Trump news: President calls out ‘Barack Hussain Obama’ as supporter at Florida rally appears to make ‘white power’ symbol

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Donald Trump calls India's air "filthy"

Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Friday with a rally targeting senior voters at The Villages retirement community in Florida.

Trump made eyebrow-raising claims like Biden taking away seniors' air conditioning and remembering Barack Hussain Obama, as a member of the crowd appeared to make the so-called "white power" dog whistle in the background.

Biden, meanwhile, returned to his home state of Delaware to outline his coronavirus pandemic plan a day after the US hit a record for the number of new Covid-19 cases, announcing a mask mandate on all interstate transportation and in all federal buildings.

The candidates were coming off their final in-person debate, which turned out to be a remarkably civil affair with lower ratings than their previous encounter.

Trump was also back to work in the White House to announce an historic peace deal between Israel and Sudan, with five more - including Saudi Arabia - expected to be announced after the dam broke with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in recent weeks.

Trump tried to get Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Biden on a phone call in front of reporters. Bibi did not take the bait, with commentators noting that he is probably keeping a keen eye on the current polling numbers.

Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz said that Trump may have won the battle of the last debate, but Biden has won the war. He says it's "impossible" for the president turning around voter sentiment this late in the election cycle.

Trump is also up against a campaign that has broken all records for its spend on television and digital advertising in a presidential election, with still more than a week to go before polls close.  

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Key Points

• Trump’s video montage of Biden’s fracking ban comments viewed 11 million times
• Trump claims if Biden wins election US seniors will have no AC during the summer or heat in winter
• Biden outlines plans to beat Covid-19
• Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignores Trump's push to attack Biden during historic Sudan peace announcement
• Bidens claims debate win in snap polling
• Four key takeaways from the final face-off between the candidates

[23 October 2020 22:46 · Justin Vallejo]

Remember Barack Hussain Obama? Trump does

Meanwhile, a member in the audience appears to make the “white power” ok symbol in the background at his rally.  

[23 October 2020 22:50 · Justin Vallejo]

[23 October 2020 23:25 · Justin Vallejo]

Ballots can’t be tossed out over voter signature, court says

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously Friday on a key concern surrounding an avalanche of mailed ballots, prohibiting counties from rejecting them if the voter’s signature on it does not resemble the signature on the voter’s registration form.

Two Republican justices joined five Democratic justices in the decision.

The verdict was a victory for the state’s top election official, Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat who had asked the court to back her up in a legal dispute with President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican lawmakers.

“County boards of elections are prohibited from rejecting absentee or mail-in ballots based on signature comparison conducted by county election officials or employees, or as the result of third-party challenges based on signature analysis and comparisons,” the justices wrote.

Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a battle to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. With Democrats voting by mail at an almost 3-to-1 rate over Republicans, the prospect of disqualified ballots poses a greater threat to Biden’s candidacy. - AP

[23 October 2020 23:43 · Justin Vallejo]

Trump’s video montage of Biden’s fracking ban comments viewed 11 million times

As The independent’s Louise Boyle reports, Donald Trump’s video montage of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris saying they wouldn’t support fracking and fossil fuels racked up 11.8 million views since being posted 16 hours ago on Twitter.

That would explain claims from the White House that Twitter is now suppressing the video behind a warning label.

A fact-check by CNN shows that in the past, Mr Biden has made conflicting statements on fracking that his campaign has later sought to clarify.  

During the back and forth with Mr Trump, the former VP said: “ I said, no fracking and/or oil on federal land.”

[24 October 2020 00:06 · Justin Vallejo]

Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignores Trump's push to attack Biden during historic Sudan peace announcement

Benjamin Netanyahu snubbed Donald Trump's attempts to gang up on Joe Biden during the announcement of a peace deal to normalise relations between Israel and Sudan.

The Israeli prime minister and leaders of Sudan joined the Oval Office summit by phone as Mr Trump egged the conversation toward his Democratic opponent.

"Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal Bibi? Sleepy Joe, do you think he would have made this deal? Somehow I don't think so," Mr Trump said.

Doing his best to remain diplomatic, Mr Netanyahu ignored the prompt and ended the conversational thread by turning it back onto flattery of Mr Trump.

Watch his response:

[24 October 2020 00:27 · Justin Vallejo]

Borat says pro-Trump channel OAN took his ‘daughter’ inside the White House

Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen’s infamous character, has taken pro-Trump channel OAN to task in a new clip.

The video was unveiled on Friday from Borat’s Twitter account. In the clip, Baron Cohen, doing a voiceover as Borat, claims that OAN – also known as One America News Network – took his daughter “into the White House”, “no need for security checks or Covid test”.

The video features actor Maria Bakalova, who stars in the newly released Borat sequel as the titular character’s daughter, Tutar.

Bakalova/Tutar is seen alongside OAN correspondent Chanel Rion entering what appears to be the White House press briefing room

The Independent’s Clémence Michallon reports.

[24 October 2020 00:45 · Justin Vallejo]

ICYMI: GOP pounces on Biden’s debate pledge to ‘transition’ away from oil industry

As the final showdown between President Trump and Joe Biden on Thursday drew to a close, climate change — and what it means to tackle the monumental challenges the planet faces at this late hour  — was front and centre.  

Linking the climate crisis to job growth, Mr Biden stated he would “transition” away from the oil industry in the US.

Mr Trump, who presented no plan to voters for tackling climate change and has previously referred to the crisis as a “hoax”, quickly seized on the remark, seeing it as a statement to exploit in his favour in key election states.  

“I would transition away from the oil industry, yes,” the former VP said on the debate stage as Mr Trump badgered him. “The oil industry pollutes, significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.”

The Independent’s Louise Boyle reports.

[24 October 2020 00:48 · Justin Vallejo]

Trump supporter appears to flash white power sign at Florida rally

Trump may have claimed he was the “least racist person in this room” during Thursday night’s debate, but one of his supporters at a Friday rally in Florida seemed to make no such pretenses, flashing what appeared to be white power hand sign behind the president as he spoke.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the apparent sign, which occurred while the president was speaking to a packed rally at The Villages, a massive luxury retirement community in Florida.

The alleged gesture follows a video in June, also from The Villages, where in a heated exchange between pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators, a Trump supporter reportedly yelled “Trump 2020” and “white power". The president retweeted the now-deleted video, according to NPR.    

The Independent’s Josh Marcus goes deeper on this story today.