With only a week to go until the election, Kamala Harris has delivered her “closing argument” to voters, warning that Donald Trump will have an “enemies list” if he is elected. Meanwhile, a Grammy-winning rapper has said he rejected $3m by the Trump campaign to join him on stage.
Wednesday 30 October 2024 02:24, UK
The cardinal rule surely is – say what you like about the candidate but don’t be seen to insult those who chose to vote for that candidate?
Hillary Clinton learnt that lesson when she dismissed Donald Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables”.
She had sought, with remarkable clumsiness, to place Trump supporters into “baskets” – those she thought she could win over, and the “deplorables”.
Well, we all know how that went for her.
The question now is whether President Biden has fumbled his way into a “deplorables redux” moment but worse. Not “deplorables” but “garbage”.
Reacting to the comments by a comedian speaking at Mr Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally, Mr Biden said: “A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage…”
“Well, let me tell you something…. They’re good, decent, honourable people.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters…. his… his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
As you might expect, a week out from election day, it’s caused something of a stir.
The White House has initiated damage limitation mode, claiming the president was talking about the comedian who made the derogatory comments and not Mr Trump’s supporters in general.
Their explanation is in the grammar: that Mr Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s…. his… his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable…”
Some might say the apostrophe in “supporter’s” is doing some heavy lifting. And so a statement on X from the president sought to clear up the spiralling controversy.
“Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” the statement on the president’s X account said.
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
People will make up their own minds and Team Trump are certainly running with it.
His co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, quoted Mr Biden on X then said: “Remember @KamalaHarris hates you and they hate the American spirit vote accordingly.”
Mr Trump’s fiery advisor Stephen Miller, whose own language and rhetoric is deeply controversial, went further: “And with that monstrous ugly venomous disgusting despicable personal attack on 150 million Americans, Joe Biden just ended Kamala’s campaign/hate movement.”
Remember, early voting is ongoing now across swathes of America – millions are voting right now.
There is just a week to go until all this is over. A comment like this, even if clumsy and misconstrued, is not what the Harris campaign needs – especially coming, as it did, just as she finished her end-of-campaign speech in Washington DC.
It’s a head in hands moment, no question.
The news of Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment is moving fast, and with critics taking aim, the US president has sought to clarify what he meant.
In a post on X, he says: “Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it.
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
The post suggests that his previous comment was about comedian Tony Hincliffe – “Trump’s supporter” who made the controversial joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” at the rally, instead of all supporters of Donald Trump.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Joe Biden said: “A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.
“Well, let me tell you something…. They’re good, decent, honourable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Mr Trump’s running mate JD Vance was quick to react, accusing Mr Biden of “attacking half of the country”.
More now on our previous post, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro has reacted to Joe Biden’s comment.
The US president spoke earlier about the controversial joke made by comedian Tony Hincliffe at a Trump Rally.
Hincliffe had said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage”, sparking outrage among Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania.
Mr Biden said: “A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.
“Well, let me tell you something…. They’re good, decent, honourable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Asked for his reaction to Mr Biden’s comments, Mr Shapiro said: “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans, even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”
He said he would leave it to Mr Biden if he wanted to clarify his words.
Joe Biden has been accused of calling Donald Trump supporters “garbage” in a call with the organisation Vote Latino.
The US president was talking about a controversial joke made by comedian Tony Hincliffe, who said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage”.
“A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage,” Mr Biden said.
“Well, let me tell you something…. They’re good, decent, honourable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
In referring to Mr Trump’s supporters as “garbage”, Mr Biden’s tone was at odds with the message that Kamala Harris is seeking to present as she aims to present herself as “a president for all Americans”.
Mr Trump’s running mate JD Vance was quick to react, saying Mr Biden’s comment was “disgusting” and he was “attacking half of the country”.
Mr Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller also reacted, saying his comment was a “monstrous ugly venomous disgusting despicable personal attack”.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Mr Biden had “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage”.
The wealthy, celebrities and media moguls have long been deployed by both sides in American politics to boost campaigns.
But never has a singularly powerful man inserted himself into a campaign quite like this.
On Sunday, the world’s richest man was late for his own town hall.
The crowd had been queuing for several hours. The line of enthusiasm stretched out of the hotel in this county town in Pennsylvania.
The people here had all come to hear from Elon Musk. They had also come because one of them would win a million dollars.
Read more from Stone here.
Former presidential candidate for the Republican Party Nikki Haley has said she hasn’t spoken to Donald Trump since June.
Speaking to Fox Tonight with Bret Baier, she said she is on standby in case the Trump campaign wants her help.
“Last time I talked to him [Trump] was back in June,” Ms Haley said.
She added that she has helped with “some fundraising letters and text messages and those types of things”.
Ms Haley said she still supports Mr Trump, but also critiqued him for some of the “overly masculine” tenor of his campaign that she warned could alienate women voters.
“But, look, we’re on the same team. It is their campaign’s decision on what he needs in these last final days,” she said.
“I think they need to do what they need to do to get across the finish line. I just think that they need to focus primarily on who it is they’re talking to.”
Ms Haley was the last remaining Republican challenging Mr Trump for the party’s presidential nomination when she shuttered her campaign following the Super Tuesday contests.
Our US partner network NBC News is at Kamala Harris’s event in Washington DC and says a group of protesters have been escorted out by security.
It says groups of demonstrators have been popping up randomly throughout the crowd, but they are being drowned out by supporters around them.
It’s very unlikely that Ms Harris is even aware, it reports, saying she can’t see them based on how the event has been set up.
Some chant: “Free, free Palestine” and “Arms embargo now”.
At least three groups have been escorted out since Ms Harris started her speech.
Kamala Harris begins her speech on the attack, warning voters that the election is a choice between “a country rooted in freedom for every American, or ruled by chaos and division”.
While she addresses the fact that many people (an expected 51 million) have already voted, she says she knows others “are still considering who to vote for”.
“I will speak to everyone about the choice and the stakes in this election,” she says.
The Harris campaign estimates more than 75,000 people are in attendance for the Democratic candidate’s speech.
Harris takes aim at Trump for January 6
She is speaking from the Ellipse near the White House – the place where Donald Trump appeared in January 2021 to peddle false claims of the presidential election being stolen.
Ms Harris says: “We know who Donald Trump is – he is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.”
She says that the country has been “consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust” but it doesn’t have to be that way.
“We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” she adds.
“It’s time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict.”
At one point, she calls him a “petty tyrant” and a “wannabe dictator”.
Harris accepts people are still ‘getting to know’ her
Ms Harris also takes time to acknowledge that this has not been a “typical campaign” for the White House and that many people are “still getting to know” her.
She explains her background as a prosecutor, saying she’s always had an “instinct to protect”.
“There’s something about people being treated unfairly… that frankly just gets to me, I don’t like it,” she adds.
Trump will have ‘enemies list’ – Harris will have ‘to-do list’
In a final appeal for support, Ms Harris says she will always listen to people – even those who don’t vote for her.
“I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done,” she adds.
She warns that if Mr Trump is elected, he will walk into the White House with an “enemies list” but she will enter with a “to-do list full of priorities”.
“My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different,” she adds, saying the “biggest challenge” now is to bring down costs.
Tax cuts, house help and immigration
She promises to deliver tax cuts to working people and the middle class, saying she believes in the “dignity of work”.
She also reiterates her pledge to offer first-time buyers help with their deposit, and to build affordable housing.
On the topic of immigration, Ms Harris says she will “quickly remove” people who enter the country unlawfully.
“Politicians have got to stop treating immigration as an issue to scare up votes in an election, and instead treat it as the serious challenge that it is,” she adds.
“I am not looking to score political points, I am looking to make progress.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail, I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
She ends her speech by saying: “Each of you has the power to turn the page and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”
Kamala Harris is delivering her closing argument to voters from the Ellipse near the White House.
She comes to the stage to her campaign soundtrack Freedom by Beyonce, waving to supporters as she heads to the podium.
With a week to go until election day, the Democratic presidential candidate will encourage voters to “turn the page” on Donald Trump.
We are expecting her to warn the former president is “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power”.
Her husband Doug Emhoff is there, and hugs the Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon in the crowd.
Ms Harris’s sister Maya and niece, Meena are also there.
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates in this blog, and you can watch her speech below…
Donald Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller has warned that if Kamala Harris “continues tonight with her deadly rhetoric of incitement – portraying the opposition as enemies of democracy – then her campaign is knowingly escalating the threat environment”.
It’s not likely to deter her. Her closing argument in this campaign is centred around her party’s view that Donald Trump’s own language, rhetoric and actions prove that he is a threat to the stability of the nation.
But for quite a few weeks, the “danger to democracy” stuff did go quiet because of the assassination attempts against Donald Trump.
It strikes me that those two assassination attempts have really hindered the Democratic campaign.
The very fact the former president was shot back in July gave him that early boost, with supporters rallying around him. His polling went up. He attracted new high profile followers like Elon Musk.
But they also prevented the Democrats from using the “he’s a danger” rhetoric for a good period of time.
They wanted to; they felt an obligation to, but they realised the dangers of doing so in such a fevered environment.
There were several weeks when the language of the Democratic Party campaign calmed notably.
Over time though, given that they had not shifted from their view that Trump is a danger, their warnings have returned.
It may be too late to shift voters. It also carries risks in this extraordinary political climate.
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