Trump news: President calls out ‘Barack Hussain Obama’ as supporter at Florida rally appears to make ‘white power’ symbol
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Your support makes all the difference.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 has perfect response to Trump repeatedly claiming he is least racist person in the room
Former vice president Joe Biden had a perfect response to Donald Trump’s claims about his record on race, when the president said he was the least racist person in the room at the final presidential debate.
Mr Trump said: “Nobody has doen more for the Black community than Donald Trump … with the exception of Abraham Lincoln – the possible exception – but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done.”
The Democratic candidate mocked his opponent in his response: “Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire — every single one.”
He also said: "This guy is a dog whistle as big as a fog horn.”
Oliver O'Connell reports.
Biden has the perfect response to Trump repeatedly claiming he is least racist person in the room
‘This guy is a dog whistle as big as a fog horn’
AOC snaps back
During a section on climate change in the debate, Trump repeatedly brought up Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying Biden is pursuing a $100trn plan penned by “AOC plus 3” - the president’s moniker for the group of young congresswomen better known as The Squad.
Here’s how Ms Ocasio-Cortez has responded tonight:
AOC snaps back at Trump's 'unhinged' debate attack
Trump picked out Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez during Thursday night’s debate, saying she ‘knew nothing about the climate’
The best lines on the night
A more structured approach to the second debate allowed both candidates to reel out their favoured lines from the campaign trail.
Delivering their greatest hits - and some new material along the way - both Mr Biden and Mr Trump took viewers through the policy journey they didn’t receive last time around.
Oliver O’Connell has the round-up of the best lines of the night, here:
Key quotes from the last Biden-Trump debate
Candidates tackled the pandemic, national security, immigration and race, among other topics
Environmentalists: ‘Trump is in an alternate universe’
Two-thirds of Americans think the US government should do more on climate change, according to analysis.
So on Thursday night, both Mr Biden and Mr Trump provided some idea on how their administrations could deal with the crisis, which the Democrat labelled an “existential crisis”, and the Republican president downplayed.
Surprisingly, the environment had not featured in a presidential debate for 20 years, until this moment.
Louise Boyle reports:
Environmentalists react to president’s bizarre climate change responses during debate
Two-thirds of Americans think that the US government should do more on climate change as the candidates take their last shot at convincing voters 11 days out from the election
Biden calls Proud Boys ‘Poor Boys’
In a slip of the tongue, Joe Biden accused the president of lifting up racist ideals and groups like the far-right “Poor Boys”, when he meant to name the Proud Boys.
This moment, though small, was quickly embraced by people on social media, with MSNBC journalist Chris Hayes writing: “The poor boys thing ruled,”
Mr Biden had been referencing the moment during the first presidential debate when President Donald Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” which raised concern he was asking the far-right group to take up arms for him.
Danielle Zoellner reports:
Biden’s verbal slip of calling far-right group Proud Boys the ‘Poor Boys’ goes viral
'I'm naming my new band Abe Lincoln and the Poor Boys,' one Twitter user writes
Will Donald Trump accept the inevitable?
As Holly Baxter writes, the last 2020 presidential debate was not a great showing for Mr Trump, who was already trailing his Democratic opponent in the polls.
While less chaotic than the last time around, Mr Trump did have some real controversial moments, telling NBC’s Kristen Walker, the Black woman moderating, that “I’m the least racist person in this room,”
And as Mr Biden grew in confidence throughout the hour and a half, Mr Trump fell apart.
The final presidential debate didn’t go well for Trump — and it looks like he knows it
As Biden pointed out, the president seemed confused about who he was actually supposed to be debating
Biden attacks Trump’s ‘dog whistle’ racism
Joe Biden had a perfect response to Donald Trump’s claims about his record on race, when the president said he was the least racist person in the room at the final presidential debate.
“Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire — every single one," mocked Mr Biden. "This guy is a dog whistle as big as a fog horn.”
Oliver O’Connell has the report:
Biden has the perfect response to Trump repeatedly claiming he is least racist person in the room
‘This guy is a dog whistle as big as a fog horn’
Biden tweets about Trump racism
The Democrat posted at least half a dozen tweets on Thursday night, attacking his opponent’s “dog whistle” comments and apparent blindness to the country’s racial injustices.
Mr Biden, incredulous at Mr Trump’s claim to be the least racist person in the room, had called his rival a "racist" who "pours fuel on every single racist fire."
…a similar message soon appeared on Mr Biden’s Twitter.
Trump retweets support, says he won
On Thursday night, Donald Trump shared almost two dozen Twitter posts claiming he won last nights debate with Joe Biden.
That’s some 21 retweets, from our counting.
(Reminder: most other polls showed the Republican president having lost to Mr Biden during their last debate, and were not conducted among Twitter users)
Fox News anchor ‘jealous’ about less chaotic debate
Chris Wallace admitted that he was “jealous” of NBC’s Kristen Welker, who was able to moderate a more civilised presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Thursday night.
"Well, first of all, I'm jealous," the Fox News anchor said. "I would have liked to have been able to moderate that debate."
The veteran television journalist, who moderated the first 2020 presidential debate, described last night’s spectacle as "a real exchange of views rather than hundreds of interruptions.”
Here’s the clip:
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