausted: With a pandemic still raging, waves of social change swelling around the globe, and a whole presidential campaign going on, there’s still a lot of history left to be made in 2020.

Think you won’t be able to handle six more months of this? Take a look back at what we’ve already weathered.

January

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January felt like such a simpler time. All we had to worry about was whether the killing of an Iranian general in a US drone strike would lead to World War III. The death of Qasem Soleimani on January 3 led to days of terrifying tension between the United States and Iran, with massive protests, threats of war and Iran’s retaliatory attack on Iraqi bases housing US troops.

The first week of the year set the pace of what was to come. Next: The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, the culmination of years of hearings and painful political acrimony, began on January 16. Speaking of years of painful political acrimony, Brexit finally happened after years of delays and false starts.

Meanwhile in China, a strange new virus began to spread, its presence a silent clock counting down to the time it would bring the world to its knees.

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People watch debris burn in Baghdad, Iraq, following the US drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani on January 3. (FARS News Agency)
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US President Donald Trump leaves after making a statement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3. Trump said he authorized the strike against Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani because Soleimani was plotting “imminent and sinister attacks” on Americans. The Pentagon blamed Soleimani and his Quds Force for recent attacks on coalition bases in Iraq, including the December 27 strike that culminated in the deaths of an American contractor and Iraqi personnel. The Trump administration also blamed Soleimani for the December 31 US Embassy attack in Baghdad. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
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Presidential candidates take part in a Democratic debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 14. From left are businessman Tom Steyer; US Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Vice President Joe Biden; US Sen. Bernie Sanders; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and US Sen. Amy Klobuchar. It was the final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses and the seventh debate of the campaign season. (Edward M. Pio Roda/CNN)
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House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and House Clerk Cheryl Johnson are trailed by seven House impeachment managers as they carry articles of impeachment to the US Senate on January 15. In December, the House made President Donald Trump just the third president in US history to be impeached. It voted almost entirely among party lines to charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, the Republican-controlled Congress acquitted Trump on both articles of impeachment. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
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Roberts swears in members of the Senate for Trump’s impeachment trial. (United States Senate)
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives at the US Capitol on January 21, the day the trial began. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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Night falls on the US Capitol on January 22. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
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A woman rides an electric bicycle in Wuhan, China, on January 22. The novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China’s Hubei province, in late December. It has since spread across the world, killing more than 500,000 people. (Getty Images)
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Medical staff members bring a patient to the Wuhan Red Cross hospital on January 25. (Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images)
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Lyu Jun, left, a member of a medical team leaving for Wuhan, says goodbye to a loved one in Urumqi, China, on January 28. (Wang Fei/Xinhua/Getty Images)
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Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift masks while waiting to check in to a flight at the Beijing Capital Airport on January 30. The use of face masks has become ubiquitous in many countries as people try to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
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Construction workers in Wuhan begin to work on a special hospital to deal with the outbreak on January 24. (AFP/Getty Images)
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A man in London waves a giant flag on January 31 after Britain became the first country to ever leave the European Union. The historic departure known as “Brexit” came more than three tumultuous years since 51.89% of people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar voted to leave the EU. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

February

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Trump was acquitted in early February, and the political event that had hung heavy over his office in the previous six months was over in less than three weeks. But 2020 is an election year, and the political wheels kept turning.

The first round of primary elections quickly divided the Democratic field, and major candidates began to fall. By February, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were already out. Andrew Yang soon followed. Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren limped through, but it soon became clear their time was running out.

In between the slowly unfolding dramas, a bolt of shock struck the sports world when NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash. The memorial took place in late February.

And finally, the virus making its way through China started to spark fear throughout the world. For many, the word “coronavirus” was still unfamiliar and the threat seemed far off.

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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, on February 3, the night of the Iowa caucuses. Buttigieg ultimately won the most delegates in the caucuses — the start of the 2020 primary season — but the results were delayed for days due to mistakes by the state party. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune/USA Today Network)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rips up her copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech after he finished on February 4. During the speech, you could feel the tension in the room between the President and the Democrats who impeached him in December. Pelosi, sitting behind Trump, stretched out her hand to shake his before the speech. He didn’t take it. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
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Trump holds up a newspaper at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, a day after he was acquitted in his impeachment trial. The Republican-controlled Congress acquitted Trump on both articles of impeachment. The vote was 52-48 on abuse of power, with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney joining the 47 Democrats in voting guilty. All 53 Republican senators voted not guilty on obstruction of Congress. (Oliver Contreras/Pool/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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Reporters in Washington, DC, take photos of a television as they watch the Senate vote to acquit Trump. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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US Sen. Mitt Romney heads to the Senate floor to cast his vote in Trump’s impeachment trial. Romney announced, in a stirring and emotional speech on the Senate floor, that he would break with his party and vote to convict Trump on abuse of power. He is the first senator in US history to vote to convict a president from the same party in an impeachment trial. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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Trump kisses his wife, Melania, in the East Room of the White House on February 6. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
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Vice President Mike Pence, second from left, sits with his wife, Karen, and members of Trump’s Cabinet as Trump speaks at the White House on February 6. (Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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Passengers are seen on the Diamond Princess cruise ship while it was quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, on February 12. Dozens of people on the ship were infected with the novel coronavirus. (Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)

March

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In March, all hell broke loose. But under the shadow of a pandemic, hell isn’t a clattering sturm und drang. It’s eerie silence and empty spaces. It’s people dying alone in quarantined hospital beds. Global markets shuddered, sputtered and crashed, foreshadowing months of economic suffering.

As shutdowns rolled across the globe, life as we knew it seemed to grind to a halt overnight: Empty flights, deserted city centers, and cruise ships floating listlessly though the open water, their trapped passengers hoping in vain for a place to port.

On March 11, the World Health Organization called the coronavirus what it is and what it will remain for months: A pandemic. For weeks afterward, little else seems to matter.

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Jill Biden, the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, blocks a protester who charged the stage during his Super Tuesday speech in Los Angeles on March 4. The protester was holding a sign that said “Let dairy die.” Super Tuesday was a good night for Biden, who took control of the Democratic race following early setbacks in Iowa and Nevada. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, attend the Endeavour Fund Awards in London on March 5. In January, the couple announced that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the British royal family. (Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images)
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Lori Spencer visits her mother, 81-year-old Judie Shape, at the Life Care Center, a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, on March 11. The facility became an early epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, and Shape was among those who tested positive. She has since recovered. (Jason Redmond/Reuters)
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 12. US stocks recorded their worst day since 1987 as worries about the coronavirus mounted. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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A woman’s reflection can be seen in a Milan, Italy, mortuary as she looks at a coffin on March 13. Italy was put under a dramatic total lockdown as the coronavirus spread in the country. (Gabriele Galimberti)
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Pope Francis delivers his blessing to an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 15. The novel coronavirus has put much of the world on hold. To try to slow the spread of the virus, people are being asked to avoid crowds and limit their travel. Many governments have issued stay-at-home orders. What’s left behind is an eerie emptiness. (Vatican News/Sipa USA/AP)
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Former Vice President Joe Biden, left, greets US Sen. Bernie Sanders with an elbow bump before the start of a debate in Washington, DC, on March 15. It was the first one-on-one debate of the primary season, and it happened under unprecedented circumstances. The debate was supposed to take place in Arizona in front of a live audience, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, it took place in the nation’s capital with no audience. (Sarah Silbiger for CNN)
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Spring Break revelers watch a “chicken fight” in Pompano Beach, Florida, on March 17. Many people were continuing to party on Florida’s beaches despite the coronavirus pandemic. Florida’s governor later issued an order limiting beach gatherings to no more than 10 people. (Julio Cortez/AP)
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A close-up of President Donald Trump’s notes shows where the word “Corona” was crossed out and replaced with “Chinese” as he speaks about the coronavirus at the White House on March 19. After consulting with medical experts and receiving guidance from the World Health Organization, CNN determined that the term “Chinese virus” is inaccurate and considered stigmatizing. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
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Giuseppe Corbari holds Sunday Mass in front of photographs sent in by his congregation members in Giussano, Italy, on March 22. During the coronavirus pandemic, many religious services are being streamed online so that people can worship while still maintaining their distance from others. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images)
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Passenger jets from Delta Air Lines are parked in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 25. Air travel has been scaled back dramatically because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)
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US President Donald Trump walks past Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on March 26. Fauci, a key member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, is no stranger to leading the federal response to national health emergencies. He has served under six US presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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World leaders discuss the coronavirus pandemic via video conference on March 26. This screen was photographed at the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. The coronavirus, in a matter of weeks, turned video conferencing into the backbone of our lives — and not just for work. (Gary Ramage/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)
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In this photo taken from behind a window, doctors work with coronavirus patients in Pavia, Italy, on March 26. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse/AP)
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Epidemiologists Jen Andonian and Matt Shearer get married at a hospital in Boston on March 27. They were supposed to get married in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but their plans had to be altered because of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus. For many couples who decide to get married — whether they’ve had to cancel their original ceremony plans and make new ones, or are only now feeling the time is right or necessary for marriage — following the advice of health care professionals and scientists appears to be very much on their minds. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)
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Because of the coronavirus, BBT University in Tokyo held a virtual graduation ceremony using robots on March 28. The graduates watched their ceremony through their robot’s point of view. In photos: How the pandemic has changed education (BBT University/Cover Images/AP)

April

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People — and economies — can’t stay locked down forever. In April, widespread coronavirus restrictions began to chafe, and groups of Americans took to the streets in protest, demanding a return to normalcy.

But normal was already long gone. Face masks became a familiar sight, and social distancing became a way of life.

Worldwide coronavirus cases hit 1 million at the beginning of the month. By the end of April there were 1 million cases in the United States alone, and more than 62,000 deaths worldwide. Federal social-distancing guidelines also expired, leaving states to chart their own path forward despite clear signs that the threat was far from over.

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A nurse adjusts a face shield on a newborn baby at a hospital in Thailand’s Samut Prakan province on April 3. (Paolo Hospital Samutprakarn)
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Emergency medical workers intubate a coronavirus patient at a home in Yonkers, New York, on April 6. The 92-year-old man was later put on a ventilator at the hospital, and he died two weeks later, his family said. (John Moore/Getty Images)
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People wait in their cars for the San Antonio Food Bank to begin distributing food on April 9. The coronavirus pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work, and more and more families have turned to food banks to get by. (William Luther/San Antonio Express-News/AP)
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Protesters stand outside the Statehouse Atrium in Columbus, Ohio, to voice their opposition to stay-at-home orders on April 13. About 100 protesters assembled outside the building during Gov. Mike DeWine’s weekday update on the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Other states also saw protests as people grew more concerned about the pandemic’s economic fallout. (Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network)
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US President Donald Trump leaves the White House Rose Garden following a coronavirus briefing on April 14. During the briefing, Trump threatened to leave after Playboy correspondent and CNN analyst Brian Karem attempted to ask a question about social distancing. “Quiet. Quiet.” Trump said. When Karem continued to ask his question Trump interjected, “If you keep talking, I’ll leave and you can have it out with the rest of these people. If you keep talking, I’m going to leave and you can have it out with them. Just a loudmouth.” It wasn’t the first time Trump had lashed out at a reporter during a coronavirus briefing. He has vented his frustrations on several occasions. (Alex Brandon/AP)
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A health care worker stands in a Denver street on April 19, counterprotesting a rally where people were demanding that stay-at-home orders be lifted. Protesters around the country have rallied against coronavirus restrictions and complained that they infringe on their personal freedoms and threaten to destroy their livelihoods. (Alyson McClaran/Reuters)
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A customer gets a manicure at a nail salon in Atlanta on April 24. Georgia’s hair salons, tattoo parlors, bowling alleys and other businesses were permitted to reopen after Gov. Brian Kemp announced that he’d ease the state’s stay-at-home order. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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US Vice President Mike Pence visits Dennis Nelson, a patient who survived the coronavirus and was going to give blood, during a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on April 28. Pence chose not to wear a face mask during the tour despite the facility’s policy that’s been in place since April 13. Pence initially told reporters that he wasn’t wearing a mask because he’s often tested for coronavirus. He later said he should have worn one. (Jim Mone/AP)
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Michigan state police prevent protesters from entering the chamber of the Michigan House of Representatives on April 30. The protesters were unhappy with the state’s stay-at-home order. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had extended the order through May 15, though restrictions were relaxed so some businesses could reopen. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images)

May

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In May, rumblings of a different kind of unrest began to surface in the Georgia town of Brunswick, where a Black man named Ahmaud Arbery had been shot and killed while jogging in a neighborhood in February. The case echoed painful memories of other unarmed Black men who had died at the hands of police or, in Arbery’s case, men allegedly pursuing some form of vigilante justice.

One racial crisis was quickly compounded with another when George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed during an encounter with police in Minneapolis later that month — an encounter that was caught on video as an officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Suddenly, the floodgates were opened. Streets left barren during weeks of coronavirus lockdowns were filled night after night with thousands of protesters calling for justice, police accountability and reform. Clashes between demonstrators and police only added to the tensions, and before the month was over, it was clear a reckoning was going to come.

All the while, the specter of the coronavirus still hung over the world. Countries began tentatively reopening. For the first time since December, China recorded its first day without a new case. However, the reprieve was to be short-lived.

In the United States, there was barely a reprieve at all. On May 27, the US recorded its 100,000th coronavirus death.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a fertilizer factory in Sunchon, North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea’s state-run news agency on May 2. After Kim missed the celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on April 15, the United States was monitoring intelligence suggesting Kim was in grave danger following a surgical procedure. Kim’s absences from official state media often spark speculation and rumors about his health. CNN cannot independently verify North Korea’s state-run agency reports, the authenticity of the photograph or the date it was shot. (Korean Central News Agency/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
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Asian giant hornets from Japan are shown in a display case in Olympia, Washington, on May 4. The insects, nicknamed “murder hornets,” were spotted in the United States for the first time, specifically in Washington state, scientists said. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
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Relatives of Ahmaud Arbery embrace outside a courthouse May 8 while protesting his shooting death in Brunswick, Georgia. Three men have been charged in the February 23 death of Arbery, who was shot dead while jogging just outside Brunswick. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
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Dr. Ethan Weiss, a cardiologist from San Francisco, tweeted this photo of his flight home from New York on May 9. The photo appeared to show dozens of mask-wearing passengers sitting next to one another with no space in between. “This is the last time I’ll be flying again for a very long time,” Weiss wrote in a Twitter thread, adding that a lot of passengers on the flight were “scared/shocked.” Weiss said he was a part of a group of 25 doctors and nurses who had been working in New York hospitals for the past two to four weeks. United Airlines had flown them home for free. (Courtesy Ethan Weiss)
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San Diego high school student Phoebe Seip, center, and her sisters Sydney, left, and Paisley watch former US President Barack Obama deliver a virtual commencement address to millions of high school seniors on May 16. (Bing Guan/Reuters)
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People visit New York’s Domino Park on May 17. The painted circles, spaced 6 feet apart, are to encourage physical distancing. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is tested for the coronavirus during a news conference in Albany on May 17. He was trying to demonstrate the ease of the procedure and encourage people to get tested. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
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A man chases away a swarm of desert locusts in Samburu County, Kenya, on May 21. It is the worst invasion of desert locusts there in 70 years. It is also the worst locust invasion in the Horn of Africa in 25 years, said the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The invasion poses an unprecedented threat to food security in the region, where more than 19 million people in East Africa are already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, the agency said. (Fredrik Lerneryd/Getty Images)
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US President Donald Trump wears a face mask while visiting a Ford plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on May 21. But it was during a part of the tour where reporters were not allowed. “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” he said. This photo was tweeted by US Rep. Jackie Speier. Press photos from the tour show Trump without a mask. (From Rep. Jackie Speier/Twitter)
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A group floats down the American River near Rancho Cordova, California, on May 24. Memorial Day weekend prompted plenty of celebrations at the beach and boardwalks, but few were seen social distancing or wearing masks. (Daniel Kim/The Sacramento Bee/AP)
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Olivia Grant, right, hugs her grandmother, Mary Grace Sileo, through a plastic cloth hung on a clothesline in Wantagh, New York, on May 24. The two saw each other for the first time since the pandemic started. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
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Former US Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, lay a wreath at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Veterans Memorial Park on Memorial Day. In a CNN interview, Biden called President Donald Trump “an absolute fool” for sharing a tweet that mocked him for wearing a mask. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
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A protester carries an American flag upside down next to a burning building in Minneapolis on May 28. Protesters have been rallying across the United States since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis. Anger poured through communities as video of Floyd’s last moments began circulating. Floyd was pleading for help as he was pinned down, saying he couldn’t breathe. The demonstrations have been largely peaceful, but some cities have seen instances of violence, with protesters clashing with police and stores being looted and burned. (Julio Cortez/AP)
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A crowd gathers in Titusville, Florida, to watch SpaceX’s historic launch on May 30. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two NASA astronauts toward the International Space Station. It’s the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into Earth’s orbit. (Scott Audette/Reuters)
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The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center. NASA and space fans had waited nearly a decade for this milestone. The United States hadn’t launched its own astronauts into space since the shuttle program ended in 2011. (SpaceX/Getty Images)

June

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The protests sparked by George Floyd’s death roared into June and went global. Demonstrators filled city centers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and countless other countries, uniting under one refrain: Black Lives Matter.

In the United States, talks of police reform rippled through Congress. Cities slashed police department budgets and tightened police accountability. People also took change into their own hands, toppling statues of men who once championed or traded in slavery. Confederate flags and other symbols of racial enmity came down, too.

With the 2020 election mere months away, President Trump returned to the campaign trail, hosting one of his signature rallies in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

After a few weeks of optimism, coronavirus cases came roaring back across the globe. In the United States, experts warned premature reopenings may have sent the country hurtling toward another round of calamity and death.

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Riot police rush demonstrators in Washington DC’s Lafayette Park on June 1. Thousands of people were peacefully protesting near the White House when police started to shoot rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs into the crowd. Police were clearing the block to allow President Donald Trump to walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)
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President Donald Trump holds a Bible outside St. John’s Episcopal Church during his photo op on June 1. Part of the church was set on fire during protests the night before. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
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Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, looks on during a vigil for her daughter on June 6 in Louisville, Kentucky. Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was shot eight times by police on March 13 when they broke down the door to her Louisville apartment while executing a warrant in a narcotics investigation. Taylor’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
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Protesters hold up their phones during a demonstration outside the White House on June 3. George Floyd’s death has reignited a national conversation about race, police brutality and social injustice. There have been calls to defund the police, and protesters have been tearing down statues of men who once championed or traded in slavery. (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)
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Philonise Floyd speaks at a memorial service for his brother George on June 4. He said George had “touched many hearts” and that the audience in Minneapolis was a testament of that. “Everybody wants justice, we want justice for George,” Philonise said. “He’s going to get it.” Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, was fired from the department and eventually charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers involved in the incident were also fired, and they were each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. (Julio Cortez/AP)
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This satellite photo, taken on June 6, shows the new Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington. The words “Black Lives Matter” were painted on two blocks of 16th Street. The painters were contracted by Mayor Muriel Bowser. (Maxar Technologies/Reuters)
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Protesters in Bristol, England, throw a statue of Edward Colston into the River Avon during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7. The Museums of Bristol website describes Colston as a “revered philanthropist/reviled slave trader” from the 17th century. (Giulia Spadafora/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
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About two dozen Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, kneel in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds as they pay tribute to George Floyd on June 8. They wore stoles made of Kente cloth, drawing criticism from observers who felt they made the traditional African textile into a political prop. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
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Voters line up at Christian City, an assisted-living home, to cast their primary ballots in Union City, Georgia, on June 9. Voting delays across Georgia led state officials to call for investigations. Some voters spent hours waiting in line. (Dustin Chambers/Reuters)
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People drink outside a bar in New York City’s East Village on June 12. Bars in the city were not allowed to open yet, but many people in New York took to the streets after the city entered Phase One of its reopening plan on June 8. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
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Demonstrators set fire to a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta on June 13. Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police near the restaurant’s drive-thru on June 12. Brooks was shot after police moved to handcuff him for suspected driving under the influence, according to videos from the scene. The videos show that Brooks took an officer’s Taser during the attempted arrest and then fired the Taser at the officers as he ran away. One officer then fatally shot Brooks three times with his service weapon, authorities said. Brooks was shot twice in the back, according to a release by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office. The police officer who killed Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, was fired and charged with murder. Rolfe’s attorneys say Rolfe was legally justified and acting in self-defense. Atlanta’s police chief resigned. (Ben Hendren/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
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Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, detain members of the New Mexico Civil Guard, an armed civilian group, after a man was shot during a protest on June 15. The shooting happened as protesters were trying to pull down a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate. A 31-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shooting, police said. The New Mexico Civil Guard told CNN by email that the man is not part of their group. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/The Albuquerque Journal/AP)
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US President Donald Trump listens to applause after signing an executive order on police reform June 16 in the White House Rose Garden. Trump said he was taking executive action to encourage police to adopt the “highest and the strongest” professional standards “to deliver a future of safety and security for Americans of every race, religion, color and creed.” His order, among other steps, creates a federal database of police officers with a history of using excessive force. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
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DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the US Supreme Court on June 18. In a 5-4 ruling that day, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Obama-era program protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants — who were brought to the country as children — from deportation. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump arrives at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20. It was his first rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and the indoor venue generated concerns about the potential spread of the virus. About 6,200 people showed up to the BOK Center, which seats 19,199. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux)
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Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House on June 21 after returning from his campaign rally in Tulsa. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
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Tomika Miller weeps over her husband, Rayshard Brooks, at his public viewing in Atlanta on June 22. His private funeral service took place at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. was as a co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice A. King, spoke at the funeral. (Curtis Compton/Pool/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP)
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A beach is slammed with people in Bournemouth, England, during a heat wave on June 25. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson began easing coronavirus restrictions in May, but people are still supposed to be distancing themselves from one another. After thousands flocked to beaches, officials in southern England declared a “major incident.” (Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
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A couple draws guns on people who were protesting against St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson on June 28. The demonstration came after Krewson, on a Facebook live video, read the names and addresses of people calling for police reform, according to CNN affiliate KMOV. The man and woman with the guns were identified as Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who owned the private street the protesters were walking on. “The peaceful protesters were not the subject of scorn or disdain by the McCloskeys,” their attorney, Albert S. Watkins, said in a statement to CNN. “To the contrary, they were expecting and supportive of the message of the protesters.” He said “the actions of violence, destruction of property and acts of threatening aggression by a few individuals” put the McCloskeys “in fear of imminent harm.” (Lawrence Bryant/Reuters)
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Willie Townsend, an employee of the Mississippi State Capitol, raises and lowers commemorative state flags June 30 that are purchased by people after being flown at the Capitol. Hours later, Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to retire the flag — the last state flag to feature the Confederate battle flag. The flag of the Confederacy, its symbols and the statues commemorating Confederate leaders have long divided the country. Critics call the flag a symbol that represents the war to uphold slavery, while supporters call it a sign of Southern pride and heritage. (Suzi Altman/Reuters)

As the first half of the year came to a close, the future seemed to hold nothing but uncertainty — about the pandemic, about November’s election, about the future of the country and the world.

Looking back to the beginning of the year, the events of 2020 have defied prediction.

What the rest of the year holds is anyone’s guess.



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