SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump supplied his prayers to these within the path of Hurricane Milton because it started to lash Florida whereas persevering with to insult his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and different girls — saying he had little interest in stopping even when it turned off feminine voters.
“I don’t want to be nice,” Trump stated at his first of two rallies of the day within the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania. “You know, somebody said, ‘You should be nicer. Women won’t like it.’ I said, ’I don’t care.”
Trump saved up his marketing campaign schedule even because the storm threatened to overshadow the presidential race with fears that it will trigger catastrophic injury in Tampa and different components of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Harris was to fly to Nevada later Wednesday for a western marketing campaign swing, however first attended a briefing on the storm and the federal response that President Joe Biden acquired on the White Home.
Talking in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Trump lobbed private insults at Harris — calling her “grossly incompetent” and “totally ill-quipped to do the job of being President of the United States” — and went after one of many hosts of ABC’s “The View,” which Harris appeared on Tuesday.
He referred to as Sunny Hostin, who’s Black and Latina, “dumber than Kamala.”
”That’s one dumb girl. Sorry. I’m sorry, girls, she’s a dummy,” he stated of Hostin, who had requested Harris if there was something she would have performed in a different way than Biden over the past 4 years. Harris replied that “not a thing comes to mind” — a line the Trump marketing campaign has seized on because it tries to color her as nothing greater than a continuation of Biden’s unpopular presidency within the race’s last stretch.
In a Tuesday social media publish, Trump had stated Harris was “being exposed as a ‘dummy’” and referred to as the hosts of the daytime discuss present “degenerates.”
He’ll seem in Studying, Pennsylvania, afterward Wednesday, the place he’s anticipated to speak concerning the financial system and immigration in a metropolis that’s two-thirds Hispanic.
Hurricane Milton has already disrupted the marketing campaign, simply two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated massive swaths of the Southeast. Trump, who moved to Florida after he left the White Home, postponed a digital occasion Tuesday evening targeted on well being care and postponed a Univision city corridor that was alleged to occur in Miami.
Harris has her personal Univision city corridor deliberate for Thursday in Las Vegas earlier than returning to Arizona for her second go to to each states in much less than two weeks.
Trump, at his rally in Scranton — Biden’s birthplace — stated he was praying for these within the hurricane’s path and needed to “send our love to everyone in Florida. They’re going through a big one tonight.”
“We’re praying for them and asking God to keep them all safe, all those people. I’ve never seen a hurricane like that,” he went on. “So often you know, they talk about it and they talk talk talk because they want you to watch. This is the real deal. This is a bad one.”
Campaigning in Arizona, the place early voting kicked off on Wednesday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, referred to as on the nation to return collectively to assist those that shall be impacted.
“Those are Americans. Those are our neighbors. Those are our family members. Those are our friends,” he stated, calling unifying throughout occasion traces within the face of pure disasters “critical.”
“It’s not about politics. It’s about basic human decency,” Walz stated. “It’s about leadership and character.
Milton is approaching just days after Hurricane Helene killed more than 220 people in six Southeastern states and left behind a swath of destruction that federal, state and local authorities are trying to alleviate even as they now brace for the next storm.
Both Biden and Harris denounced the misinformation and disinformation surrounding the federal response to Helene, including the false assertion that there is a cap on assistance funding families can receive. They also denounced the false notion that funding is being diverted away from Republican-heavy areas and to people in the country illegally and that federal authorities offering aid could eventually steal property from its owners. Both singled out Trump as driving much of the falsehoods.
“I want to be clear about something. Over the last few weeks, there’s been a reckless, irresponsible, and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people,” Biden stated throughout the Milton briefing. “It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken. And it’s harmful to those who need help the most.”
“What a ridiculous thing to say,” Biden stated of the false rumors that funding is being diverted to migrants within the nation illegally. Biden additionally referenced Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ’s false suggestion that “I control the weather,” he stated, calling her feedback like one thing “out of a comic book.”
“It’s beyond ridiculous,” Biden stated. “It’s got to stop.”
He additionally instructed Deanne Criswell, director of the Federal Emergency Administration Company, “You’re doing a hell of a job.”
Harris stated that when the hurricane passes, “We will be there to help folks rebuild.”
Anna Moneymaker through Getty Photos
“This is a storm that is expected to be of historic proportion,” she stated. Addressing Florida residents, Harris added, “Many of you, I know are tough, and you’ve ridden out these hurricanes before. This one is going to be different.”
Harris additionally joined a cellphone name with Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ongoing tensions within the Center East. Trump’s marketing campaign stated that the previous president had spoken to Netanyahu after Iran launched latest missile assaults on Israel.
“World leaders want to speak and meet with President Trump because they know he will soon be returning to the White House and will restore peace around the globe,” Trump marketing campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release.
Biden, in the meantime, already postponed a visit scheduled this week to Germany and Angola, saying, “I just don’t think I can be out of the country at this time.”
Harris spent Tuesday in New York taping interviews on “The View,” with radio character Howard Stern and on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Throughout her interview on “The View” and later amid her taping with Colbert, Harris failed to call main methods her future administration can be considerably totally different from Biden’s.
Trump and his marketing campaign seized on the assertion, with Trump posting that Harris stated “she would have done nothing different” than Biden whom he referred to as “the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.”
Harris had her personal sharp phrases for her opponent. Reacting to experiences in Bob Woodward ’s new ebook, “War” that Trump, whereas president, secretly despatched COVID-19 check kits to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020, once they had been laborious to search out in the US, she stated, “You remember what those days were like?”
“You remember how many people did not have tests and were trying to scramble to get them?” Harris requested throughout the taping with Colbert. “Remember how rare it was to have them?”
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She stated of Trump, “And this man is giving COVID test kits to Vladimir Putin. Think about what this means,” earlier than including, “He thinks Vladimir Putin is his friend. What about the American people? They should be your first friends.”
Trump denied the reporting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the U.S. despatched check kits. which he known as “testers,” however denied that the alternate occurred in secret.
“There were no secret shipments. The pandemic was starting back then,” Peskov stated in a message on Wednesday. “Many countries were exchanging equipment. We sent ventilators. Testers came from America.”
Weissert reported from Washington and Colvin from New York. Mark Scolforo in Scranton contributed to this report.
