Harris rallies with Cheney at birthplace of the GOP after Trump doubled down on election lies: Live

At a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, on Thursday, Donald Trump continued to repeat lies about the 2020 election, just a day after the release of a court filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith that outlineda sprawling criminal case against the Republican presidential nominee over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Smith’s latest filing in a Washington DC federal court was unsealed by Judge Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday and detailed the former president’s alleged “increasingly desperate efforts” to cling to power with “knowingly false claims of election fraud”.

Responding on Truth Social, Trump furiously – and baselessly – claimed the allegations are an “obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine and Weaponize American Democracy, and INTERFERE IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.”

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris visited birthplace of the GOP to campaign with anti-Trump Republican Liz Cheney.

The vice president was joined by the former Wyoming representative in Ripon, Wisconsin, where political meetings in 1854 led to the formation of what became the Republican Party.

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen — a lifelong Democrat — has formally endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket in an Instagram video. He also ominously called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime”.

Key Points

• Bruce Springsteen endorses Harris, calls Trump ‘most dangerous candidate’ in his lifetime

• Donald Trump ‘pursued multiple criminal means to overturn election’ new special counsel filing claims

• Trump posts furious and defiant reaction to election subversion filing

• Kamala Harris to campaign with Liz Cheney in birthplace of the GOP

• Melania defends ‘fundamental’ right to abortion in memoir despite husband bringing about demise of Roe v Wade

• Trump campaigns in Saginaw, Michigan, after vendors fight outside venue

Watch: Harris joins Cheney on stage

23:57 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney says Harris will inspire children — ‘especially our little girls'

23:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney says: “I know that a President Harris will be able to unite this nation. I know that she will be a president who will defend the rule of law, and I know that she will be a president who can inspire all of our children — and if I might say so — especially our little girls.”

Watch: Applause for Pence... at a Harris rally

23:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney says Trump did nothing after hearing of death of civilian on Jan 6

23:37 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney reminds crowd of threat of Trump on Jan 6

23:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney says: “Our president has a particular solemn obligation to ensure and guarantee the peaceful transfer of power. Since the beginning of the republic, every president in our history has fulfilled that duty, every president until Donald Trump.”

‘I was a Republican even before Donald Trump started spray tanning’

23:28 , Oliver O'Connell

Liz Cheney walks out to “Change” by Taylor Swift while campaigning for Kamala Harris in Wisconsin.

The crowd chants: “Thank you, Liz!”

“I was a Republican even before Donald Trump started spray tanning,” says Cheney.

“I have never voted for a Democrat. But this year, I am proudly casting my vote for VP Kamala Harris,” Cheney says. She “is standing in the breach at a critical moment in our nation’s history. She’s working to unite reasonable people from all across the political spectrum.”

She adds that putting patriotism ahead of partisanship is not an aspiration, it is our duty.

23:23 , Oliver O'Connell

Watch LIVE: Harris and Cheney at Ripon College in Wisconsin

23:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump’s attorneys say Jack Smith’s superseding stretches statutes ‘beyond their breaking point'

23:08 , Oliver O'Connell

As part of their motion to dismiss the federal election interference case, Donald Trump’s legal team is arguing that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment stretches statutes “beyond their breaking point based on false claims that President Trump is somehow responsible for events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021”.

Like the former president, they point the finger at former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

His attorneys pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Fischer, arguing that the ruling “requires the dismissal of Counts Two and Three of the Superseding Indictment, and its logic fatally undermines Counts One and Four as well.”

They further say that Smith “exaggerated” Trump’s interactions with then-vice president Mike Pence, and then “falsely” alleged that Trump tried to leverage the attack on the Capitol to stay in office: “These false allegations do not render President Trump factually or legally responsible, let alone criminally culpable, for the actions of others. Absent direct calls to imminent lawless action, which the Office does not come close to alleging, bedrock First Amendment principles permit public speakers, including President Trump on January 6, to speak their mind without fear of criminal prosecution for the unlawful acts of others.”

Read their filing here

Today Judge Tanya Chutkan gave Trump until November 7 to respond to Smith’s evidentiary filing, made public yesterday.

Watch: Trump had to be pushed to respond to California wildfires as president

22:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Biden’s student loan cancellation free to move forward

22:50 , AP

President Joe Biden’s latest attempt at student loan cancellation is free to move ahead — at least temporarily — after a judge in Georgia decided that a legal challenge should be handled by a court in Missouri.

Biden’s plan has been on hold since September after seven Republican-led states challenged it in federal court in Georgia. But on Wednesday, a federal judge decided not to extend the pause and instead dismissed Georgia from the lawsuit, finding that it lacked the legal right, or standing, to sue.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall opted to send the suit to Missouri, one of the remaining states in the case. On Thursday, those states filed a request asking the Missouri court to block the plan.

Continue reading...

Biden's student loan cancellation free to move forward as court order expires

The politics of Hurricane Helene prove tricky

22:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Eric Garcia writes:

Rick Scott is one of the most conservative voices in the Senate. He has tussled with Joe Biden over Social Security and Medicare. A major supporter of Donald Trump, he even traveled to New York during Trump’s criminal trial.

But on Thursday, as Biden touched down in Florida to assess the damage of Hurricane Helene, Scott greeted Biden. And it’s not the only time he’s done so. Last year, after Hurricane Idalia ravaged the state, he did the same — while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was running for president at the time, elected not to meet with Biden at all.

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From Trump’s GoFundMe to Harris’s travels, the politics of Helene prove tricky

Trump Media COO resigns

22:16 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump Media & Technology Group’s chief operating officer Andrew Northwall resigned in late September, the company revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The Nasdaq-traded company did not provide an explanation for Northwall’s resignation, but said it “plans to transition his duties internally”.

In the same filing, former president Donald Trump’s company — parent of social media platform Truth Social — said it will release nearly 800,000 shares of its stock to an early investor, in accordance with a recent order by a Delaware judge.

At today’s closing price, those shares would be worth around $12.7m, CNBC reports.

County clerk who pushed Trump’s lies sentenced to nearly a decade behind bars

22:10 , AP

A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years behind bars Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome.

Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.

The man was affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.

Continue reading...

County clerk sentenced to nearly a decade behind bars for election data scheme

Bruce Springsteen endorses Harris, calls Trump ‘most dangerous candidate’ in his lifetime

22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Bruce Springsteen has endorses Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president, while offering a damning condemnation of Donald Trump.

The boss says in an Instagram video: “Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime. His disdain for the sanctity of our constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of president ever again. He doesn’t understand the meaning of this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American.”

Watch: Trump accuses Biden and Harris of stealing money from FEMA for illegal immigrants

21:53 , Oliver O'Connell

IN FOCUS: How an ‘October surprise’ could change everything in the US election

21:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Craig Unger writes:

Today, former president Jimmy Carter is in hospice care in Plains, Georgia, where he has just celebrated his 100th birthday. But even now, some 44 years after his presidency ended, he has not gotten his due. Carter was defeated at the polls by Ronald Reagan in 1980, having been wrongfully characterised as a failed leader who allowed America to be humiliated by Iran.

In fact, he was the victim of a traitorous covert operation for which the Republicans were never held accountable. The real story has never been fully told. In 1980, the term “October Surprise” first became widely used in reference to efforts to win the release of 52 American hostages incarcerated at the American embassy in Tehran. Obtaining their freedom became a decisive factor in determining who would win the election – Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter.

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How an ‘October surprise’ could change everything in the US election

Elon Musk has been sending millions of dollars to GOP-aligned groups for years

21:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Elon Musk was reportedly giving tens of millions of dollars to conservative political causes years before he made headlines this summer for creating a pro-Trump political action committee.

Beginning in 2022, the X billionaire funneled an estimated $60m to groups affiliated with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller and 2024 candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Independent has contacted Musk, DeSantis, and Miller’s legal advocacy group for comment.

Josh Marcus reports from San Francisco.

Elon Musk has been sending millions of dollars to GOP-aligned groups for years

Watch: Biden delivers remarks on hurricane response in Georgia

21:24 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge agrees to let Trump respond to Jack Smith immunity filing after election

21:22 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Tanya Chutkan has agreed to let Donald Trump file his response to Special Counsel Jack Smith's immunity filing after the election.

Trump had asked for late November, but Chutkan split the difference and gave him until November 7 — two days after the election — which could be the day the race is called if the vote is close in any of the key battleground states.

Watch: Trump doubles down overtime remarks that saw him labelled a ‘scab’ by Harris campaign

21:18 , Oliver O'Connell

It ‘felt emotionally true’: Trump biopic writer explains decision to include controversial rape scene

21:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Journalist and author Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the script for the forthcoming Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, has spoken about his thought process behind one of its most controversial scenes.

Directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, the film, which is described as an “origin story,” stars Sebastian Stan as a young Trump, alongside Succession’s Jeremy Strong as his mentor, lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.

The Eighties-set movie, which had its world premiere in May at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, features several unflattering scenes, including Trump using drugs and undergoing cosmetic operations.

More controversially, it shows Trump raping his first wife Ivana, to whom he was married from 1977 to 1990.

Inga Parkel reports.

Trump biopic writer explains decision to include controversial rape scene

Melania Trump addresses ‘I don’t care’ jacket scandal in new memoir — guess who she blames...

20:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Melania Trump has addressed the scandal surrounding the controversial “I don’t care” jacket she wore while visiting migrant children separated from their parents on the southern border.

The former first lady claims in her new memoir that the real motivation behind the coat, emblazoned with the slogan “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” was to challenge “the media’s false narratives” about her and as a protest against reporting based on anonymous sources.

Rhian Lubin has the story.

Melania Trump addresses ‘I don’t care’ jacket scandal in new memoir

Firefighters Union will not endorse in presidential election

20:44 , Oliver O'Connell

There will be no endorsement from the Firefighters Union in the 2024 presidential election. The IAFF was an early backer of Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.

Vance says Trump won the 2020 election, then doubles down on the lie

20:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Senator JD Vance repeated a tired Republican lie from 2020 — that Donald Trump actually won the election, despite all evidence to the contrary — and then doubled down on it during a recent recorded encounter.

On Thursday, comedian Jason Selvig posted a clip of an interaction he had with Vance on X. During their brief encounter, Selvig repeatedly asked Vance if Trump won in 2020. The settled issue of who won the 2020 election came up again after Vance told viewers who tuned into Tuesday’s vice presidential debate that he would have helped Trump carry out his “alternative electors” scheme to maintain power in the White House.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Vance says Trump won the 2020 election - then doubles down on the lie in new clip

Watch: Trump continues to falsely claim he won 2020 election

20:37 , Oliver O'Connell

How’s the crowd at today’s Trump rally?

20:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Well... the venue is not exactly full.

Sebastian Stan reveals secret to playing Trump in biopic

20:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Sebastian Stan has revealed he ate ramen with “a bunch of soy sauce” to prepare for his role as Donald Trump in a new biopic.

The Apprentice sees the Marvel actor play a young version of the former president as he makes his way in New York real estate and seeks advice from mentor Roy Cohn (Succession’s Jeremy Strong).

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stan and director Ali Abbasi discussed the actor’s physical transformation into Trump.

Kevin E G Perry has the story.

Sebastian Stan ate ramen and soy sauce to ‘puff up’ his face to play Donald Trump

Watch LIVE: Trump campaigns in battleground state of Michigan

20:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Watch live: Donald Trump campaigns in battleground state of Michigan

Full story: Melania Trump’s publisher demanded $250,000 for interview about her memoir

20:10 , Oliver O'Connell

The book publishing company behind Melania Trump’s memoir reportedly asked CNN to pay $250,000 for an interview with the former First Lady ahead of the book release.

The news channel says Skyhorse Publishing sent an email containing demands for the huge “licensing fee” and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) last week as the former First Lady promotes her forthcoming memoir, Melania.

Ariana Baio has the full story.

Melania Trump’s publisher demanded $250,000 for interview about her memoir

In pictures: Crowd awaits Trump in Saginaw, Michigan, after vendors fight outside venue

20:05 , Oliver O'Connell

Watch: The Good Liars ask Vance if Trump won the last election

20:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Mike Pence was Trump’s ‘Baby Reindeer’ says Jimmy Kimmel

19:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Jimmy Kimmel has joked that Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s “Baby Reindeer” after damning new allegations came to light in special counsel Jack’s Smith’s latest court filing in the federal election interference case.

The 165-page dossier, which was unsealed by a federal judge in Washington DC on Wednesday, alleges that Trump intentionally lied to voters, election officials, and even his own vice president in a “desperate” effort to cling to power. It marks the most detailed case laid out by prosecutors to date, coming after the Supreme Court ruling granted him some immunity from criminal prosecution.

The filing outlines how Trump allegedly repeatedly pressured Pence to stop the certification of the election in President Joe Biden’s favor, against the will of American voters.

Kimmel brought up the unsealed document on Wednesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, taking a jab at Pence and Trump’s fractured relationship and likening it to the characters in Netflix’s psychological thriller.

James Liddell has the story.

Jimmy Kimmel says Jack Smith’s filing shows Mike Pence was Trump’s ‘Baby Reindeer’

Former Colorado county clerk sentenced to nine years for voting data scheme

19:40 , AP

A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years behind bars Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome.

Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.

The man was affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.

At trial, prosecutors said Peters, a Republican, was seeking fame and became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.

A one-time hero to election deniers, Peters has been unapologetic about what happened.

The political transformation of Mark Zuckerberg

19:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Io Dodds reports on how the CEO, chairman, and controlling shareholder of Facebook parent company Meta, went from liberal darling to phone calls with Trump.

How Mark Zuckerberg went from liberal darling to phone calls with Trump

Watch: Former RNC chair says Harris campaign needs to focus on voters sitting on sidelines

19:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump-endorsed candidate sends debate off rails saying military needs ‘alpha’ recruits who will ‘eat their own guts’

19:10 , Oliver O'Connell

A Donald Trump-endorsed Senate candidate left debate moderators in shock on Wednesday when he declared that the US military needs to recruit “alpha” men and women into its ranks prepared to tear out and devour their own intestines – and not drag queens.

Hung Cao, a retired US Navy captain, went head-to-head against veteran Democrat Tim Kaine in a debate on Wednesday as they spar over the US senate seat in Virginia.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.

MAGA Republican says military needs ‘alpha’ recruits who will ‘eat their own guts’

Coming up: Liz Cheney to campaign with Harris

18:50 , AP

Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican antagonists, will join Democrat Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Wisconsin on Thursday aimed at reaching out to moderate voters and rattling the former president.

Cheney was the top Republican on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, earning Trump’s disdain and effectively exiling herself from her own party.

Cheney lost her Wyoming seat to a Trump-endorsed candidate two years ago and she endorsed Harris, the Democratic nominee, last month. The two women will appear together in a historic white schoolhouse in Ripon, where a series of meetings held in 1854 to oppose slavery’s expansion led to the birth of the Republican Party.

Harris is opening a two-day stay in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Trump will be in Michigan on Thursday as the two candidates grapple for wins in the “blue wall” battleground states, which also include Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin Republicans for Harris launched ahead of VP’s visit

18:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has announced the launch of Wisconsin Republicans for Harris ahead of her visit to the state with former GOP rep Liz Cheney.

More than 20 Republicans from across the state lead the group and write in an open letter: “Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values. To ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong for another four years, we must elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House.”

Trump laughed at Sidney Powell over ‘crazy’ election conspiracy, court filing shows

18:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump laughed at his former attorney Sidney Powell over her “crazy” 2020 election conspiracies and compared them to something from Star Trek, according to the new legal filing submitted by special counsel Jack Smith in the former president’s federal election interference case.

New details about the inner workings of Trump’s alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election were revealed in the bombshell document, unsealed on Wednesday, including how even the former president thought Powell had appeared “unhinged” at a now infamous November 2020 press conference.

Rhian Lubin has the story.

Trump laughed at Sidney Powell’s conspiracy and compared it to Star Trek, docs say

Watch: Judge in Trump case simply ‘moving her docket along’ and doing ‘what judges do'

18:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Democrats react to the debate with worries about Walz and anger at Vance

18:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Eric Garcia writes:

As the vice presidential debate wore on and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz found his feet, hitting Republican Senator JD Vance more and more, a gathering of Democrats just outside of Washington DC shifted from silent to celebratory.

Democrats and Kamala Harris supporters, many of them military veterans, had descended on the home of Micaela Pond in Arlington, Virginia, to watch what is likely to be the final face-to-face clash between the two presidential campaigns before voters head to the polls.

Continue reading...

Democrats react to the Walz-Vance debate with worry and anger

‘Nothing new’ from ‘deranged’ Jack Smith, Trump tells NewsNation

17:50 , Oliver O'Connell

National correspondent for NewsNation’s Cuomo, Ali Bradley, secured the first interview with Donald Trump following the unsealing of Jack Smith’s latest filing in the election interference case.

The former president said about the special counsel: “He's a deranged person. I call him deranged Jack Smith. He just lost the big documents case. That was the biggest of them all. They said the documents case and they said that was the toughest of them all. Let me tell you, we just won it. And it was won strongly and completely. And it was a total victory in Florida. And he is a person who is trying and he works for Kamala and he works for Joe. This was a weaponization of government, and that's why it was released 30 days before the election. And it's nothing new in there, by the way. Nothing new.”

The Mar-a-Lago classified documents case was dismissed by a judge appointed by the former president and did not make it to trial. Smith does not work for Vice President Kamala Harris, nor President Joe Biden.

Here’s Alex Woodward’s report on what we learned from Smith’s new filing.

Jack Smith outlines Trump’s ‘multiple criminal means’ to overturn 2020 election

Top pollster says RFK Jr endorsing Trump moved needle more than Taylor Swift backing Harris

17:30 , Oliver O'Connell

While Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris’s presidential bid captured the world’s attention, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s backing of Donald Trump actually had a greater impact on the outcome of the 2024 election, according to a top pollster.

Speaking on his Risky Business podcast, Nate Silver – founder and former editor-in-chief of data-driven news outlet FiveThirtyEight – described RFK Jr’s endorsement the “most important” of the race so far.

James Liddell reports.

RFK Jr’s endorsement of Trump moved needle more than Swift’s of Harris, pollster says

Trump protests innocence, accuses DOJ of election interference

17:24 , Oliver O'Connell

In his latest post on Truth Social, Donald Trump continues to protest his innocence in reaction to what has come to light in the new filing made by Jack Smith in the 2020 election subversion case against the former president.

He also accuses the Justice Department of election interference.

Here’s what Trump posted:

FOR 60 DAYS PRIOR TO AN ELECTION, THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE IS SUPPOSED TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAT WOULD TAINT OR INTERFERE WITH SAID ELECTION. THEY DISOBEYED THEIR OWN RULE IN FAVOR OF COMPLETE AND TOTAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE. I DID NOTHING WRONG, THEY DID! THE CASE IS A SCAM, JUST LIKE ALL OF THE OTHERS, INCLUDING THE DOCUMENTS CASE, WHICH WAS DISMISSED!

Watch: SEIU union launches pro-Harris ad focused on care economy

17:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Ex-Republican strategist says Vance’s debate performance was ‘hated by hardcore MAGA'

17:10 , Oliver O'Connell

JD Vance’s debate performance was “hated by hardcore MAGA social media,” according to a top former Republican strategist.

Former GOP operative and author Stuart Stevens said that Donald Trump’s running mate was on a “personal rehabilitation campaign aimed at 2028” in the debate against Tim Walz on Tuesday night – something he claims did not go down well with the MAGA movement.

“Dive into hard core MAGA social media. A lot of them hated Vance’s debate. They wanted Vance to expose Harris as the devil,” Stevens said in a post on X.

“Instead he was on a personal rehabilitation campaign aimed at 2028.”

Rhian Lubin reports.

JD Vance’s debate performance ‘hated by hardcore MAGA social media’: GOP strategist

Did Melania Trump’s publisher try to charge CNN for an interview?

17:04 , Oliver O'Connell

CNN reports that when the network reached out to Melania Trump’s book publisher to request an interview with the former first lady about the publication of her memoir they were sent an NDA agreement with the stipulation that a “licensing fee” for the sitdown would cost $250,000.

The network did not sign the agreement and the publisher has said the payment demand was sent by mistake.

“Neither Melania nor anyone from her team knew anything about the NDA and the document that was sent reflected an internal miscommunication,” Tony Lyons, the president and publisher of Skyhorse, told CNN in a statement. “Had CNN signed an NDA, in the normal course of business, we would have approached Melania’s team to discuss [specifics of the interview].”

Everything you need to know about the election interference case against Trump

16:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Woodward explains the case against Donald Trump as new evidence comes to light in Jack Smith’s latest court filing.

Trump’s election interference trial explained

Watch: John Bolton reassesses support for Dick Cheney in light of Harris endorsement

16:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A ranting, QAnon-adjacent fired weatherman is trying to pass himself off as a moderate Republican

16:20 , Oliver O'Connell

MAGA Republicanism has a pretty simple recipe for success: untested political novice with celebrity appeal, plus right-wing populism, equals election victories.

John Bowden looks at how this is playing out on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

In Michigan, a QAnon-adjacent fired weatherman rebrands as a ‘moderate’ Republican

Is there a political motive behind Melania Trump’s beliefs on abortion rights?

16:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Journalist and former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson believes there is a political strategy to Melania Trump confirming her support for abortion rights.

Carlson wrote on X: “Why now? Ya she’s selling a book — but don’t think for a minute there’s not massive political strategy here to try & move the needle w/ suburban moms & independents …. As both Trump & Vance have tried to moderate destroying a woman’s choice.”

Watch: Ex-Trump White House aide backs Harris for president

15:50 , Joe Sommerlad

Cassidy Hutchinson, formerly an assistant to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows who spoke up over the trauma of January 6, has been discussing her endorsement of the Democratic nominee with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, backing the VP to safeguard the US Constitution.

Truth Social: Trump attacks Harris over inflation and Hurricane Helene response and Jack Smith over ‘election interference'

15:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s the latest all-caps rant from the Desk of Don:

“PRICES ARE TOO HIGH! THE CONSUMER IS ANGRY AT THIS INCOMPETENT ADMINISTRATION. KAMALA HAS NO IDEA HOW TO BRING PRICES DOWN. SHE IS AFRAID TO EVEN DISCUSS IT WITH THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA. EVEN WORSE THAN HER V.P. CANDIDATE, SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A CLUE….BUT I DO, AND IT WILL HAPPEN FAST!”

A short while earlier, he was back to bashing Kamala and President Biden over their hurricane response (which has been proactive and positive and is starting to make him look bad) and accusing Jack Smith of election interference for having the temerity to investigate him for election interference.