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Donald Trump found himself confronted by a collection of friends and foes as he attended the Al Smith Memorial Dinner on Thursday, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Attorney General Letitia James among his enemies in attendance.
Accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, the Republican presidential nominee was roasted by host Jim Gaffigan before delivering the Catholic charity gala’s keynote speech, in which he derided election rival Kamala Harris, former president Barack Obama, and Schumer, and commiserated with city mayor Eric Adams on his recent indictment.
While Trump complained about Harris’s absence, the vice president did send in a short comedic video in lieu of appearing, featuring comic Molly Shannon.
Harris spent her evening rallying supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, remarking: “When you listen to Donald Trump talk, it becomes increasingly clear, he has no idea what he’s talking about.”
She also declared that “the American people are exhausted with his gaslighting” and sent two MAGA activists out when they heckled her.
Meanwhile, Fox News host Bret Baier admitted to a mistake with a video clip during his interview with Harris this week — something that she was able to play to her advantage.
Both candidates will be in battleground Michigan on Friday.
Watch: Harris reacts to hecklers at rally
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 17:04
Judge unseals appendix to special counsel immunity brief in Trump’s election inteference case
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Washington, DC, agreed to unseal nearly 2,000 pages of heavily redacted pages of evidence submitted by the special counsel’s office, with handfuls of pages across four massive filings tracing the history of the former president’s election denialism.
The filings included transcripts of his remarks, interviews from the House select committee that investigated the January 6 attack, campaign emails, and the so-called “coup memo” outlining the legally dubious attempt to reject the electoral college certification — most of which was previously made public. But the documents are baked into roughly 1,800 pages of appendices to bolster Jack Smith’s case against the former president.
Alex Woodward18 October 2024 16:51
Trump says he will consider religious exemptions to covering IVF
Donald Trump has indicated he would consider religious exemptions to his IVF mandate that would require insurance companies to cover the costs of the fertility treatment.
“It sounds, to me, like a pretty good idea, frankly,” Trump told the Catholic news channel EWTN on Thursday evening while attending the annual Al Smith dinner in New York City.
“Certainly if there’s a religious problem I think people should go with that. I really think they should be able to do that but we’ll look at that,” Trump said.
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:50
Democratic governors on parade for Harris in western Michigan
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:39
Watch: The Daily Show mocks Trump for audience reactions to his Univision town hall answers
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:35
Latest poll updates: Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump?
Alicja Hagopian looks at the latest data.
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:30
Why does Trump keep ducking interviews?
Donald Trump may have appeared on Fox & Friends this morning — a safe space for the former president — but something of a trend has emerged in recent weeks. He’s dropped out of interviews with NBC in Philadelphia, CNBC’s Squawk Box, 60 Minutes, and continues to refuse a second debate.
There was also the bizarre “town hall” dance party with Kristi Noem in which he appeared to give up on the format after just four questions.
So why does this keep happening?
Eugene Daniels at Politico reports that talks between the Trump team and The Shade Room, a site that attracts a mostly young, Black audience, failed to finalize an interview, having hosted one with Kamala Harris last week.
When they pressed the Trump people as to why that might be, and adviser said that the former president was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change” at any time. Politico cites two people familiar with the conversations.
Trump-supporting rapper Waka Flocka Flame was offered up as an alternative, those two people say.
The Trump campaign has pushed back with national press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the idea that he is exhausted “unequivocally false” and noting that he has done media interviews every day this week.
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:16
Watch: Trump claims ‘bad things’ will happen to Harris for skipping Al Smith dinner
Trump claims ‘bad things’ will happen to Harris for not attending charity dinner
Donald Trump said “bad things” would happen to Kamala Harris “from up there” — seemingly referring to God — for not attending a Catholic charity dinner on Thursday, 17 October. The former president, 2024’s Republican nominee, made a rare public appearance with his wife Melania at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City. During the keynote speech, Trump made jabs about his Democratic opponent. The vice president skipped the star-studded charity dinner to campaign in Wisconsin. “You gotta go to the dinner, you gotta do it, otherwise bad things are going to happen to you from up there,” Trump said. “My opponent feels that she does not have to be here which is disrespectful to the event and in particular to our Catholic community.”
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 16:10
Ratings for Harris Fox News interview blow Trump’s town hall out of water
The ratings for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s latest Fox News appearances have been released – and they reveal the vice president pulled in more than double the viewers than her Republican rival.
With less than three weeks until Election Day and the national polls on a knife’s edge with Harris reduced to just under a 2.5-point lead, both presidential candidates are increasingly filling the airwaves.
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 15:50
Obama heads to Tucson to sway Latino vote to Harris
Former president Barack Obama will campaign for Kamala Harris in Tucson, Arizona, today with a focus on the key voter demographic that has drifted away from the Democratic Party — young Black and Latino men, The Arizona Republic reports.
Polling by USA Today/Suffolk University at the end of last month showed young Latino men in Arizona — a key battleground state — were favoring Donald Trump over the vice president.
51 per cent of those aged 18-34 backed the former president and 57 per cent of those aged 35-49. Less than 40 per cent support Harris in both age brackets.
“A majority of young Hispanic men are voting for Trump,” Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos said. “That’s why Barack Obama’s being deployed.”
A national poll of celebrity endorsements by USA Today/Suffolk University from earlier this year showed that Obama’s endorsement — and that of former first lady Michelle Obama — carries the most weight of any well-known figure, especially among Hispanic voters.
The Obamas held more cachet than top podcaster Joe Rogan, tech billionaire Elon Musk, and other celebrity figures, including Beyoncé, Tiger Woods, Taylor Swift, and Kim Kardashian.
“Obama and Michelle Obama were the most influential of all of the people on the list,” Paleologos said. “But among Hispanics, it was even higher.”
Oliver O’Connell18 October 2024 15:46
