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By: Express Web Desk |
October 25, 2020 12:38:01 pm
Americans are set to elect a new president on November 3.With less than two weeks to go before the US election, President Donald Trump and his Democratic contender Joe Biden have stepped up their campaigning efforts in swing states, which are witnessing another alarming surge in Covid-19 cases. While both candidates are targeting undecided voters in a last-ditch attempt to sway them before polling day, they gave starkly contrasting messages about the pandemic at their rallies on Saturday, Reuters reported.
At a tightly-packed, in-person rally in North Carolina, Trump told a few thousands supporters that the country was “rounding the turn” on the coronavirus pandemic and mocked his political adversary Biden for unnecessarily raising alarms at the final presidential debate.
His remarks came just hours before the White House announced that a top aide of Vice President Mike Pence had tested positive for the virus. Pence, who tested negative but was in close contact with the aide, will continue to travel and campaign this week, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Biden addressed his supporters at two drive-in rallies in Pennsylvania, and warned voters of a dark winter unless the president and his administration did a better job of containing the spread of the deadly infection. You can read the Reuters report here
Just as President Trump arrived in Florida’s West Palm Beach to cast his vote, former President Barack Obama slammed his successor for his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and “fumbling” the economy, at a rally held in the state on Saturday, the New York Times reported.
“He likes to act tough and talk tough. He thinks scowling and being mean is tough,” Obama said at a drive-in rally in Miami. “But when ’60 Minutes’ and Lesley Stahl are too tough for you, you ain’t all that tough.”
Obama was referring to Trump’s much-talked-about interview with CBS’ Lesley Stahl for the show ’60 minutes’. Trump, himself, released the unedited version of the tense interview ahead of its scheduled broadcast date.
“Florida Man wouldn’t even do this stuff! Why do we accept it from the president of the United States?” Obama said. ‘Florida man’ is a popular meme and hashtag on social media, associated with often-bizarre news stories about residents of the state. Read the report here
According to a recent report by the Washington Post, Trump privately told donors that it would be “very tough” for Republicans to keep control of the senate in the upcoming election, particularly because he refuses to support some senators.
“I think the Senate is tough actually. The Senate is very tough,” he allegedly said at a fundraiser this week, according to an anonymous attendee. “There are a couple senators I can’t really get involved in. I just can’t do it. You lose your soul if you do. I can’t help some of them. I don’t want to help some of them.”
Trump made the remarks at a closed-door event in Nashville right before the last presidential debate, where he had confidently declared that the Republican Party will “take back the house”. Read the Washington Post report here
In a tweet shared two days after Trump commented on India’s air pollution during the presidential debate, Biden slammed the US President for calling the country “filthy”. “It’s not how you talk about friends and it’s not how you solve global challenges like climate change,” he wrote, adding that he and his running mate Kamala Harris deeply value the US’ partnership with India, PTI reported.
With just 10 days to go before polling day, over 50 million American voters have already cast their ballots, according to data from the US Elections Project. At this rate, the US could witness the highest voter turnout in over a century, The Guardian reported.
A huge number of voters have opted for in-person early voting and mail-in ballots as a safer alternative amidst the ongoing pandemic. Due to the high level of early voting, the US Elections Project has predicted a record turnout of about 150 million, or 65% of eligible voters, which will be the highest rate since 1908. Read the story by The Guardian here
According to an AP report, Texas has already cast close to 7 million votes, more than anywhere else in America. With this, the state is only a few percentage points short of the total early voting turnout recorded during the last presidential election in 2016.
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