Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are on the campaign trail this weekend, with both candidates holding events in Pennsylvania.
On Saturday, Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre where he launched familiar attacks against Harris, Democrats, prosecutors in New York and the media. The former president spent most of the time repeating his familiar remarks about inflation, the border, the stock market and more.
Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign will embark on a bus tour around Pennsylvania on Sunday, just one day ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
Harris, joined by her husband, Doug Emoff, her running mate Governor Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz, will start in Pittsburgh and make multiple stops throughout the day in Allegheny and Beaver Counties.
They are expected to speak about the Biden-Harris administration’s record and strengthening unions in the battleground state before heading to Milwaukee for the convention
Key Points
- New polling shows Harris catching up to Trump in Sun Belt states
- DNC places anti-Trump billboards near PA rally site
- Harris says her dad taught her to be fearless, but he’s absent from her public rise
- Trump says Joe Biden "hates">Trump says Joe Biden "hates">Trump says Joe Biden "hates">Trump says Joe Biden "hates" Kamala Harris
Trump Pennsylvania rally speakers in pictures
08:31
Vishwam Sankaran
Speakers at the Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania included state treasurer Stacy Garrity, US Rep Dan Meuser, congressional candidate Rob Bresnahan, and US senate candidate Dave McCormick.
Trump calls Biden-Harris student loan forgiveness plan 'communist takeover'
08:14
Vishwam Sankaran
Donald Trump called the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to forgive college student debt a “communist takeover” of the US.
“What they’re doing is a communist takeover of the country...They are a threat to democracy,” Trump said at the Pennsylvania rally.
He claimed he would control inflation and would “make America affordable again”
“Her radical liberal policies, of course, horrific inflation decimated the middle class and gutted the finances of millions of American families,” Trump said, attacking Harris’ economic plans.
The former president at one point during the rally handed over the microphone to pilot Daniel Campo, a former Venezuela resident whose family fled from Cuba and then Venezuela to arrive in the US in 2007.
“We are going on a path that is taking us to what Venezuela became so the only way we can avoid keep going down that path is making Trump president again,” Campo said to a crowd that started chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A”
Trump boasts of dominating China and Russia with Space Force at rally
07:52
Vishwam Sankaran
At yesterday’s campaign rally in northeastern Pennsylvania former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump boasted of his administration’s achievements in “rebuilding the military”.
“We came up with a new and very important organisation – to put it mildly – first time since the air force in 80 years we have the space force,” Trump said.
“We took space where we were languishing, falling way behind China and Russia and now we’re dominating them,” the former president claimed.
He said the space force would end up becoming “one of our truly important” agencies.
“It already is,” Trump said.
Though signed into law by Trump in 2019, the initiative to create the US’s space force was developed over decades, and not a partisan programme, according to the New York Times. Formed to bring the various areas of expertise and responsibility for matters relating to space within a single military command centre, its budget is set to reach $30bn this year.
Trump swerves between economic remarks and personal insults at campaign rally
07:32
Vishwam Sankaran
Former president Donald Trump swerved from prepared remarks on the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration and ad-hoc personal insults towards vice president Kamala Harris during his campaign speech last night in northeastern Pennsylvania.
This was his second rally in the state since the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In his speech, he attacked Harris on the US economy by associating the vice president with the Biden administration’s inflation woes, as well as criticising Harris’ plans to stop price gouging as “going full communist”.
Food prices have increased by nearly 20 per cent under the Biden-Harris administration and Harris said she would enact a federal ban on price gouging in the food industry.
Trump asked why the vice president hadn’t solved inflation when she was already in office since 2021.
“Day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. So why didn’t she do it then?” Trump said, part of a scripted attack on Democrats for inflation. Republican strategists believe economic troubles represent one of the major issues where voters could trust Trump over Harris.
He then swerved away into conspiracies and personal comments, however. “You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates her,” the former president said, before describing Biden’s decision to step down in favour of Harris as the 2024 candidate as a “coup”.
Harris campaign books ‘largest ever’ digital ad blitz in $200m effort to reach voters on their phones
07:00
Ariana Baio
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is reaching out to potential voters through cellphones and streaming platforms, reserving more than $200 million for digital advertising, a memo from the campaign announced.
The Harris-Walz campaign revealed on Saturday that the investment in digital ads will take up the majority of the $370 million they have reserved for advertising – only $170 million will be geared toward television ads.
For nine weeks, ads will air on popular digital platforms like Hulu, Roku, YouTube and Spotify – mainly focused in battleground states. It does not include spending on social media.
The campaign said they believed it was the largest digital ad reservation in American politics. Streaming has become more popular than traditional television over the last few years.
Supreme Court upholds states’ block on protections for trans students
05:00
Ariana Baio
Twenty-six states will be permitted to maintain their block on the Biden administration’s new rules intended to protect transgender students from discrimination, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
In an emergency order, all nine justices upheld a ruling by lower courts in Louisiana and Kentucky that allowed the states to temporarily pause the new rules as legal proceedings on the matter continue.
The new rules, which were unveiled by the Biden administration in 2021, redefined “sex discrimination” in Title IX to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
Ariana Baio reports:
Watch: Tim Walz joins TikTok with guest appearance from dog Scout
03:00
Holly Patrick
In photos: Walz campaigns in Nebraska
01:00
Ariana Baio
Trump says Jewish people who vote Democrat ‘should have their head examined’
Sunday 18 August 2024 00:00
Ariana Baio
The former president went on a tangent about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Jewish people during his rally on Saturday, claiming that any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat “should have their head examined”.
Trump claimed Vice President Kamala Harris did not choose Shapiro as her running mate “because he’s Jewish”. Shapiro was reportedly a contender for the Democratic ticket. He received criticism from pro-Palestinian activists who do not endorse the U.S. supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.
At the same time, Trump said, “I don’t think [Shapiro] is a good person.”
The former president said Jewish people who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”
Harris vs Trump: How the presidential candidates compare on economic policy
Saturday 17 August 2024 23:00
Gustaf Kilander
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris want to claim the mantle as the greatest champion of the working class.
At the center of their pitches to those voters are economic policies. This week, the Vice President rolled out her plan to lower costs for American families.
Here’s a look at Trump and Harris’s economic plans.
Gustaf Kilander reports:
Trump spends rally attacking Harris
Saturday 17 August 2024 22:30
Graig Graziosi, Ariana Baio
Donald Trump spent most of his rally on Saturday attacking Vice President Kamala Harris and repeated familiar unsubstantiated claims to supporters.
The former president claimed Harris would drive the US into “World War III” and cause the economy to crash like the Great Depression – two familiar remarks without any evidence to suggest that would come true.
Trump criticized Harris, calling her a “crazy person” and “lunatic” because of her laugh, saying President Joe Biden “hates” her, and complained that she has not been interviewed for several weeks.
At one point in the campaign, Trump asked rallygoers to turn to the TV screens where his campaign showed a negative video about Harris.
Trump says Joe Biden "hates" Kamala Harris
Saturday 17 August 2024 21:51
Graig Graziosi, Ariana Baio
Donald Trump claimed President Joe Biden “hates” Vice President Kamala Harris during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“Joe Biden hates her,” Trump said of Harris. “Joe Biden hates her. This was an overthrow of a president. They went out, and I spent a hundred million dollars fighting Joe Biden. They told him he couldn’t win, they said his debate performance wasn’t the best ever, they said mine was the best ever.”
Trump’s rally speech was filled with familiar rhetoric that he has repeated through his press conferences, rallies and speeches.
There is no evidence Biden hates Harris.
Hundreds of people attend Walz’s rally in Nebraska
Saturday 17 August 2024 21:15
Ariana Baio
Hundreds of people gathered at the Astro Theater near Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday to voice support for vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz.
After an introduction by his wife and a former high school student, Walz took to the lectern where he promoted Vice President Kamala Harris’s policies and criticized Donald Trump’s.
Walz highlighted his experience as a high school teacher and football coach, his wife’s experience as a teacher, and his family legacy as educators.
“I truly believe each and every one of us can make a difference,” Walz said.
The crowd of energized rallygoers chanted “We won’t go back”, “Coach” and “Thank you, Tim”
DNC places anti-Trump billboards near PA rally site
Saturday 17 August 2024 20:40
Ariana Baio
The Democratic National Committee has strategically placed anti-Donald Trump billboards in the area surrounding Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where the former president is holding a rally today.
“Donald Trump has always been a bad bet – and working families know better than to gamble on Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” DNC spokesperson Andy Toevs said in a statement.
“Ahead of his trip to the Keystone State, Pennsylvanians know the choice in this election is clear: in November, voters will choose between a prosecutor with a proven track record and a weirdo with 34 felony convictions and a dangerous, extreme platform that would rip away our basic freedoms.”
The billboards, which are placed in Scranton, Dunmore, Shavertown, Luzerne and Mountain Top, depict a photo of Trump with the words “Don’t Gamble on Trump.”
Words describing Trump, like “convicted felon”, “sore loser” and “he cheats” are posted around the former president’s face.
Watch live: Governor Tim Walz speaks during campaign visit to Nebraska
Saturday 17 August 2024 20:15
Ariana Baio
Harris takes a populist tone on the economy. Will it help with young voters?
Saturday 17 August 2024 20:00
Eric Garcia
Vice President Kamala Harris struck a decidedly populist tone when she unveiled her economic policy in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday.
The vice president made housing the core part of her policy rollout, pledging to build three million new homes. As part of that, she has proposed a tax incentive to build starter homes. This comes as nearly 1 in 10 homes are now worth more than $1 million, which is a record high.
The policy rollout comes just as Harris will head to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Much of the focus has been on whether she will face a revolt from younger voters because of her and President Joe Biden’s support for Israel amid its war with Hamas that has led to thousands of deaths in Gaza. Indeed, Harris has confronted protesters at some of her early rallies, to varying levels of success.
But polling has shown that young voters tend to prioritize the economy, particularly the cost of living and housing, while not nearly as many consider the war in Gaza to be of similar salience. Indeed, when The Independent interviewed Black voters in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention before Biden stepped aside, they cited inflation and “high as hell” rent as primary reasons for dissatisfaction with Democrats.
George Santos reportedly taking plea deal
Saturday 17 August 2024 19:30
Ariana Baio
George Santos, the former Republican congressman ousted amid a series of scandals, is reportedly set to plead guilty to charges in his federal criminal case to avoid a trial, lawyers involved in the case and those familiar with the matter said.
The disgraced lawmaker is expected to enter a guilty plea to the judge overseeing his case, District Judge Joanna Seybert, on Monday at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, sources told Talking Points Memo, CNN, The New York Times and other outlets.
Santos is facing 23 felony charges including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, aggravated identity theft, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and more.
Thus far, the congressmen pleaded not guilty to all charges calling the indictment, and superseding indictment, a “witch hunt” and has previously publicly denied talks of a plea deal. A federal trial was set to begin in September
But court filings from December indicated Santos’ lawyers and federal prosecutors were actively engaged in plea deal negotiations.
On Friday, both sides asked Judge Seybert for a hearing on Monday but did not explain why.
The Independent has asked Santos’ lawyer for comment on the reports.
Watch: Could Kamala Harris win? ‘Most frustrating thing’ presidential candidate is doing to Trump
Saturday 17 August 2024 19:00
Lizzie Romain
Trump campaign seeks to diminish Sun Belt polling results
Saturday 17 August 2024 18:30
Ariana Baio
The Trump campaign released a memo seeking to undermine the results of a New York Times / Sienna College poll that showed Harris taking a lead in two Sun Belt states and narrowing the gap in other key swing states.
“The latest Sun Belt swing state polls of Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada conducted by the New York Times and Siena College are, once again, a perfect example of how wildly inaccurate recalled 2020 vote between President Trump and Joe Biden is being used to create a phony lead for Kamala Harris,” the campaign said in a press release.
“Even with the understatement of President Trump’s 2020 support in these key states and an unrepresentative weighting scheme relative to their Electoral Vote weights between the states surveyed, President Trump is consistently overperforming among black voters and voters aged 18-29, and has better fidelity among registered Republicans and 2020 supporters than Kamala Harris does among registered Democrats and 2020 Biden voters,” the statement continued.
However, the campaign did acknowledge that the poll got the numbers correct in Georgia both in 2020 and currently where Trump is leading by 7 points.
Bernie Sanders praises Harris’s ‘progressive’ economic policy
Saturday 17 August 2024 18:00
Ariana Baio
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders praised Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic proposals saying they are a “strong, progressive agenda.”
While speaking with Chris Hayes for MSNBC, Sanders highlighted Harris’s plan to lower prescription drug prices, expand affordable housing, end medical debt and reduce inflation by targeting price gouging.
“I have always believed good policy is good politics,” Sanders said.
“Given the fact that she has been a candidate for only three weeks, I think she’s doing really, really well in a whole lot of ways,” Sanders said.
“I think what she laid out today was a strong, progressive agenda,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I have always believed that good policy is good politics.” pic.twitter.com/l1K7k7ghW7
— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) August 17, 2024
Supreme Court upholds ban on Title IX rules
Saturday 17 August 2024 17:30
Ariana Baio
Twenty-six states will be permitted to maintain their block on the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules that intended to protect transgender students from discrimination, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
In an emergency order, all nine justices upheld a ruling by lower courts in Louisiana and Kentucky that allowed the states to temporarily pause the new rules as legal proceedings on the matter continue.
The new rules, which were unveiled by the Biden administration in 2021, redefined “sex discrimination” in Title IX to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
Justices said the states were entitled to temporary injunctive relief while litigation determines if the central provision of the new rules, re-defining sex discrimination, is constitutional.
“The new definition of sex discrimination is intertwined with and affects many other provisions of the new rule,” justices said, adding that it would be difficult for schools to implement the new rules by August 1.
Where is Trump today?
Saturday 17 August 2024 17:00
Ariana Baio
Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania today, marking his second visit to the state since the assassination attempt on his life in July.
The former president will campaign in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania today and hold a rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The rally is expected to begin at 4 p.m.
Where is Harris-Walz campaign today?
Saturday 17 August 2024 16:45
Ariana Baio
Vice President Kamala Harris is in Washington DC today and has no public appearances scheduled but vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will be campaigning in Omaha, Nebraska.
Harris says her dad taught her to be fearless, but he’s absent from her public rise
Saturday 17 August 2024 16:30
Sheila Flynn
Family is at the forefront of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, and she speaks frequently and fondly of her late mother’s influence – but rarely is there mention of her father. A “Marxist” economics professor who left Jamaica for UC Berkeley, Donald J Harris has said little about his daughter during her meteoric rise – other than to scold her
Sheila Flynn reports:
JD Vance is now the least popular VP candidate in modern history
Saturday 17 August 2024 16:00
Alicja Hagopian
JD Vance is now the least popular vice presidential candidate in modern history – even below Sarah Palin, according to polling averages collated by FiveThirtyEight.
Donald Trump’s Republican running mate has a net approval rating of -9 percent, with 33 percent of voters viewing him favorably and 42 percent unfavorably.
This is even lower than 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose popularity dropped to -2 percent.
New polling shows Harris catching up to Trump
Saturday 17 August 2024 15:20
Ariana Baio
Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in two key states and narrowing the gap in two other Sun Belt states, according to new polling from The New York Times and Sienna College.
The recent survey shows Harris leading Trump in Arizona 50 percent to 45 percent and in North Carolina 49 percent to 47 percent.
In Nevada, Harris and Trump are neck-in-neck 47 percent to 48 percent.
Meanwhile, Harris has narrowed the gap in Georgia. Across all four states, the two candidates are tied 48 percent.
The new findings show the positive impact Harris’s campaign is having compared to President Joe Biden.
How the presidential candidates compare on economic policy
Saturday 17 August 2024 14:50
Gustaf Kilander
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris want to claim the mantle as the greatest champion of the working class.
At the center of their pitches to those voters is economic policies. This week, the Vice President rolled out her plan to lower costs for American families including tax credits for children, price control efforts, and housing assistance. Many of the proposals aren’t strictly new but instead expand on the efforts of President Joe Biden.
One of the main cudgels that Trump has used to bash the Biden administration has been the high rate of inflation. Trump says that he will bring down prices when he’s back in the White House - but it remains unclear how he would do that, as a president can’t bring down prices on their own. And while prices remain high, inflation has been cooling in recent weeks.
Here’s a look at Trump and Harris’s economic plans.
Harris promises to lower costs as she slams Trump for having ‘no serious plans’ to help middle class
Saturday 17 August 2024 14:20
Oliver O'Connell
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris unveiled her economic plan in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday afternoon, warning that her rival, Donald Trump, would “make the cost of living go up for millions of Americans.”
The vice president’s plan is focused on economic initiatives that would benefit the middle class, with tax cuts she said would affect 100 million Americans, a federal ban on price gouging, lower drug prices, and the building of millions more homes. Harris compared each aspect of her agenda to that of Trump, promising a bright future in contrast to the former president’s dark vision of the past.
Kelly Rissman and Andrew Feinberg report.
Saturday 17 August 2024 13:50
Oliver O'Connell
Border arrests drop 33% to a 46-month low in July after asylum restrictions take hold
Saturday 17 August 2024 13:20
AP
Arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico plummeted 33% in July to the lowest level since September 2020, a result of asylum being temporarily suspended, authorities said Friday.
The Border Patrol made 56,408 arrests last month, down from 83,536 arrests in June, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, its parent agency.
Asylum was halted at the border June 5 because arrests for illegal crossings topped a threshold of 2,500 a day, though a lack of deportation flights prevents authorities from turning away everyone. U.S. authorities say arrests dropped 55% after the measure, which followed a steep decline earlier this year that was widely attributed to Mexican authorities increasing enforcement within their borders.
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Flustered Trump still has no answer to Kamala Harris’s campaign
Saturday 17 August 2024 12:50
Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump summoned reporters to one of his properties for the second time in as many weeks to deliver a campaign message – but they would be hard-pressed to find something new or interesting to write about.
John Bowden reports.
Yikes — Vance is now the least popular VP candidate in modern history
Saturday 17 August 2024 12:20
Oliver O'Connell
JD Vance is now the least popular vice presidential candidate in modern history – even below Sarah Palin, according to polling averages collated by FiveThirtyEight.
Donald Trump’s Republican running mate has a net approval rating of -9 per cent, with 33 per cent of voters viewing him favorably and 42 per cent unfavorably.
Alicja Hagopian looked at the numbers.
Obama ‘HOPE’ artist creates new artwork for Harris
Saturday 17 August 2024 11:50
Oliver O'Connell
Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the iconic “Hope” poster that became the symbol of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, has created a similar piece of artwork for Kamala Harris’s 2024 run for the White House.
In a statement on his website, Fairey said that Kamala Harris’s words “We are not going back” to him summarized the moment, and “in order not to go back, we must go FORWARD!”
“While we have not achieved all the goals we might be seeking, we are making progress – all in the face of expanding threats and regressive political adversaries,” he continued.
“But we are not going back. In fact, we have a very real opportunity to move forward. If we act we can move forward our desire for a healthy planet, for corporate accountability, toward equality and away from racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia, for equitable access to opportunity, for full access to the medical care we want or need, for fair and just immigration policies.”
Fairey said he believes Harris and her vice presidential pick Tim Walz are the best chance to move forward and to “push back on encroaching fascism and threats to democracy, and our best chance for creating the world we all desire and deserve”.
He adds: “Politics is messy… but messy is no excuse for checking out. Messy is the work and the work can be joyful. Messy is what it takes to get through the daunting mess in pursuit of a better future. But we only win if we show up. Be ready for Nov 5. Check your voter registration status now.”
Fairey concludes by stating that the artwork is a tool of grassroots activism for everyone to use non-commercially and that he was not paid for it and would receive no financial benefit.
He concludes: “I created this work purely in pursuit of a better future. Let’s get there together!”
What impact will pro-Palestine protests have on the DNC?
Saturday 17 August 2024 11:20
Oliver O'Connell
When the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago next week, it is expected to be accompanied by the largest pro-Palestine protests in the city’s history, according to advocacy groups.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators aren’t new to Chicago. They have been marching on the city’s streets every weekend since last October, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage. An estimated 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and 85 per cent of people displaced from their homes there since the war’s onset.
The DNC, where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are expected to accept their nominations, faces significant disruption from protests, with Chicago home to the largest community of Palestinians in the country. Tens of thousands are anticipated to mobilize.
Kelly Rissman looks at what the impact might be.
Trump gets distracted by box of Cheerios
Saturday 17 August 2024 10:20
Oliver O'Connell
Well, at least it wasn’t the Froot Loops.
Rhian Lubin reports.
CNN panel devolves into shouting match after Nancy Mace repeatedly mispronounces Harris’s name
Saturday 17 August 2024 09:20
Oliver O'Connell
A CNN panel devolved into a shouting match on Thursday after a GOP representative refused to pronounce Kamala Harris’s name correctly.
The panel featured Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina. She was joined by several other commentators, including Democratic strategist Keith Boykin and Vanderbilt University professor Michael Dyson
Katie Hawkinson watched what happened.
ICYMI: Trump insults veterans again
Saturday 17 August 2024 08:20
Oliver O'Connell
Former president Donald Trump on Thursday continued his pattern of insulting the country’s most revered military veterans by claiming a top civilian award is more prestigious than the Medal of Honor awarded to service members for “conspicuous gallantry” in the face of enemy fire.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Jill Biden to honor Joe at DNC in Chicago
Saturday 17 August 2024 07:20
Oliver O'Connell
First lady Jill Biden will have a “role” on the first day of the Democratic National Convention to honor and preserve the legacy of her husband, President Joe Biden despite having voiced her disappointment with those who encouraged the president to exit the 2024 race, according to a report.
The first lady will give a tribute to her husband on Monday, on the first night of the convention, NBC News reported Friday.
Kelly Rissman has the story.
Secret Service members from Biden’s detail now protecting Trump
Saturday 17 August 2024 05:20
Oliver O'Connell
After the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month, the Secret Service temporarily shifted some personnel from President Joe Biden’s protective detail to guard his predecessor.
An official with the agency told The New York Times that reassigning members of a president’s detail to a candidate is unusual, but the switch was made after the increased threat of violence against Trump, and because of Biden’s m
