GoldenNewsNg brings to you update on U.S Election 2020 ,Democratic campaign, and Situation Reports as events unfold in the upcoming election.
The U.S Election 2020 will hold November 3, 2020.
- The Supreme Court confirms that North Carolina will allow ballot papers to be counted through November 12th.
- The Americans will elect their president on November 3, 2020. Will it be Donald Trump again ? Or will Joe Biden, who won the Democratic primary, win? All news and developments at a glance:
Obama Joins Biden as Campaigns Trade Attacks in Final Push
President Trump held four rallies on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Kamala Harris campaigned in South Florida. In Texas, vehicles flying Trump flags tried to force a Biden-Harris campaign bus off a highway, an incident the president chuckled over later
Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. tag-teamed President Trump in their first joint appearance of 2020, with the former president joking that Mr. Trump was “traumatized” by low turnout at his childhood birthday parties and Mr. Biden suggesting he would have bopped Mr. Trump in their younger days.
On the final weekend of the campaign, Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama began Saturday with a drive-in rally in Flint in a bid to maximize turnout. Later, they held another drive-in rally in Detroit, where Stevie Wonder performed. The Biden campaign also announced that Mr. Obama would campaign in Atlanta and South Florida on Monday.
Mr. Obama won Michigan twice, and Genesee County, home to Flint, is an example of a place where Democrats lost significant ground in 2016 compared with how the Obama-Biden ticket had fared.
In Flint, the former president began by praising Mr. Biden for his decency, then pivoted to offense, the task he has pursued with vigor in appearances over the past two weeks. He laced into his successor for suggesting on Friday that physicians are magnifying the severity of the pandemic to make money.
“He cannot fathom, he does not understand the notion that somebody would risk their life to save others without trying to make a buck,” Mr. Obama said.
The former president also took aim at Mr. Trump’s fixation on the size of the crowds that turn out for him. “What is his obsession, by the way, with crowd size?” he asked. “Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? Was he traumatized?”
Mr. Biden criticized Mr. Trump for his reported comments about America’s war dead and noted that Mr. Trump “likes to portray himself as a tough guy.” Then he suggested he would have wanted to punch Mr. Trump back in the day. “When you were in high school, wouldn’t you have liked to take the shot?” Mr. Biden said. “Anyway, that’s a different story, but anyway. A macho man.”
Later, in Detroit, Mr. Biden mocked Mr. Trump for having written off as business expenses more than $70,000 paid to style his hair during “The Apprentice.”
“I tell you what, man,” Mr. Biden said. “I hardly have any hair, but I’d rather have what I have.”
Their visit to Michigan also included a clutch shot by Mr. Obama, who drained a 3-pointer in a school gym in Flint and then walked off the court. “That’s what I do,” he said.
Why Somalis are closely watching the US elections
Just as people across the United States will be waiting eagerly for the results of Tuesday’s voting, thousands of kilometres away, on the far eastern corner of Africa, Somalis will also be closely watching the hard-fought matchup between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
It hardly comes as a surprise. A country of some 15 million people, Somalia has for decades felt the impact of US policies – both directly and indirectly.
Just as people across the United States will be waiting eagerly for the results of Tuesday’s voting, thousands of kilometres away, on the far eastern corner of Africa, Somalis will also be closely watching the hard-fought matchup between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
It hardly comes as a surprise. A country of some 15 million people, Somalia has for decades felt the impact of US policies – both directly and indirectly.
“Ever since Somalia got independence in 1960, America and its leaders have tried to have a strong foothold in the country,” said Hassan Sheikh Ali, a lecturer of international relations at Somali National University.
The main reason? Somalia’s “strategic location”.
Bounded by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Horn of Africa country occupies a significant geopolitical position along major trade routes. Up to 30,000 ships, carrying goods from crude oil to iron ore, pass annually through the Gulf of Aden, a key transit zone for maritime traffic between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
“America is in Somalia to protect its commercial interest,” said Hassan.
Trump supporters try to push the Democratic campaign bus off the road
A group of SUVs with Trump flags tried to push a Democratic campaign bus and its support vehicle off the road in Texas. The incident, which occurred on the busy Interstate 35, has been captured on multiple videos and confirmed by the Democrats. Travis County party leader Katie Naranjo wrote on Twitter that the column had “rammed someone’s car, shouting insults and threats.” This probably means the white car that drives behind the bus on videos and is rammed by a black car, among other things.
The presidential runner-up Kamala Harris has, according to media reports, canceled an appearance scheduled for today in Texas. The campaign staff who were on the bus have called the police. President Trump himself posted a video of the incident on Twitter – his only comment on it: “I LOVE TEXAS.”
The embattled state of Texas could decide the presidential election. Most recently, the traditionally conservative state has seen a close race.
After four years under Donald Trump, two Americans are facing each other more bitterly than they have been since the civil war. Elections will be held on Tuesday. A journey through a torn land.
By Hubert Wetzel and Christian Zaschke
Election campaign in Arizona: monstrous, sharper, more relentless
In Texas there is a threat of 100,000 votes
Sunday, November 1st, 7:40 am: In the highly competitive US state of Texas, there is a threat of a legal battle over the validity of around 100,000 votes already cast for the presidential election in one of the largest electoral districts in the country. A federal judge in Texas scheduled an emergency hearing on Monday as to whether the authorities in Houston have illegally allowed so-called drive-through votes, in which voters can throw their ballot papers into the appropriate urns from the car.
This is how it is in the US presidency campaign
The conservative activist Steve Hotze and the Republican MP in Texas, Steve Toth, among others, had sued. They accuse Harris County officials of having exceeded their constitutional authority. Due to the corona pandemic, they had allowed drive-through votes as an alternative. Harris County is the third most populous county in the United States with around 4.7 million people. It currently has ten drive-through polling stations that are available to all voters. The plaintiffs are calling on federal judge Andrew Hanen to “reject any vote they believe to have violated Texan electoral law.” Hanen was appointed by then Republican President George W. Bush. The request is “completely unreasonable”, it said from the Democratic camp. “Plaintiffs are asking this court to wreak havoc on the Texas election by invalidating more than 100,000 eligible Texan voters,” it said.
What Trump and Biden promise (SZ Plus)
Trump and Biden in the final spurt of the election campaign
In the final spurt of the White House election campaign, US President Donald Trump is taking his attacks against challenger Joe Biden to extremes.
In the embattled state of Minnesota, Trump described the former vice president on Friday evening as a “sleazy, filthy, corrupt politician” who sold himself to China. At the same time, the president tried again to downplay the corona pandemic despite the rapidly increasing infections. The doctors exaggerated the numbers because they would get more money for corona cases, the American president repeated a conspiracy myth that was haunted on the Internet.
The US is moving towards the 100,000 new infections per day mark (read more here) . There were 99,321 cases on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) – a new record. Around 900 people die every day.
In his campaign appearances, Biden immediately condemned Trump’s attack on the doctors: he “should stop attacking them and start doing his job instead”. Trump capitulated to the virus.
Trump, who is behind Biden in polls both nationwide and in several potentially crucial states, is counting on a spate of campaign appearances to mobilize his supporters. He plans to give 14 speeches over the weekend and Monday, several of them in Michigan and Pennsylvania. In the meantime, around 87 million Americans took advantage of the opportunity to vote by letter or in pre-opened polling stations before the official date on November 3rd.
Biden appears twice on Saturday with ex-President Barack Obama in Michigan, of which he was vice-president. Singer Stevie Wonder is to join them in Detroit. Biden’s runner-up, Kamala Harris, flies to Florida, where there is a head-to-head race of candidates. If Biden Florida wins with 29 voters, according to experts, Trump would have little chance of a victory.
Trump plans four appearances in Pennsylvania for Saturday. On Sunday he plans to perform in Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan as well as Wisconsin are to follow again on Monday. Performances are usually one to one and a half hours long. On Friday evening, Trump shortened his speech in Minnesota to 20 minutes – possibly because only 250 of his supporters were allowed to attend due to corona restrictions.
The USA before the election: travel through a battered country
Retailers barricade shops for election day
Several US retailers have taken security precautions out of concerns about unrest in the presidential election. In Chicago, New York and Washington in particular, more than 600 shopkeepers had shop windows boarded up or similar steps taken before election day next Tuesday, the service provider ServiceChannel announced on Friday (local time). The company connects retailers with contractors who do this work. Companies like Nordstrom, Tiffany and Saks Fifth Avenue want to make use of the protective measures. They also plan to hire additional security guards.
Many US retailers are forced to act in an election year that was already marked by massive, sometimes violent protests against social injustice. The National Retail Federation (NRF), the world’s largest retail trade association, said it had sent advisers to members and created platforms to discuss security strategies.
At the same time, NRF legal advisor Stephanie Martz pointed out that business was walking a fine line. Because if they boarded up their windows early, the question arises as to whether this will increase the likelihood of violence in the area. But you yourself believe that boarded up shop windows acted as a deterrent to potential rioters.
Justice failure for Republicans in postal voting in North Carolina
In the dispute over postal votes in the US states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the Democrats have achieved legal success. The US Supreme Court has mailed ballot papers counted there that arrive after the November 3rd election date.
In Pennsylvania, postal ballot papers should still be valid if they arrive up to three days later. It’s even nine days in North Carolina. The Supreme Court allowed these decisions by the relevant electoral bodies to take effect. The Republicans had unsuccessfully requested that the deadline for acceptance of election papers be shortened.
In view of the corona pandemic, significantly more Americans vote by letter than usual. At the same time, it is unclear how long the letters could take after austerity measures at the US Post. There are already disputes in several states, further proceedings could follow. It is likely that the Supreme Court will have the final say.
In North Carolina, the electoral authority had extended the deadline for the arrival of ballots from three to nine days. An appeals court declared that to be admissible. The Supreme Court now voted for this decision with a majority of five to three votes. The three conservative judges Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas appealed. Supreme Court rookie Amy Coney Barrett was not involved in the case.
In the Pennsylvania case, the Supreme Court initially only denied a Republican motion to expedite their lawsuit against the three-day deadline. However, this means that it remains in force for the time being. However, three conservative judges expressly kept it open to take up the case again after the election.
Pennsylvania and North Carolina are among the contested states that could make the choice. Pennsylvania is about 20 voters; North Carolina is about 15.
Early voters could give Democrats an edge
Author of critical inside report about Trump comes out
The mystery of a critical inside article about the White House under Donald Trump is out. After a good two years, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Miles Taylor, revealed himself as the author on Wednesday.
Taylor’s attitude towards Trump comes as no surprise: He has been a sharp critic of the president for some time. However, the description of the author when the article was published in September 2018 as “a senior official in the Trump administration” had led many to suspect that “Anonymous” was someone from the inner circle of power in the White House.
The author described himself as part of a “resistance” against Trump and accused the president of, among other things, “anti-democratic impulses” and unpredictable behavior. The article on the opinion page of the New York Times and a book that appeared later had led to a feverish search in the White House for the possible originator with various suspicions.
As Chief of Staff to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Taylor was involved in implementing controversial decisions by the Trump administration. These include the entry ban for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and the separation of children of illegal immigrants from their parents at the US border. Trump’s spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany described Taylor on Wednesday as “inefficient and incompetent” in his job, which is why he was quickly dismissed.
Taylor wrote on Wednesday , “I’m a Republican and I wanted this president to succeed.” But Trump has repeatedly proven that he is “a man without character”. His view was shared by many in the highest ranks of government. In the past few weeks, various other former employees of Trump’s administration had also expressed their support for challenger Joe Biden in the presidential election next Tuesday.
Most expensive election campaign ever
Already half as many voters as in 2016
A week before the US presidential election, more than 69 million Americans have cast their votes. That corresponds to more than half of all votes that were cast in the election four years ago, according to data from the “US Elections Project” by political scientist Michael McDonald of the University of Florida. In 2016, about 137 million Americans voted in the federal election, according to the FEC Electoral Commission.
Early voting is particularly high in the highly competitive US state of Texas, where around 87 percent of the total number of voters from four years ago have already voted. Participation is also high in the important states of Florida and North Carolina.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, it is expected that more Americans than usual will take advantage of the opportunity to vote in person or by postal vote before the actual election day. According to the project’s data, significantly more registered Democrats appear to have voted than Republicans so far. The registration with a party does not necessarily say anything about the actual voting behavior.
Observers suspect, however, that the majority of early voters are voting for Biden. The Democratic Challenger’s campaign team had actively encouraged supporters to vote early, while the Republican US President Donald Trump had repeatedly linked postal voting with fraud without substantiated evidence. During an election campaign appearance in West Salem (Wisconsin) on Tuesday, Trump again criticized a count that could take several days in some states.
Trump and the Forgotten of Lucerne County
Trump’s campaign page apparently hacked briefly
The website of US President Donald Trump’s election campaign has apparently been hacked for a short time. On Tuesday evening (local time) when clicking the “Events” category, the statement appeared: “This page has been confiscated. The world has had enough of the fake news that President Donald J. Trump spreads every day.” This was followed by unsubstantiated allegations against the American government and against Donald Trump himself. At the top of the page were the FBI and US Department of Justice logos. After a few minutes, however, the statements and allegations disappeared and the site was back to normal. The background to the incident is still unclear.
Trump’s chief of staff corrects corona statements by the president
The White House chief of staff has contradicted US President Donald Trump’s statements about an early end to the corona pandemic. “We’re not going to get the pandemic under control,” admitted Mark Meadows on CNN. “It’s a contagious virus just like the flu,” he said. The government will get vaccines and treatments. Trump keeps saying at his election rallies that the government will soon get the virus under control.
Despite his contradiction, Meadows assured that the government is trying to contain the virus and will defeat it. “Our ability to deal with it has improved every day,” he said.
Trump’s challenger Joe Biden then accused the president of capitulating to the corona virus. Biden described Meadows’ remarks as an admission that Trump’s government “has given up even trying to bring the pandemic under control”. The Democratic candidate has made the Corona crisis a central issue in his election campaign.
Trump and Biden attack each other in the last TV duel
Less than two weeks before the US election, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden met in a second and final TV duel. One of the big topics of the debate was the coronavirus in the US. Incumbent Trump called for an end to the conditions so that the economy could recover. If there were more lockdowns because of the virus, many people would lose their jobs and the number of suicides would rise, said the Republican in Nashville, Tennessee. “You know, I’ve said it many times, the cure can’t be worse than the problem itself,” Trump said. Biden will close the whole country, he warned.
Biden replied that he did not want to close the country, but rather put an end to the pandemic. The Democrat accuses Trump that many Americans would still be alive without his mismanagement of the pandemic. “Anyone who is responsible for so many deaths should not remain President of the United States of America,” said the Democrat. During the debate, he also criticized Trump for not taking responsibility. Trump then replied: “I take full responsibility” – but at the same time he insisted that China was responsible for the virus.
According to data from the University of Johns Hopkins, there are around 8.4 million confirmed coronavirus infections in the United States, a country of 330 million people. The number of new infections recently rose again to around 60,000 per day. Around 223,000 people have died so far – more than in any other country in the world.
In a heated argument, the two candidates also argued about the future of health care. Trump accused his challenger of striving for “socialist medicine”. He, on the other hand, wants to abolish the system of health insurance and nursing care introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama and referred to as “Obamacare” and to introduce “a wonderful new health care system” that will also find approval in Congress.
Biden stressed that everyone should have “the right to affordable health care”. The system of a “bidencare” planned by him should also enable affordable prices for drugs. It has nothing to do with socialism or the plans of other democratic politicians like Bernie Sanders. Looking at the primaries in his own party, Biden said: “I hit these people because I disagreed with them.”
Biden firmly rejected allegations of corruption in connection with his son Hunter’s controversial international business. “I’ve never taken a penny from a foreign source in my life,” said the Democrat. Trump accused Biden: “I don’t make money with China, you do. I don’t make money with Ukraine, you do.” Trump has tightened his corruption allegations against the Biden family in the past few days and called on Attorney General William Barr to investigate.
Ex-Vice President Biden pointed out that he had disclosed his tax returns for the past 22 years. “They haven’t issued a single year of their tax returns,” Biden told Trump. “What are you hiding?” Trump reiterated that he would publish his tax returns as soon as an IRS audit was completed. “He’s been saying that for four years,” Biden replied. “Just show them to us. Stop playing games.”
Biden caused a stir in the TV debate when the language came up on Trump’s Korea policy. The Republican was in the process of talking about his “good relationship” with heads of government in other countries – including autocrats – when Biden replied: “And we had a good relationship with Hitler before he invaded Europe.” Biden apparently wanted to make it clear that he considers Trump’s course towards authoritarian rulers to be too soft and therefore a danger to international peace.
Trump had met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un several times to persuade the country to abandon its nuclear weapons program. So far, this has not been successful.
Overall, the second and final duel between the opponents was much more civilized than the first televised debate, thanks to the new rules. Moderator Kristen Welker had asked Trump and Biden right at the beginning not to interrupt each other. The first TV duel at the end of September had slipped into chaos, mainly because of Trump’s interruptions. Surveys had shown that viewers rated it largely negatively. As a consequence, new rules now applied, for example only the microphone of the speaker was switched on for the input statements.
Trump’s balance sheet: promises kept, promises broken
Trump publishes canceled interview in advance
US President Donald Trump published an unabridged version of his interview for the CBS program 60 Minutes before the broadcast date. The recordings distributed on Facebook show how Trump reacts increasingly irritated to presenter Lesley Stahl, who foresees tough questions and confronts him with topics such as the corona pandemic and his dwindling support from white voters in suburbs. A conversation between Stahl and Vice President Mike Pence was also published. CBS criticized the procedure.
“Look at this one-sidedness, this hatred and this indecency from CBS and 60 Minutes ,” lamented the president on Twitter. As a precautionary measure, he also complained about the moderation of his second television debate with his challenger Joe Biden, which will take place on Thursday evening (local time). Kristen Welker was much worse, he complained.
In the unabridged recording, Trump praises himself for creating “the largest economy in the country’s history”. Stahl counters: “You know that is not true.” Whereupon Trump insinuates it would never concern Biden. He repeatedly complains that the media has not been harsh enough with Biden and makes unsubstantiated allegations against Biden and former President Barack Obama. Stahl replied, “This is 60 minutes and we can’t do things that we can’t verify.” In the subsequent conversation with Pence, Stahl accused Trump and his vice-president of not answering questions, but of swinging campaign speeches. That is an insult to the show. Pence replied that he had talked about the things
CBS called the White House’s actions outrageous and announced that it would show the interviews with Trump and Pence on Sunday in an edited form, as well as conversations with Biden and his vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Stahl has been one of the country’s leading correspondents for decades and is very experienced in interviewing presidents
