Donald Trump told reporters losing was ‘never easy’ for him and he had not yet written an acceptance or concession speech hours before the end of voting in the US election.
Trump added there was ‘tremendous unity’ during a stop at the Republican national committee in Arlington, Virginia, where he was thanking staff
Continue reading...Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power – uncertainty over result will put that to the test
As the US prepared for a Joe Biden or a Donald Trump victory, Americans were forced to consider an extraordinary scenario in which Trump loses, but refuses to concede.
Continue reading...Deborah Birx says ‘we are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase’ as Trump claims US is ‘rounding the corner’
White House scientific adviser Dr Deborah Birx warned the United States is entering a new “deadly phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, and urged an “aggressive” approach to containing its spread.
Birx gave the warning in a written memo delivered to top administration officials Monday. It is a direct contradiction of one of Donald Trump’s central, and false, closing campaign messages – that the US is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic.
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America is waking up to go to the polls today in an election campaign that has in some senses been very volatile, but also, as far as polling numbers are concerned, very stable.
Joe Biden has held a solid lead in the national polls for month. But as we saw in 2016, it isn’t getting the most votes that decides who ends up in the White House – Hillary Clinton polled 2.86m more than Donald Trump. We all know what happened next.
Related: US braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger
We don’t want to neglect mention of the celebrities who joined the campaign trail yesterday – that might be illegal?
At Donald Trump’s final rally of the evening, in Michigan, the president called the rapper Lil’ Pump onstage, incorrectly referring to him as “Lil’ Pimp”. We included footage of that moment earlier in the blog, check it out.
Just performed GLORY with my brother @JohnLegend at the Final @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris Rally on Election Eve in Philadelphia. Vote tomorrow. Let’s make history. pic.twitter.com/u3AzzxqZMc
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Donald Trump’s speech in North Carolina has focused on gripes about his polling numbers, the press and social media.
The president complained that Twitter’s trending topics are always “boring” and focused on him, instead of exciting things like “scandals” and “affairs.”
Joe Biden is closing his presidential campaign in much the same manner that he started it: by arguing this election represents a “battle for the soul of the nation.”
“The character of America is literally on the ballot,” the Democratic nominee said at his drive-in rally in Cleveland. “It’s time to take back our democracy.”
Continue reading...New restrictions have begun across Europe, many greeted by protests
The head of the World Health Organization has gone into self-quarantine after someone he had been in contact with tested positive for Covid-19.
With the virus again spreading rapidly across Europe and elsewhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is based in Geneva, made the announcement by Twitter late on Sunday night, but stressed he had no symptoms.
Continue reading...Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the national polls for the presidential election, but that doesn’t guarantee the Democratic candidate victory. Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for almost the entire 2016 campaign and ended up losing in the electoral college.
Because the presidential voting system assigns each state a number of electoral college votes, which go to the state’s victor regardless of the margin of victory (with the exception of Nebraska and Maine), a handful of swing states will probably decide the election and be targeted heavily by campaigners.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino examines how the race is developing in the areas that could decide the election
Continue reading...Donald Trump has threatened to fire America’s top infectious disease expert during a rally in Florida, just 24 hours before the US presidential election.
Anthony Fauci has served for more than three decades as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and has been critical of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. During the midnight rally in Florida, crowds chanted: ‘Fire Fauci!’, which the president allowed to continue for several seconds before responding: ‘Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election.’
Continue reading...President claimed Bond actor helped him get planning permission for Scottish resort
It was less licence to kill and more dramatic licence. Donald Trump’s claim that the late Sean Connery assisted him in getting planning applications passed in Scotland fell apart quickly on Sunday when the chair of the planning committee said the James Bond star was not involved.
In a series of tweets, two days prior to the US election, Trump paid tribute to Connery, saying he was “highly regarded and respected in Scotland and beyond”. It was announced on Saturday the James Bond actor had died aged 90.
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Jim VandeHei brings us his zen-like plans for having a calm and relaxing election night on Axios. His key points include:
One notable feature of the campaign has been several publications breaking with tradition to either back a Democratic nominee when you usually expect them to lean to the Republican ticket – or to indeed make presidential endorsements when they usually don’t. But the Trump campaign are making a lot of noise this morning about the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opting for a Republican for the first time since 1972.
This newspaper has not supported a Republican for president since 1972. But we believe President Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year.
Via @pgopinions https://t.co/dZYEQp3pGY
We share the embarrassment of millions of Americans who are disturbed by the president’s unpresidential manners and character — his rudeness and put-downs and bragging and bending of the truth.
None of this can be justified. The president’s behavior often has diminished his presidency, and the presidency. Most Americans want a president who makes them proud.
The Biden-Harris ticket offers us higher taxes and a nanny state that will bow to the bullies and the woke who would tear down history rather than learning from history and building up the country.
It offers an end to fracking and other Cuckoo California dreams that will cost the economy and the people who most need work right now. “Good-paying green jobs” are probably not jobs for Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, or Toledo, or Youngstown.
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Trump again defending his supporters who surrounded the moving Biden campaign bus: "They escorted the bus. And the radical left said 'oh what a horrible thing that is, to escort the bus.'" He says they're just people with an American flag and a Trump flag.
As trump criticised the US top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci, the crowd began to chant, “Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!”.
Trump responded: “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait ‘til a little bit after the election, please. I appreciate the advice.”
Continue reading...The US is “in for a whole lot of hurt” under the coronavirus pandemic, senior public health expert Anthony Fauci said, predicting a winter of 100,000 or more cases a day and a rising death toll.
Related: Wisconsin battles rapid rise in Covid cases amid partisan disputes over safety
Continue reading...The president has questioned American democracy for four years, creating challenges abroad
The last time a Republican won the popular vote for president, the winning candidate declared that the spread of democracy was central to American security.
“It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world,” said George W Bush in his second inaugural address in 2005.
Continue reading...The US has set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours, according to one count with just over 100,000 new infections recorded.
Continue reading...America was on edge on Saturday as Donald Trump and Joe Biden launched a final campaign blitz amid a surging pandemic, record early voting and gnawing uncertainty over when the outcome of the presidential election will be known.
Continue reading...His books were a hit long before he took office, and some Christians see his presidency as a blessing
The pursed, stony expression is familiar in Peter Odoakang’s striking oil painting of Donald Trump, but not the outfit. The US president is portrayed wearing a wine- and peach-coloured agbada and cap, traditional Yoruba attire, fitting him into the mould of a south-western Nigerian leader or “big man”, as Odoakang says.
“People see him in agbada and say wow, it fits him. People really laugh about it and react to it,” says Odoakang, 23, of the portrait commissioned by a company in Lagos, which he says brings Trump’s “personality into our setting”.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has attacked the doctors who have been treating coronavirus patients on the frontline of the pandemic. Speaking during a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, the US president said: 'Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. You know that, right? I mean, our doctors are very smart people.'
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In several of his rallies this week, Donald Trump has accused the media of focusing on the coronavirus crisis only for political purposes, in order to damage him.
Barack Obama has trolled him for it in rallies in Florida, where the former president warned that America could not afford four more years of Trump and needed to put Joe Biden into the White House next week.
A federal judge this afternoon ordered the US Postal Service (USPS) to adopt “extraordinary measures” at some processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday’s presidential election.
US district judge Emmet Sullivan said he was ordering the measures in places where election mail processing scores for completed ballots returned by voters were below 90% for at least two days from October 26-28.
Continue reading...Both candidates to campaign in Minnesota and Wisconsin while president rails against supreme court over North Carolina ruling
The two US presidential candidates swung through northern battleground states on Friday amid signs that the coronavirus pandemic was once more threatening to overcome hospital capacity in several US regions.
Donald Trump was due to hold a succession of airport rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Joe Biden was scheduled to have drive-in rallies in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Continue reading...Although polling averages gave Clinton the edge over Trump in 2016 there are significant differences in the evidence today
For months, activists and Democratic party officials have been telling Joe Biden supporters that the only answer to the question “can we trust the polls?” is to go out and vote for Biden, and then get others to do the same.
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