Trump joins town hall with only women in audience; Harris campaigns in Pennsylvania: Election live updates
Donald Trump’s pre-recorded town hall with group of supporters aired on Fox News hours before unedited interview with Kamala Harris to be shown
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Donald Trump will receive a further boost on the campaign trail from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has announced he will speak at a series of events on behalf of the Republican ticket in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.
Musk previously appeared with Trump on his return to Butler in the same state, the site of the first attempt on his life earlier this summer.
Kamala Harris is meanwhile gearing up for an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, which will be broadcast on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday, the Democrat joined Charlamagne Tha God for an hour-long sitdown in Detroit in which she declared she is going to win in November and agreed with the host when he called Trump’s policy platform “fascist”.
Also on Tuesday, Trump took part in a freewheeling Bloomberg Q&A with the Economic Club of Chicago and told a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, that he considers illegal immigration a greater problem than inflation.
This morning Fox News aired a town hall with Donald Trump centered on women voters and hosted by Harris Faulkner that was recorded on Tuesday in front of a friendly crowd of supporters.
Harris lays into ‘weak and unfit’ Trump as she defends her record in Charlamagne Tha God interview
Trump re-ups ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ conspiracy when asked about tariffs at economic forum
Stanley Kubrick’s daughter claims he would have been a Trump supporter
Doug Emhoff and Julia Roberts send message to early voters in Georgia
Kamala Harris set to make surprise appearance on Joe Rogan podcast
Watch: Doug Emhoff and Julia Roberts send message to early voters in Georgia
Yesterday saw early voting get underway in the Peach State with a massive, record-breaking turnout, according to secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, and the 100-year-old former president Jimmy Carter living long enough to realise his goal of voting for Kamala Harris.
Here’s what the Second Gentleman and the Hollywood star had to say to encourage the locals.
Doug Emhoff and Julia Roberts send message to early voters in Georgia
Hollywood actor Julia Roberts joined forces with Doug Emhoff as they urged early voters in Georgia to show their support for Kamala Harris. A record number of early votes were cast in Georgia on Tuesday (15 October) as residents headed to the polls. In a video message, Mr Emhoff said: “I am here in Georgia with Julia Roberts to support my wife Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States.” The Pretty Woman star told him: “She will be, because I believe in my home state of Georgia, I believe in Kamala Harris, I believe in the future.”
Colin Allred roasts Ted Cruz at Texas Senate debate
The Democratic Representative running to oust “Cancun Cruz” might just be his party’s best shot at pinching a majority in the upper chamber of Congress this fall.
He certainly did his utmost to portray the chuckling incumbent as a desperate fool peddling “angertainment”.
Elon Musk to return to the campaign trail for Trump
The tech billionaire has said he will give “a series of talks from tomorrow night through Monday” in Pennsylvania on behalf of the Republican ticket, according to Reuters.
This comes less than two weeks after Musk made a fool of himself leaping about like a child and proclaiming himself “dark MAGA” during Trump’s return to Butler.
Musk’s appearances will reportedly be connected to his America PAC political action committee.
Here’s Trump blowing smoke on the subject of his new pal just yesterday:
Rhian Lubin has more.
Elon Musk to campaign in swing state as he funnels $75m into helping Trump win
Musk is one of Donald Trump’s most deep-pocketed supporters
Trump can’t stop obsessing over Harris’s McDonald’s job. So now he’s off to work the fryer at the fast-food joint
Remember when Tim Walz said this in August?
We may now finally get to see it for real as Trump is set to make a campaign stop at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Sunday to prove that it is he, not Kamala, that loves the Golden Arches more.
Instead of chowing down on his 2,400-calorie order of choice – two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish and a chocolate milkshake – the GOP presidential nominee is expected to “work the fry cooker” in a Philadelphia branch, a source familiar with the plan told CNN.
James Liddell has more on a delicious prospect.
Trump to work the fryer at McDonald’s after branding Harris’s summer job ‘fake’
The former president has been teasing a visit to the Golden Arches for weeks, as Kamala Harris’s past summer job at the fast-food joint has been getting under his skin
Campaign schedule: Who is doing what and where on Wednesday?
Here’s a look at where the main players will be today:
- Kamala Harris is back in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and recording her interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, which will air on his show this evening.
- Donald Trump is doing another Fox town hall, this time with Harris Faulkner, before taking part in a Univision town hall at Doral in Florida in the hope of cementing his appeal to Latino voters. Harris took part in an equivalent event last week.
- JD Vance has rallies planned in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, North Carolina.
- Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy at a memorial service for Ethel Kennedy at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC, before he and the first lady speak at an Italian American Heritage Month Reception at the White House.
Biden rips Trump’s weird dance party: ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’
President Biden has parked the niceties and, honestly, it’s a pleasure to see him let rip.
Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s report on right-wing conspiracy theories alleging Biden secretly wants Harris to fail, which the above remarks should do much to dispel.
Right-wingers are falsely claiming Joe Biden is trying to put-down Kamala Harris
Biden is “all in” on the Harris campaign and plans to join her during the home stretch before election day
Trump – running for president at 78 – says ‘only stupid people’ put ‘old’ officials in top roles
Also during that appearance, Trump reflected on his being able to appoint three justices to the US Supreme Court.
“It’s amazing, because I got three in four years. Most people get none. Because, you know, you put them in, they’re young. You tend to put them in young.”
He continued: "Only stupid people put old in. You know, you don’t put old in, because they’re there for two years or three years, right?”
In so saying, Trump rather overlooked the fact that he is 78 and is asking the American electorate to put him in the White House once again.
Perhaps realizing that blunder, he then insisted he would have no problem hiring a 78-year-old CEO.
Alex Lang reports.
Trump says ‘you don’t put old in’ when talking appointments - forgetting he is 78
Donald Trump says “only stupid people put old” in Supreme Court positions - seemingly forgetting he’s a 78-year-old man running for the top position in the executive branch.
Trump revives Obama ‘birther’ smear when asked about tariffs at economic forum
The former president’s other big engagement on Tuesday was an appearance before the Economic Club of Chicago, where he was interviewed on stage by Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait and could not resist attacking his White House predecessor when asked about tariffs.
The Republican otherwise meandered from one subject to another, from steel production during war times to bragging about his record of keeping the US out of armed conflict.
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Trump re-ups ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ conspiracy when asked about tariffs at speech
Amid Obama’s rise, many on the right, including Trump, pushed the baseless ‘birther’ conspiracy theory that he was secretly a Muslim born in Kenya
Trump claims illegal immigration is bigger issue than inflation
Also on Tuesday, the Republican nominee told a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, that he considers illegal immigration a greater problem than inflation.
“I really believe that the border and the illegal immigration and 21 million people, many of them criminals, is a bigger thing than inflation,” he said
“We don’t want them in this country. We’re getting them too fast. And I think it’s bigger than the economy.”
Trump made those claims despite several top polls, including recent surveys by Gallup and the Pew Research Center, indicating the economy remains the number one issue for voters.
Several peer-reviewed studies have meanwhile shown there is generally no evidence linking immigration to violent crime in the US.
Here are a few more samples of his bilious outpourings:
Katie Hawkinson has more.
Trump ignores polls and says he believes immigration, not economy, is top US issue
Most polls show the economy is the top issue for voters ahead of November’s election day
Fox News’s Bret Baier shuts down MAGA supporters fuming over his upcoming Harris interview
Harris will next be seen in an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, due to air as part of this evening’s edition of his show Special Report.
In advance of the broadcast, Baier has taken to X to hit back at conservative users claiming the Q&A will be edited to make the VP seem more sympathetic.
Before the session has even been taped, commentators have been busily accusing Baier of giving Harris the questions ahead of time, throwing her softballs, editing the session in her favor or giving into concessions, all talking points raised by Trump.
Baier was, quite rightly, having none of it and took the time to rebut their suspicions one-by-one in exasperated posts like this:
Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.
Fox News host shuts down MAGA supporters fuming over his Harris interview
Vice president has embarked on a media blitz, appearing on a wide variety of TV and radio shows as well as podcasts,
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments