Trump says 'we'll vanquish the vaccine' at rally hours after mocking mentally 'shot' Biden

President falsely claimed US is turning corner on coronavirus pandemic

President Donald Trump on Tuesday night told a campaign rally in Nebraska that his administration would "vanquish" a Covid-19 vaccine - just hours after he mocked his Democrat challenger, Joe Biden for being mentally "shot" during a separate stump speech.

"We will vanquish the vaccine, and we will get rid of this...virus," Mr Trump, 74, told thousands of supporters at a Make America Great Again event at Eppley Airfield, Omaha - a traditionally red state where the president sought to shore up support a week out from election day.

"You watch, it's going to happen very quickly, and we're going to have our country back. And the whole world is going to be coming back," he added to raucous cheers. "This was a terrible, terrible thing to happen".

Omaha was Mr Trump's last stop on a three-city campaigning blitz on Tuesday when he also visited Michigan and Wisconsin - two key battleground states he sees as crucial to winning the 3 November election but is trailing Mr Biden, 77, in the polls.

During his Omaha address, the president attempted to put a positive spin on his handling of the coronavirus crisis, which has so far claimed some 227,000 US lives, but few of them in the mostly rural state of Nebraska, which has recorded less than 1,000 fatalities.

He falsely claimed that the US was "rounding the turn" in its fight against the pandemic. In the past 24 hours, officials have recorded just over 74,000 new infections and last week logged more than 85,000 in a single day - the highest daily total since the pandemic struck back in March, according to New York Times data.

Mr Trump's apparent misspeak in Omaha came just hours after he told a campaign rally in Lansing, Michigan that Mr Biden was mentally "shot". During his remarks, the president again pedalled unsubstantiated claims that Democrats would seek to replace Mr Biden with his running mate and vice presidential (VP) candidate, senator Kamala Harris, shortly after any potential election win.

"That's why they're [Democrats] talking about the 25th amendment," Mr Trump told another jam-packed rally at Capital Region International Airport. The 25th sets out that a sitting president can be removed from office if the VP and a majority of the cabinet declare that he or she is unable to discharge their duties.

Should that happen, then the VP would assume the presidency. "Three weeks in, Joe's shot, let's go, Kamala, you ready? [The] most liberal person in the Senate, she makes Bernie Sanders as a serious conservative," Mr Trump added.

Throughout the campaign, Mr Trump and Republicans have attempted to frame the election as a choice between senator Harris and the president. Over the past few weeks, Mr Trump has intensified his attacks on senator Harris, who was raised by a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, describing her as a "monster" and a "communist".

The attacks, often laced with racist and sexist undertones, have been aimed at winning back Republicans and independents who are comfortable with Mr Biden’s more moderate record but may associate senator Harris with Democrats’ left flank - despite her own more centrist positions on some major issues.

Meanwhile, taking his campaign on the offensive, Mr Biden made two campaign stops in the emerging battleground of Georgia, which hasn't voted for a Democratic White House hopeful since 1992. "The tragic truth of our time is that Covid has left a deep and lasting wound in this country," he told a socially distanced rally in the town of Warm Springs.

On Wednesday, Mr Biden will spend the day in Wilmington, Delaware, where he lives. The former vice president will receive a virtual briefing from public health experts, then give a speech on the pandemic and how he plans to protect insurance coverage for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Mr Trump will make two stops in Arizona on Wednesday, a state where he is trailing Mr Biden but where the polls show a tight race.