Trump set to drive anti-immigrant message in Colorado rallyDonald Trump will this afternoon hold a rally in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado – which is not a swing state.
So why is the former president going there? It’s all due to immigration, which Aurora has seen a lot of, and which Trump has made a focus of his campaign, spreading factually wobbly allegations that new arrivals in the United States are committing crimes.
Crime is generally on the downslope in Aurora, as it is nationally, but Trump has made reports of shootings and potentially a murder connected to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a talking point at recent rallies, and is set to drive the message in person during his 3pm rally in the suburb.
“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua,” his campaign said in announcing the rally.
“Kamala Harris’ open-border policies are turning once-safe communities into nightmares for law-abiding citizens.”
As the Guardian’s Josiah Hesse reports, all signs point to Trump and his allies greatly exaggerating the situation in Aurora:
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Walz stumps for union vote in MichiganTim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is onstage in Macomb county, Michigan, aiming to woo working class voters in a vital state with an event centered on his campaign’s support for unions.
He began with words about the two recent hurricanes that have upended life in parts of the southeastern United States:
Our hearts are going out to those communities across the southeast that have been devastated by Helene and then Milton. Vice President Harris, President Biden, watching developments closely, working with states, local governments and the governors, shall stand with the people of the region every step of the way until this recovery and rebuilding is done from these storms, because that’s what Americans do at a time of crisis.
Trump set to drive anti-immigrant message in Colorado rallyDonald Trump will this afternoon hold a rally in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado – which is not a swing state.
So why is the former president going there? It’s all due to immigration, which Aurora has seen a lot of, and which Trump has made a focus of his campaign, spreading factually wobbly allegations that new arrivals in the United States are committing crimes.
Crime is generally on the downslope in Aurora, as it is nationally, but Trump has made reports of shootings and potentially a murder connected to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a talking point at recent rallies, and is set to drive the message in person during his 3pm rally in the suburb.
“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua,” his campaign said in announcing the rally.
“Kamala Harris’ open-border policies are turning once-safe communities into nightmares for law-abiding citizens.”
As the Guardian’s Josiah Hesse reports, all signs point to Trump and his allies greatly exaggerating the situation in Aurora:
Meteorologists are also facing threats as conspiracy theories swirl in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:
Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.
The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, said that she and her colleagues have borne the brunt of much of these conspiracies, having received messages claiming there are category 6 hurricanes (there aren’t), that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes (they aren’t) and even that scientists should be killed and radar equipment be demolished.
“I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” Nickolaou said.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Harris accuses Trump of ‘playing political games’ over hurricane responseKamala Harris criticized Donald Trump’s attacks on the Biden administration’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton yesterday, accusing Republicans of “playing political games” while Americans are suffering.
Speaking at a town hall hosted by Univision on Thursday, Harris lamented the “mis- and disinformation” about the White House’s response efforts.
“People are playing political games, suggesting that resources and support is only going to certain people based on a political agenda, and this is just not accurate,” Harris said.
Harris noted she has traveled to states affected by the storms, including Georgia and North Carolina, to ensure victims know they are entitled to government relief as they attempt to rebuild.
Trump and his Republican allies have falsely accused Democrats of redirecting recovery resources toward migrants instead of helping victims of the storm, and Joe Biden warned yesterday that the baseless accusations are causing threats against response workers.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Biden delivered this sharp rebuke to Trump: “Get a life, man. Help these people.”
During his event in Warren, Michigan, today, Tim Walz is expected to defend Kamala Harris for casting the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, according to speech excerpts shared by a senior campaign official.
The law allowed for a $500m investment to refurbish a General Motors plant in Lansing, but JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, recently mocked that grant as “table scraps”. Vance also dodged questions about whether the Trump administration would move forward with Joe Biden’s investments in electric vehicles.
“Table scraps! Tell that to the 650 families who rely on them for putting food on the table,” Walz will say in Warren. “These guys couldn’t care less about Michigan workers.”
Walz to denounce Trump’s manufacturing recordTim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, will denounce Donald Trump’s record on supporting US manufacturing during a campaign appearance in the battleground state of Michigan today.
According to speech excerpts shared by a senior Harris campaign adviser, Walz will use his event in Warren, Michigan, to criticize Trump’s “broken promises” to workers and celebrate Detroit’s “great American comeback”.
“Crime is down. The city is growing. Factories are opening again. All these guys know about manufacturing is how to manufacture bullshit,” Walz is expected to say.
“Trump’s presidency was an endless string of broken promises. He actually came here to Warren when he ran the first time and promised that, under a Trump presidency, ‘you won’t lose one plant.’ I guess, technically, that wasn’t a lie — because he lost six of them across the country.”
Walz will also dismiss concerns about Democrats mandating the use of electric vehicles, which has become a talking point among Trump and his allies.
“People are looking for choices — and we need to make those choices more affordable,” Walz will say. “Nobody’s mandating anything. If you want to drive a ‘79 International Harvester Scout like I do, knock yourself out.”
Obama takes down Trump’s lies and fake ‘strength’ – urging men to ‘show real strength’ and vote HarrisGood morning, US politics blog readers, there’s another busy news day in store and we’ll keep up with all the developments as they happen. Party politics has seeped further into hurricane news, and you can follow all that in our storm blog, here.
Elsewhere, much is afoot on the campaign trail. Here’s what’s in store.
Barack Obama said he had “a problem” with men who keep coming up with bogus excuses not to vote for Kamala Harris and leaning into Donald Trump’s macho aggression, in his first appearance on the campaign trail for the Democrats in Pittsburgh yesterday, in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. Expect more events with the former, two-term president.
The former president told the crowd: “I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you: that is not what real strength is.
”It never has been. Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves, that is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that is what I want to see a president of the United States of America.”
Obama also condemned Trump’s spreading of disinformation about the hurricane, railing against “the idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments”. He highlighted that lies may discourage some of the people affected from seeking help. Visibly emotional, Obama asked: “When did that become OK?”
The Democratic governors of three vital battleground states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are going to hit the trail together.
Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Wisconsin’s Tony Evers plan a midwestern bus tour from next week, called Driving Forward , Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC said and Axios reported this morning.
Bill Clinton, who maybe didn’t set the Democratic voting world alight with his lengthy address at the party’s convention in August but is nevertheless always a big name in US politics, is going to Georgia this weekend and then North Carolina, where Trump is marginally ahead in the polls and it’s all hands on deck for the Dems.
Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick, is going to do a TV interview blitz in, where else, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the coming days, Axios reports.
Donald Trump will speak in Aurora, Colorado, this afternoon, a state that’s confidently Democratic these days, but the former president plans to slam it to migrants and asylum seekers again, planning to make claims about Venezuelans and crime levels.
This comes after Trump again used brutal language to undercut United States allies in the NATO alliance, saying “we will not protect you” from Russia if they don’t spend as much as they should on paper on their militaries. Trump was speaking in Detroit.