Category Archives: Joe Biden

‘Masks matter’: Biden says Trump is responsible for contracting coronavirus – video

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Joe Biden says he was not surprised by Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection and delivered a blunt rebuke to the president during a town hall event in Miami, Florida. The Democratic presidential candidate drew a stark contrast with Trump, who on returning to the White House just an hour earlier had instantly removed his face mask for a photo op.

During the NBC event, moderator Lester Holt noted that a recent poll found two in three people think the president bears some responsibility for contracting coronavirus. Biden agreed, saying: ‘Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying, masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is – is responsible for what happens to them.’

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Donald Trump’s desperation to leave hospital shows the dangers ahead

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The president’s carelessness about others’ safety shows he will do almost anything not to lose in November

The desperation that has driven Donald Trump to leave hospital prematurely and theatrically pull off his mask on the White House balcony while in the throes of coronavirus infection gives some measure of how dangerous the next four weeks will be.

Many students of Trump’s life and career have warned that he would be prepared to sacrifice anyone – even those closest to him – to spare himself the humiliation of a one-term presidency, but even they surely could not have anticipated how literal that sacrifice would be.

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‘Listen to the scientists’: Biden urges Trump to support mask wearing – video

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Speaking in Miami, US presidential nominee Joe Biden said he was glad to see his rival Donald Trump's recovery from coronavirus but made a plea for the president to take mask wearing seriously. 

'Now that he’s busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask him to do this: listen to the scientists. Support masks. Support a mask mandate nationwide,' Biden said. 

Trump mocked Biden for his mask-wearing habits during last week's presidential debate, before testing positive for coronavirus. 

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tests positive for coronavirus – live

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A fascinating dispatch from Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair, who cites “two Republicans briefed on the family conversations” in reporting that Donald Trump Jr is worried by his dad’s car-ride-and-tweet-storm response to being hospitalised with Covid-19:

‘Don Jr has said he wants to stage an intervention, but Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,’ a source said. Don Jr is said to be reluctant to confront his father alone. ‘Don said, ‘I’m not going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy,’’ the source added.

One area where the family seems united is over the president’s manic tweeting early Monday morning. After Trump sent out more than a dozen all-caps tweets, the Trump children told people they want Trump to stop. ‘They’re all worried. They’ve tried to get him to stop tweeting,’ a source close to the family told me.

…Trump’s father, Fred Trump Sr, insisted on working even after his Alzheimer’s disease advanced in the 1990s … Every day Fred Sr would go to the office in Brooklyn and they would give him blank papers to sort through and sign. The phone on Fred’s desk was set up so that it could only dial out to his secretary. “Fred pretended to work,” the family friend said.

A new Times/Siena survey has Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump in Arizona, a traditionally conservative state-turned presidential battleground.

Biden leads Trump 49% to 41% in Arizona, with just 6% of likely voters saying they were undecided. He is buoyed by his lopsided support among Hispanics, women and young people. The candidates are effectively tied in their support among seniors, a critical voting block in the state that has soured on Trump amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

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How Covid is accelerating the fight for Black voting rights in the US – video

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Donald Trump’s election campaign in 2016 targeted nearly 3.5 million Black Americans to deter them from voting, and the battle for the right to vote is just as important in 2020. Kenya Evelyn travels to Florida where it's the Democrats' most loyal bloc, Black women, who are also bearing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak, with its impact accelerating the fight for voting rights. From mail-in ballots and early voting, to felon disenfranchisement, Black voters are wielding their power to demand more from Democrats ahead of November


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Trump 14 points behind Biden a month before election, new poll shows

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Trump’s advisers scramble to find a strategy for final weeks, saying ‘it’s important that our campaign vigorously proceed’

Donald Trump’s beleaguered campaign team woke up to another setback on Sunday as the president began his second full day in hospital: a new national poll showing their candidate 14 points behind his challenger Joe Biden with less than a month until the election day.

The NBC/Wall Street Journal survey indicating a 53-39% advantage for the Democratic party’s nominee injected urgency for Trump’s advisers already scrambling to find a strategy for the final weeks of the campaign until 3 November.

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Coronavirus: ‘I’ll be back, I think I’ll be back soon,’ says Trump as Victoria records 12 new cases – live

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A couple of follow ups to those White House photos of Trump Signing Things.

The photos released by the WH tonight of the president working at Walter Reed were taken 10 minutes apart at 5:25:59 pm and 5:35:40 pm ET Saturday, according to the EXIF data embedded in both @AP wire postings that were shared by the White House this evening. pic.twitter.com/EzeqIkGdf7

ZOOM: @realDonaldTrump appears to be signing his name to a blank sheet of paper in this photo. pic.twitter.com/xlNX24CXn4

In the UK, millions of employees preparing to work from home this winter will face a collective hike of almost £2bn on their energy bills, and tougher working conditions, with only a “pittance” in compensation from their employers.

Half the UK’s workforce is likely to work primarily from home over the coming months as they help to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and may see their winter energy bills rise by a fifth as radiators and boilers are kept running through the day.

Related: Working from home in UK over winter ‘will add £100 to fuel bills’

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Chaotic Trump-Biden debate may count for little – voters have already decided

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Interruptions, bickering and a shocking tone may ultimately not matter, pollsters say, as most people have already made up their minds

First-time independent voter Benaja Richardson tuned into Tuesday’s now infamous debate between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden hoping to be presented with a vision of the future and unity amid the turbulence of the current climate.

Instead the 18-year-old student from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a potential swing state, said it opened her eyes to “truly what catastrophic times we’re in”.

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Biden: Trump’s diagnosis is a ‘bracing reminder’ of the seriousness of Covid – video

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he is praying for a 'quick and full recovery' for President Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, after the couple tested positive for Covid-19.

During a campaign speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Biden said he received two coronavirus tests this morning, both of which were negative. He added: 'My wife, Jill, and I pray that they'll make a quick and full recovery. This is not a matter of politics. It's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously.'

The president initially continued to carry out his duties under quarantine from the White House residence on Friday and was showing 'mild symptoms' of Covid-19, an official said, but was later moved to Walter Reed hospital

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Donald and Melania Trump showing ‘mild’ Covid symptoms as Joe and Jill Biden test negative – live

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Here’s where the day stands so far:

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is moving forward with his plans to travel to Michigan today, after testing negative for coronavirus.

According to a pool report, Biden’s motorcade was en route to the airport as of about 20 minutes ago.

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Trump’s Covid diagnosis throws final month of campaign into total confusion

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Huge questions over practical matters of rallies and travel, but also of whether Trump falls ill – and what that means for the election

Hours after the announcement that he had tested positive for Covid-19, Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Florida for a campaign rally on Friday and announced that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, who also tested positive, would enter quarantine.

Related: What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

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What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

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Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 – but what happens if he can’t carry out his presidential duties?

Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.

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Trump joked while people suffered with Covid. Well, is now the time to stop? | Marina Hyde

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Maybe the real victims of the president’s diagnosis are his MAGA disciples who don’t believe the virus even exists

Well, it’s definitely a plot twist. Like a lot of people who sat through Tuesday’s presidential debate, I’m amazed the week has ended with Donald Trump ingesting bleach, and not me.

As you may vaguely have heard, the US president and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus – which feels untimely given that, mere hours earlier, Trump had been declaring: “The end of the pandemic is in sight.” Perhaps this is a one-last-job movie. Alternatively, picture a Wuhan bat staring pensively into the fireplace as its butler suggests not thinking too hard about Trump’s motivations. Some poorly facepainted men just want to watch the world burn.

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Trump rejects change to rules despite chaos and cringe of first debate

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  • President interrupted and talked over Biden and moderator
  • Commission wants changes for ‘more orderly discussion’

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has rejected calls to change the rules of the next two presidential debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden after the first chaotic event in Cleveland was marred by constant interruptions and outbursts.

Related: Trump signals he won't agree to rules changes for debates – live

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Trump signals he won’t agree to rules changes for debates – as it happened

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From me and Joan E Greve:

In a memorable moment from the Republican National Convention, Guilfoyle rallied supporters in what Guardian Washington bureau chief David Smith described as “a high-octane audition for Evita – without an audience”.

She said that Democrats “want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear” and later screamed, “Ladies and gentlemen, leaders and fighters for liberty and the American Dream: the best is yet to come!”

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A contrast of styles: New Zealand v US leaders’ election debate – video

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New Zealand and the United States both had leaders' debates this week, and some political junkies noticed a distinct difference in tone. In New Zealand, where the Labour leader and incumbent prime minister Jacinda Ardern faced off against National leader Judith Collins, the pair exchanged compliments in a debate described by Collins as 'robust and a win for politics'. Meanwhile, in America, president Donald Trump's attacks on his Democratic rival Joe Biden turned highly person 

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Joe Biden tells white supremacist groups to ‘cease and desist’ – video

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Joe Biden warned white supremacist groups including the Proud Boys to 'cease and desist', in Alliance, Ohio, the second stop of his Build Back Better train tour to Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and the Proud Boys during Tuesday night’s election debate, and on Wednesday Trump claimed he had never heard of Proud Boys, after saying on Tuesday they should 'stand back and stand by'.

The Proud Boys have since offered for sale T-shirts with the motif 'standing by'

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Biden tells white supremacist groups to ‘cease and desist’ after Trump’s debate ’embarrassment’ – live

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When a reporter asked Trump about his comments on the Proud Boys last night, the president asked for a “definition” of the extremist far-right group.

Trump says he does "not know who the Proud Boys are," but they should "stand down and let law enforcement do their work."

(He said they should "stand by" last night.) pic.twitter.com/kgi2R8DgN9

Trump just spoke to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving for Minnesota, where he will hold campaign events this evening.

Addressing his comments last night on the Proud Boys, Trump claimed he did not know who the extremist far-right group was.

Related: Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacy fits pattern of extremist rhetoric

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What does the first climate question at a US debate in 20 years reveal?

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The question framed the existence of a human-made climate crisis as something that is for some Americans still debatable

The long-awaited climate question in last night’s presidential debate broke a 20-year silent streak from moderators on the crisis – thrusting it into prime time but also revealing just how stuck in the past much of the US is on the issue.

After more than an hour of chaos as the candidates talked over each other, the Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump: “What do you believe about the science of climate change and what will you do in the next four years to confront it?”

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The Guardian view on the US presidential debate: a bad night for the world | Editorial

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The dismal spectacle reminded viewers what is at stake in November for the US – and the rest of us

One unmistakable winner emerged from Tuesday’s presidential debate: Xi Jinping. The loser was the American public – and anyone else unfortunate enough to have sat through the grim 90-minute spectacle.

Variously described by commentators as a trainwreck, dumpster fire, shitshow and the worst debate in presidential history, it reflected the state of the race and the nation after four years of Donald Trump. This is America in 2020: wracked by a pandemic that has killed 200,000 people and highlighted its deep structural failings on healthcare and inequality, as well as the parlous state of its politics – a realm of bitter divisions in which facts appear to be optional.

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