President Trump called on a crowd of supporters to “forgive” President Biden after he compared the former president’s supporters to garbage.
“Wow. That’s terrible,” Trump said, invoking Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorable” remarks in the weeks before the 2016 election. “And then she said irredeemable. That didn’t work out.”
The Republican nominee called on his supporters to forgive him during a packed rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“Garbage, I think, is worse,” he said. “But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him.”
BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY
Trump said that Biden “really doesn’t know” what he said.
JON STEWART ADMITS HE FINDS WIDELY CRITICIZED TRUMP RALLY COMEDIAN FUNNY
Please forgive him for not knowing what he said…
“Please forgive him for not knowing what he said,” Trump said. “These people are terrible, terrible, terrible to say a thing like that. But he really doesn’t know. He really honestly, he doesn’t. And I’m convinced that he likes me more than he likes Kamala. But that’s a terrible thing.”
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Trump’s call for unity – and forgiveness – came after the president called Trump supporters’ garbage during a get-out-the-vote call for Voto Latino.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
LIVE UPDATES: BIDEN ATTEMPTS TO DENY CALLING TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DESPITE VIDEO
Biden’s comments came after Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something,” Biden said. “I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people.”
Biden’s remarks came just as Vice President Kamala Harris was set to take the stage for a major rally in Washington, DC.
“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden posted on X later that evening after his comments drew swift backlash.
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say,” he said. “The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”
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“The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating “garbage” in the middle of the ocean,” Bates said.
Harris’ tirade against the former president during closing arguments speech
WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris brought her presidential campaign to the nation’s capital on Tuesday, as she delivered what was billed as her closing argument address to American voters.
With one week until Election Day, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, speaking to a massive crowd of tens of thousands of people near the White House, called on Americans to ‘turn the page’ on former President Trump, the Republican nominee.
“We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict. The fear and division,” Harris said. “It is time for a new generation of leadership in America. And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next President of the United States of America.”
And the vice president, painting a stark contrast with Trump, highlighted that “this election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates. It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”
WHY TRUMP IS MAKING LAST MINUTE STOPS IN THESE TWO BLUE-LEANING STATES
Harris delivered her address from the Ellipse, a large park located just south of the White House and north of the National Mall.
The setting was symbolic for two reasons.
First, the backdrop was the White House, where either Harris or Trump will soon succeed President Biden in the Oval Office.
HARRIS PICKS UP THE PACE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH THE CLOCK WINDING DOWN
And second, Trump headlined a large rally of supporters at the Ellipse on Jan 6, 2021. Many of those who attended Trump’s rally then marched to the U.S. Capital and joined other protesters in storming the building in an attempt to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.
“Look, we know who Donald Trump is. He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election,” Harris said near the top of her 30-minute address.
And she argued that Trump “has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other.”
“This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better,” she charged. And Harris claimed the former president was a “petty tyrant” and emphasized that it’s time for America to reject “the schemes of wannabe dictators” and instead to “start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”
MARGIN OF ERROR PRESIDENTIAL RACE WITH ONE WEEK TO GO UNTIL ELECTION DAY
Trump, who has been indicted multiple times and made history as the first current or former president convicted in a criminal case, has regularly threatened during the 2024 campaign that if he returned to the White House, he would prosecute his political foes.
And both Biden and Harris – who replaced her boss atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July after Biden ended his re-election bid – have repeatedly warned voters that Trump poses a threat to democracy if he’s re-elected.
Harris, repeating a line she’s used with frequency on the campaign trail in recent days, encouraged the crowd to consider two very different futures for the country depending on the outcome of the presidential election.
“In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office,” Harris noted. “On Day One, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”
And Harris argued that “unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,”
The Democratic presidential nominee claimed that the former president “wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table. And I pledge to be a president for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self.”
Harris also used her address to spotlight key policy goals, including working to restore nationwide access to abortion, expanding Medicare coverage for home health care, and boosting the supply of housing in the country.
She also noted that “many of you are still getting to know who I am” after succeeding Biden just three months ago.
Harris once again portrayed herself as a “new generation” of leader.
“I have been honored to serve as Joe Biden’s vice president, but I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office. My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different,” she said.
The Harris campaign said that 75,000 people were in attendance to witness the speech, as the crowd spilled out from the Ellipse across Constitution Avenue and onto the National Mall by the Washington Monument.
Fox News witnessed multiple protesters being led away from the rally site during the address by the vice president.
Responding to the speech, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt charged that “Kamala Harris is lying, name-calling, and clinging to the past to avoid admitting the truth — the migrant crime crisis, sky-high inflation, and raging world wars are the result of her terrible policies.”
Leavitt argued that the vice president “has spent the past four years working hand-in-hand with Joe Biden to destroy our country – but now, she is lying about her record because she has zero policy solutions to offer.”
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And Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley charged that “Kamala Harris will do anything but ‘turn the page’ today in Washington, D.C.—instead, she will stir up division because her America Last agenda has nothing to offer the American people.”
Trump gave his closing argument at a large rally Sunday at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where the former president’s message was partially out shined by controversial comments from speakers during the pre-show that grabbed national headlines.
His message – “Kamala broke it. I’ll fix it.”
Harris’ address came as the latest national polls indicate a margin-of-error race between her and Trump. It’s the same story with the most recent surveys in the seven crucial battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election.
Data guru says pollsters are underestimating VP Harris — not Trump — in key states
CNN data reporter Harry Enten warned on Tuesday that election polling could be underestimating Vice President Kamala Harris rather than former President Trump, who has been historically underestimated in election polling in previous cycles.
“If the polls are going to underestimate Donald Trump, once again, that would be historically unprecedented,” Enten said. “What normally happens is the pollsters catch on, ‘Hey, we‘re underestimating, we‘re not taking into account some part of the electorate.’ They make adjustments, and I think that helps to explain why we have never seen that the same party has been underestimated three times in a row in presidential elections, at least in the last 52 years.”
CNN’s John Berman also asked Enten about the 2022 midterm elections, when Democrats exceeded expectations, and what they might indicate about the polls in key swing states.
“What do we see in 2022 in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin? Well, it turns out that the average poll in those states actually underestimated Democrats by four points. It underestimated Democrats by four points. And I want to apply that to the electoral map because [if] it turns out that the polls underestimated the Democrats like they did in 2022, well Kamala Harris wins a sweep,” Enten said.
CNN DATA GURU SAYS HARRIS STRUGGLING WITH ‘UNDERPERFORMANCE’ FROM YOUNG VOTERS AMID TAYLOR SWIFT ENDORSEMENT
“I think a lot of folks are sort of counting in that Donald Trump will in fact be underestimated by the polls. But when I’m looking at the evidence, I think you got to hold on a second. Maybe that‘ll happen. Maybe it will happen. But I think that there are folks who are underestimating the idea that maybe Kamala Harris will be underestimated by the polls,” Enten concluded.
Enten has also warned that polling has underestimated the former president in the past, and while he was trailing Harris earlier in the cycle, the race for the White House in key swing states is effectively tied.
Polling guru Nate Silver similarly warned in August that Trump has been underestimated in the last two elections.
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In early October, Enten said if the polls are off like they were in 2020, Trump would win in a “blowout.”
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“What happens then? Well, then Donald Trump wins the election in a blowout with 312 electoral votes because he carries all these Great Lake battleground states plus Nevada, plus the other states he was leading in — Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia,” he said at the time.
Trump’s former GOP rival says it’s more important to support policy over personality
As former presidential candidate Nikki Haley sits on standby to assist where she can with former President Trump’s campaign, she said he is the clear choice to serve as commander in chief, because “we know what we’re going to get.”
Earlier this year, Trump and Haley were the final two Republican candidates seeking the party nomination, and at times the feud between them got ugly. But in the end, Trump ousted Haley for the party’s final approval.
The former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador was interviewed on “Special Report” by Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday, the same day Vice President Harris held an event at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., to sell her pitch to voters that Trump is a threat to democracy.
“A lot of Americans have decided where they are,” Haley said, pointing out that Harris continues to go back to the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. “While she wants to go back to Jan. 6, what she doesn’t want to visit is what’s happened since Jan. 6, because we’ve had four years of record inflation. We’ve had unconscionable amounts of illegal immigrants, 500,000 criminal illegals alone coming across that border.”
TRUMP CLAIMS HARRIS RUNS ‘A CAMPAIGN OF ABSOLUTE HATE’ FOLLOWING BACKLASH TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN RALLY
Haley also said Afghanistan fell under the Biden-Harris administration, unleashing a “world war” America is now dealing with.
She also spoke to Baier about who she believes is the best candidate to serve as president.
“It is clear. I mean, look, it’s like what I said at the Republican National Convention. You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” Haley said. “And so, for me, we have the choice. The choice is given. It’s either Donald Trump or it’s Kamala Harris. And for my family, what I’m looking at is the fact that my daughter says she can’t afford groceries. And I look at an economy that’s been tough for all of us.”
HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH A TOP ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN
She said she looks at her son, who worries about paying rent, and her husband, who is a combat veteran.
“All of these things have put us in a much more challenging position. With Donald Trump, we know what we’re going to get,” Haley said. “I don’t agree with Trump 100% of the time, but I don’t’ agree with Kamala Harris on anything.”
TRUMP TAKES JAB AT FORMER GOP RIVAL BEFORE PRAISING HER INVOLVEMENT WITH CAMPAIGN: ‘HELPING US ALREADY’
Haley told Baier the last time she spoke to Trump was in June, and she was asked by the anchor if she was surprised that she had not been deployed to campaign for the Republican presidential nominee.
“They’re very aware that we’re on standby,” she said. “They know that we would be there to help. I’ve helped with some fundraising letters and text messages and those types of things, so we’ve done that. But look, we’re on the same team. It’s their campaign’s decision on what he needs and these last final days. It does not bother me at all.”
While she has not been tapped to campaign, Haley did offer advice to Trump and his campaign during Baier’s interview, saying it has to be a time of addition.
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“This is not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos. This is not a time for them to get overly masculine with the bromance thing that they’ve got going on,” Haley said. “Fifty-three percent of the electorate are women. Women will vote. They care about how they’re being talked to, and they care about the issues. They need to remember that this is a time of discipline, and this is a time of addition.”
Former President Trump’s social media company is now worth more than Elon Musk’s X
Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the social media network Truth Social, now trumps the estimated value of Elon Musk’s X as Election Day looms.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is now valued at over $10 billion after its shares more than quadrupled since late September.
Meanwhile, X Holdings, which was taken private two years ago, is valued at around $9.4 billion, based on the most recent value the investment group Fidelity assigned to its stake in the company.
TRUMP’S TRUTH SOCIAL LOST $58 MILLION IN 2023, AND THE STOCK IS TAKING A HIT
Truth Social’s worth has soared in recent weeks as Nov. 5 nears. On Tuesday, the stock rose almost 9% to $34.17.
TRUMP MEDIA SHARES SURGE IN MARKET DEBUT
Since its listing, Trump Media has been popular with traders who view it as a speculative bet on Trump winning the Nov. 5 election. He owns 57% of the company, making his stake now worth almost $4 billion.
The upward trend of Trump’s social media platform came after the stock had dropped roughly $12 last month.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJT | TRUMP MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORP | 51.51 | +4.15 | +8.76% |
In the quarter ending in June, TMTG lost more than $16 million, while generating $837,000 in revenue.
DEVIN NUNES: TRUTH SOCIAL IS NOW A ‘TRUE START-UP’ AND GIVING PEOPLE FREE SPEECH
While TMTG market valuation is now greater than the estimated value of X, Musk’s platform remains a far bigger social network than Truth Social.
According to Similarweb, X received 706.2m visits last month, while Truth Social received 13.5m.
Musk has become one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in his re-election bid.
Musk officially endorsed Trump over the summer, when the 45th president survived the first assassination attempt on his life this election cycle, and has since joined the campaign trail in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania to rally support and encourage people to vote.
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Along with making appearances at rallies and leading town halls in support of Trump, Musk has contributed more than $70 million to the campaign.
SCOTUS rules on RFK Jr’s effort to have name removed from ballot in two swing states
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied separate appeals by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remove his name from the ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan – a move supported by former President Trump.
“The Supreme Court has unfortunately today sided with the Secretary of State of Michigan and Wisconsin, both Democrats, to undermine election integrity and leave my name on the ballot in both those states,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X following the court’s decision.
Kennedy, who was running as the independent presidential candidate, has been trying to get his name off ballots in key battleground states since he suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump.
“It is a purely political move in the hope that folks who would have otherwise voted for Trump will throw away their vote by voting for me instead,” Kennedy continued in his post.
“Don’t let them undermine this election. Don’t be fooled. I am off the ballot in every other state I have sought to get off of other than Michigan and Wisconsin. So, if you are in Michigan or Wisconsin, please make sure to vote for Donald Trump — DO NOT VOTE FOR ME. Together we will Make America Healthy Again!”
RFK JR SAYS TRUMP MOVE IS SOMETHING NO OTHER PRESIDENT’S DONE BEFORE
“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election,” Cheri Hardmon, senior press secretary for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, said in a previous statement to NBC News.
Fox News’ Bill Mears learned that both Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett referred the cases to the full Court for a vote. While they could have decided them solo, it’s expected with all election-related litigation that the individual justices will defer to the full Court.
It is also not known how the votes went down, but the only public dissent is from Justice Neil Gorsuch – and only in the Michigan case.
When he suspended his campaign, Kennedy said he planned to keep his name on the ballot in safe Democratic and Republican states, but didn’t want to be a spoiler in battleground states.
“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy previously said. “Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues.”
RFK JR URGES CATHOLICS TO VOTE FOR TRUMP IN NEW AD
Republican members of the commission in Wisconsin pushed to grant Kennedy his wish to no longer be on the ballot after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. The commission was deadlocked under opposition from Democrats, who pointed to Wisconsin state law that says once a candidate has filed for office, they must remain on the ballot unless they die.
RFK JR BLAMES ‘CENSORSHIP’ FOR FAILED CAMPAIGN, GIVES DETAILS OF TALKS WITH TRUMP
“We know Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Democratic elections commission member Mark Thomsen said, according to the Associated Press. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”
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The presence of independent and third party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in a state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
Top Puerto Rican official endorses Trump after comic’s rally set ruffles feathers
One of Puerto Rico’s two “shadow senators” endorsed former President Trump only days after comic “Kill Tony” Hinchcliffe delivered a widely-criticized set demeaning the island protectorate at the Republican’s New York City rally.
Shadow Sen. Zoraida Buxo, a Republican, said she was proud to be back in Allentown, Pennsylvania’s third-largest city, and the anchor of a key swing congressional district. Shadow Senators are elected officials who are not seated in the upper chamber, but are tasked with advocating for their territory and its statehood.
In a recent Fox News Digital interview, Allentown Democratic Mayor Matt Tuerk said that for the first time, the city – settled by English loyalist William Allen and historically Pennsylvania Dutch – is Latino-majority. Only Hazleton and Reading reportedly have a higher proportion as of 2022.
Allentown’s population is estimated at 126,000, and about one-quarter is Puerto Rican.
JON STEWART DEFENDS COMEDIAN WHO JOKED ABOUT PUERTO RICO AT TRUMP RALLY: ‘I FIND THAT GUY VERY FUNNY’
Buxo nodded to that development in her speech, about two hours prior to Trump’s estimated speaking time. The president had been delayed leaving another event in Delaware County earlier in the day.
Buxo said she is reminded of her home island’s “steadfast conservative values of community, family, faith and deep love of country.”
“That is home. That is Puerto Rico,” she said.
TRUMP CAMP RESPONDS TO BACKLASH OVER COMEDIAN’S PUERTO RICO JOKE AT RALLY
Without mentioning Hinchcliffe by name in her address, she appeared to reference the controversy, saying “we won’t get rattled, we won’t yield to ignorance [or] foolishness… we will remain focused on what is very important.”
“We all share a desire of change for the good,” she later added.
Buxo slammed the “failed policies” of the Biden-Harris administration, touching on border security, law enforcement and the economy.
She said there are nearly six million Puerto Ricans living stateside, and that about 500,000 reside in Pennsylvania.
“We Hispanics are part of the soul of this country. We have made a difference, and we will again make a difference in this coming election to bring about much-needed change,” she said.
“I urge you to watch out and stay focused on what is truly important when you go to cast your vote … We need change and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are not the option to bring about the kind of change that you need and want.”
She closed her remarks with the endorsement:
“We need the leadership of Donald J. Trump as our Commander-in-Chief and Dave McCormick for a renewed leadership in the United States Senate,” she said.
THE LEFT TWISTS JOYFUL TRUMP RALLY! PLUS COMEDIAN TONY HINCHCLIFFE UNDER FIRE FOR JOKE
“Pennsylvanians – Americans, all – a better future is in your hands – your vote is the most powerful tool you have to bring about change. And for Latinos: (“Give Trump the force of your vote”).
“And for those reasons, I strongly and fully support and endorse Donald J. Trump to be our 47th president to Make America Great Again and to Make Puerto Rico Shine Again.”
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Meanwhile, outside the rally – held at the PPL Center hockey arena and entertainment venue home to the Flyers affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms — a billboard reportedly displayed the Washington Post’s headline following Trump’s Madison Square Garden Event.
Flipping between Spanish and English, according to the New York Times, the type read “Trump rally speakers lob racist insults, call Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage.”
Conversely, the prayer to kick off the event was recited by Roberto Albino, who called himself a “proud Puerto Rican” and complimented Trump.