US election briefing: Harris airs clips of her opponent while Trump hosts a ‘musical-fest’ | US elections 2024 | The Guardian

Oct 15, 2024

In duelling Pennsylvania appearances, the Republican nominee swayed to songs on stage, after Harris called his behaviour ‘unstable and unhinged’

With just over three-weeks until voting begins, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both campaigned in Pennsylvania, which promises the most electoral votes of any swing state. The Guardian’s poll tracker has Harris ahead by one point in the state.

Harris spoke in Erie, a county that is one of the state’s most reliable bellwethers – its “boomerang” electorate has backed the election winner in the last four races. Harris played clips from Trump’s recent media appearances and condemned his call for the military to be deployed against opponents he labelled “the enemy within”. “He considers anyone who doesn’t support him, or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country,” Harris said at the rally. “This is among the reasons I believe so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America”.

Trump meanwhile took questions from voters at a town hall in Philadelphia, but was twice interrupted by medical emergencies in the room. The former president then called for the event to be turned into a “musical-fest” and it continued with Trump standing on stage for 40 minutes, swaying to hits from his campaign playlist – including Hallelujah, November Rain and Nothing Compares 2 U – before walking off into the crowd. Fox News reporter Bryan Llenas called it a “very strange Trump Town Hall”. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called it a “love fest” and “something very special”.

Here is what else happened on Monday:

Kamala Harris will do a sit-down interview with the broadcaster Fox News on Wednesday. The interview with Fox News’s chief political anchor, Bret Baier, comes as Democrats have increased their presence on Fox News, part of a media spree and outreach to undecided voters.

Donald Trump railed against a just released biopic about his life, in a social media screed early on Monday, calling it a “cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job” meant to thwart his presidential candidacy.

Kamala Harris has revealed a plan to give Black men more economic opportunities, as anxiety mounts in her campaign that some in the Black community are less supportive of the Democratic presidential ticket than in recent elections, and may sit this one out – or support Donald Trump.

The White House said on Monday that the United States has been closely tracking Iranian threats against Trump for years and it warned of “severe consequences” if Tehran was to attack any US citizen. “We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats. Should Iran attack any of our citizens, including those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences,” said White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett.

Arab Americans in Michigan are deserting Democrats over Gaza, according to reports. In past elections, Arab Americans were a solidly Democratic voting bloc, especially in the years after 9/11 and given Trump’s overtly anti-Muslim rhetoric. But with Kamala Harris reportedly “underwater” in Michigan, Muslim and Arab American communities across Michigan could play a major role in the outcome of the presidential election.

The Arab American Political Action Committee said on Monday it could not endorse Harris or Trump, citing what it called their “blind support” for Israel in wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

A man arrested on gun possession charges near a Donald Trump rally in California on Saturday, said that he was a major supporter of the former US president and would never harm him. “Yes, I’m 100% a Trump supporter,” the man, Vem Miller, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

If Donald Trump wins the election, he is expected to pursue a spree of executions that could fast-track the cases of people on federal death row, and threaten the life of a man with a longstanding innocence claim. Advocates for people on death row fear a second Trump term could be worse than his first, which saw an unprecedented 13 federal executions. Under Trump, more people incarcerated in the federal system were put to death than under the previous 10 presidents combined, a staggering number that raised grave human rights concerns.