US elections live: Harris responds to Biden’s ‘garbage’ gaffe; Trump and vice president to host dueling rallies in swing states
Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump both heading to North Carolina on Thursday after Democrat delivers ‘closing argument’ speech and defends Joe Biden over latest gaffe
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With less than a week to go in the US presidential election race, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are making their final pitches to voters, with both set to appear in battleground North Carolina on Wednesday.
The Democratic presidential nominee has been forced to respond to Joe Biden inadvertently whipping up a conservative media storm by seemingly calling Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s already-notorious Madison Square Garden joke about Puerto Rico.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” the president told Latinos on a Zoom call on Tuesday.
Harris told reporters on Wednesday that she “strongly” disagrees with any criticism of the public based on their voting intentions.
The Democrat delivered her “closing argument” at the Ellipse in Washington DC last night, speaking on the very same spot from which Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” on January 6 2021.
She urged Americans to finally “turn the page” on the “division, chaos and mutual distrust” of the Trump era, characterising her opponent as a cynical opportunist vulnerable to the influence of malign actors at home and abroad.
Trump pounces as Biden accused of calling MAGA supporters ‘garbage’ in wake of racist joke — but did he say it?
Trump tries to brush off racist joke about Puerto Rico with series of far-fetched boasts
Harris campaign says 75,000 people at Ellipse speech – 22,000 more than Trump’s Jan 6 crowd at same spot
I was there when Trump dispatched his mob to the Capitol. Tonight, I saw Harris offer a stark warning from the same spot
Harris urges Americans to ‘turn the page’ on ‘divisive’ Trump as she delivers closing argument in DC
Watch: Trump again complains Michelle Obama was ‘very nasty to me'
Trump has a long history of being blatantly offensive. Was a joke at his MSG rally finally too far?
Donald Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City was meant to be a show of strength for the former president ahead of election week.
But the event became a disaster before Trump took to the stage. Early-in-the-night comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” set off a cascade of negative reactions that rapidly spun out of control.
Alex Woodward examines how, despite Trump’s long history of blatantly offensive remarks, this joke might have been one step too far:
Trump is desperately trying to fix his Puerto Rico crisis. It isn’t going well
Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks turn what should have been a good final week into a dumpster fire
Full story: Harris urges Americans to ‘turn the page’ on ‘divisive’ Trump
With one week remaining until the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday urged Americans to “turn the page” from Donald Trump, calling the ex-president “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge,” and not at all focused on their needs as she stood within sight of the White House to make her campaign’s “closing argument” against the ex-president.
Standing on a stage at the Ellipse, where Trump exhorted a riotous mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol nearly four years ago, Harris noted what Trump had done in the very place where she was standing and reminded the crowd of roughly 75,000 supporters that Trump was “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 — an election that he knew he lost.”
Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent from Washington, DC.
Harris urges Americans to ‘turn the page’ on ‘divisive’ Trump
In addition to calling out Trump’s instability, Vice President Harris contrasted the ex-president’s focus on grievance with her comparatively positive plan for the country
Watch: Harris says American patriots did not struggle for us to ‘submit to will of another petty tyrant'
In pictures: Kamala Harris delivers closing argument speech at Ellipse in Washington, DC
Harris: ‘We are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators'
“We are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised.”
I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make, and to people who disagree with me. 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.
Watch: Harris contrasts her 'new generation' with Trump's 'grievance and revenge'
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