Trump news: President calls out ‘Barack Hussain Obama’ as supporter at Florida rally appears to make ‘white power’ symbol
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Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Friday with a rally targeting senior voters at The Villages retirement community in Florida.
Trump made eyebrow-raising claims like Biden taking away seniors' air conditioning and remembering Barack Hussain Obama, as a member of the crowd appeared to make the so-called "white power" dog whistle in the background.
Biden, meanwhile, returned to his home state of Delaware to outline his coronavirus pandemic plan a day after the US hit a record for the number of new Covid-19 cases, announcing a mask mandate on all interstate transportation and in all federal buildings.
The candidates were coming off their final in-person debate, which turned out to be a remarkably civil affair with lower ratings than their previous encounter.
Trump was also back to work in the White House to announce an historic peace deal between Israel and Sudan, with five more - including Saudi Arabia - expected to be announced after the dam broke with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in recent weeks.
Trump tried to get Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Biden on a phone call in front of reporters. Bibi did not take the bait, with commentators noting that he is probably keeping a keen eye on the current polling numbers.
Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz said that Trump may have won the battle of the last debate, but Biden has won the war. He says it's "impossible" for the president turning around voter sentiment this late in the election cycle.
Trump is also up against a campaign that has broken all records for its spend on television and digital advertising in a presidential election, with still more than a week to go before polls close.
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Biden is interrupting Trump’s answer on climate change
“False”, Biden is interjecting.
Trump and Biden clash on fracking again
“Fracking on federal land I said,” Biden says when accused of flip-flopping on position on fracking.
Trump charged Biden with saying he would end fracking during the Democratic presidential primary before supporting it once he secured the nomination
Biden says he will continue fracking in a “transitional period”.
“What I will do with fracking over time is make sure we can capture the emissions from fracking, capture the emissions from gas,” Biden says.
Trump is also multi-tasking to Tweet
And it’s the video Trump promised of Biden saying he will end fossil fuel.
We’re coming up to the last question.
Final message to people who don’t vote for them – Trump is up first
“Success is going to bring us together. We are on the road to success. I’m cutting taxes but he wants to raise everyone’s taxes,” Trump says.
Biden up.
Biden to be president for ‘all Americans’
“We’re going to choose to move forward because we have enormous opportunities to grow together,” Biden says.
And that’s the debate all over
And now the pundits will pour over the performances to discuss who came out on top.
Trump does bizarre impression of Biden as he claims Democrat is flip-flopping on fracking
Donald Trump did a bizarre impression of Joe Biden during the final presidential debate on Thursday, claiming the Democrat nominee is flip-flopping on fracking.
The president appeared to adopt a different voice in an apparent attempt to mock the former vice president during the segment on healthcare on Thursday evening.
The former VP has repeatedly pledged not to abolish hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the oil and gas extraction method.
However he said that he would ban new gas and oil permits, including for fracking, on federal lands.
The Independent’s Louise Boyle takes a closer at this moment from the debate.
Trump does bizarre impression of Biden during fracking exchange
The president appeared to adopt a different voice in an apparent attempt to mock the former vice president during the segment on healthcare on Thursday evening
Debate fact check: The truth behind Trump and Biden's claims
That was a lot to keep up with in real time. The Independent’s Graeme Massie is fact checking some of the most egregious claims made during the 90-minutes.
Among the statements made, Trump said he saved the US from suffering 2.2 million deaths from coronavirus, and that a that a vaccine for the virus would arrive “within weeks.”
True of false?
UPDATED: CNN poll says Trump spoke most (not won) final debate
While viewers were the big winner compared to the first debate, a CNN politics poll put Trump ahead of Biden by almost four per cent.
And by ahead, we mean ahead in most amount of time speaking. Updated to fix a miss-reading of the original tweet.
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