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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Trump refuses to donate to his own re-election
Donald Trump went into the final sprint of the election with a funding war chest one-third the size of Joe Biden, but he has yet to open his chequebook to close the gap.
The president had said he would give “whatever it takes” of his own money.
Justin Vallejo reports.
Trump won't donate to own campaign despite running out of cash
The president had said he would give 'whatever it takes' of his own money
Mitch McConnell lines up weekend session for Barrett nomination
The Hill reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has teed up Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination, paving the way for a rare weekend session just over a week before the November election.
Senator McConnell's move sets up a vote to end debate on Barrett's nomination for Sunday, with a final vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court expected by early Monday evening.
The Senate is expected to be in session on both Saturday and Sunday debating Barrett's nomination, though her confirmation is guaranteed absent an unlikely last-minute surprise.
Preliminary ratings show a drop in viewers from first debate
Preliminary ratings from Thursday night’s presidential debate show that significantly fewer people tuned in to watch Donald Trump and Joe Biden’ final encounter than their first contest.
Early figures from the big four networks - ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox - show an average of 21.4 million viewers during the 90-minute programme, according to Deadline.
The tally represents a 21 per cent decline from the first debate in Cleveland, Ohio on 29 September, which saw 73.1 million viewers tune in.
Numbers for Thursday are likely to increase when cable networks CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel report their audience totals later on Friday, but are still likely to mark a significant decline from the first meeting.
The ratings are in for Trump and Biden's last debate and they're not good
The number of people tuning in to Thursday night’s presidential debate was down by a fifth in comparison to the first encounter
Mnuchin says 'significant differences' remain on stimulus
Despite months of talks, "significant differences" remain with Democrats on a new US economic stimulus package, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday, indicating worsening odds for a deal before the 3 November election.
Mnuchin has been negotiating regularly with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a spending measures of around $2 trillion aimed at helping the world's largest economy recover from the Covid-19 downturn.
But the two sides have not been able to agree on how much to spend, or what to spend it on.
"I would say we offered compromises. The Speaker, on a number of issues, is still dug in. If she wants to compromise, there will be a deal," Mnuchin said. "We've made lots of progress, lots of areas, but there's still significant differences."
Trump replied "I think we can" when asked by a reporter if talks with Pelosi could continue, but then sought to blame her for the lack of progress.
"At this moment, I would say that I actually think Nancy would rather wait until after the election" to pass a stimulus package, Trump said.
Economists say the United States needs more government aid to recover from the sharp economic contraction and mass layoffs caused by the pandemic.
The $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March has been credited with helping the economy survive the early months, but its main provisions expired, leading to tens of thousands of layoffs at airlines and an end to extra aid small businesses and the unemployed.
Democrats in the House have approved a $2.2 trillion stimulus measure and the White House has proposed spending $1.9 trillion.
But the key sticking points are over how much more aid to give to state and local governments and on liability protections for businesses.
Trump has vowed not to help "poorly run" Democratic-led states and cities.
AFP
Hey, Big Spender!
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has spent more money on television and digital advertising than any other presidential candidate in American history, with more than a week left to go before Election Day, The Hill reports.
Biden’s campaign has spent more than $582m on television advertising since launching his campaign last year, according to data from the nonpartisan firm Advertising Analytics.
In just the last week, Biden’s team spent $45m on air and plans to spend $57m in the last 10 days of the campaign.
The total easily surpasses the Trump spend of $342m over the last two years.
Neither total includes spending by pro-Biden or pro-Trump groups outside of the official campaign — for example The Lincoln Project.
Only one mask in sight in Oval Office photo
Dr Dena Grayson notes that the only woman in a photo of the earlier Oval Office press briefing is also the only person pictured wearing a mask.
On Thursday the US posted a record high number of new cases of Covid-19.
Biden outlines plans to beat Covid-19
Joe Biden is outlining his plan to beat the coronavirus pandemic in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, in which he accused Donald Trump of going on the offense on behalf of the virus by holding rallies with no masks or social distancing.
Biden said that is was unconscionable that eight months into this crisis frontline healthcare workers are still rationing personal protective equipment. He also announced he would mandate masks on all interstate transportation, and in all federal buildings.
"I'm not going to shut down the economy. I'm not going to shut down the country. I'm going to shut down the virus,” the former vice president said, echoing his remarks at last night’s debate.
"It will still be many months before any vaccine will be widely available" after it's been determined it's effective, he predicts, adding that “the vaccine must be free and freely available to anyone”.
"Yes, Mr President, I'll listen to the scientists and I'll empower them,” he said. “I'll let the scientists and the doctors speak freely … “We can beat this virus.”
Trump to campaign at The Villages
The president will soon arrive at The Villages retirement community in Florida to speak at at Make America Great Again Victory Rally.
Crowds are gathering to see the president but, as Andrew Buncombe writes, he may not only be greeted by fans.
The fight to win retired Florida voters is tearing apart The Villages
Donald Trump is planning to visit the retirement community on Friday. He may not only be greeted by fans
Later, Trump will speak another rally at Pensacola International Airport, before crossing the state to Palm Beach to stay the night at Mar-a-Lago.
A mostly maskless crowd of retirees awaits Trump
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is addressing the crowd ahead of the president’s arrival in the largest retirement community in the nation.
Only a few in the crowd behind DeSantis appear to be wearing masks in what medical professionals would describe as a particularly vulnerable population.
The crowd awaits…
Some of those gathered to hear the president speak are wearing masks and are using them to show their support.
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