US election 2020: Donald Trump meets Nigel Farage, Joe Biden casts his vote
Donald Trump has greeted the UK’s Brexit frontman Nigel Farage at one of his final rallies, where he called him one of Europe’s most powerful men.
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Donald Trump has welcomed Britain’s Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage at one of his final reelection rallies, bestowing on him the title “king of Europe.”
Mr Farage was with a group of Republican politicians attending Trump’s rally in Goodyear, Arizona, with only six days until the election that Democratic challenger Joe Biden is currently forecast to win.
Mr Trump called Mr Farage, famous for his longtime activism to get Britain out of the European Union, up on stage and called him “one of the most powerful men in Europe.” “He’s a very non-controversial person, right?” Mr Trump joked.
“Very shy.”
Taking the microphone, Mr Farage responded to Mr Trump that he was neither -- not “compared to you.”
A former Eurosceptic member of the European Parliament and ex-leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Mr Farage noted he had come to the United States four years ago “to bring the Brexit message that you can beat the establishment, and that is what Donald Trump did.”
“The king of Europe we have right here,” he said of Mr Farage.
BIDEN VOTES EARLY
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has cast his vote for the White House in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, with less than a week until election day.
News Corp Australia visited Mr Biden’s hometown and caught a glimpse of Mr Biden – who made a rare, in-person public appearance – and his wife Jill Biden, as they left an event at Wilmington’s downtown Queen Theatre.
The couple then visited an early polling booth, where they cast their votes days after Mr Biden’s rival, President Donald Trump, voted for himself in Florida.
A handful of people cheered and yelled out “Hey, Joe!” as the Bidens left the theatre, with Mr Biden waving and smiling at the crowd.
Mr Biden’s security detail, which was about half the size of that for Mr Trump in Newport Beach Orange County witnessed by News Corp Australia last week, then moved off through the empty streets of this neat, well-groomed town.
The Bidens live in a mansion in a beautiful leafy area just minutes away from the centre of town, which is only 30 minutes drive from Philadelphia.
Mr Biden decried the rioting and looting which hit Philadelphia this week after a knife-wielding man was shot dead by police.
“What I say is that there is no excuse whatsoever for the looting and the violence. None whatsoever. I think to be able to protest is totally legitimate. It’s totally reasonable,” he said after voting.
“But I think that the looting is just as the victim’s father said, `Do not do this … You’re not helping. You’re hurting. You’re not helping my son.’
“And there are certain things we’re going to have to do as we move along …. And that is how we deal with how you diminish the prospect of lethal shooting in circumstances like the one we saw. That’s going to be part of the commission I set up to determine how we deal with these … But there’s no excuse for the looting.”
Mr Biden also announced a joint campaign event on Saturday with his former boss, Barack Obama, in Michigan.
Earlier, Mr Biden had stayed largely huddled in his home state on Wednesday (local time) six days before a monumental US election, finetuning his pandemic response plan while US President Donald Trump continues to crisscross America at a frenetic pace, seemingly unfazed by COVID-19’s dangers.
It comes as US senators in Washington clashed with tech titans, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, over censorship and suppression.
Mr Trump used the hearings to slam the media for only covering “COVID, COVID, COVID”, while also directing his ire at his opponent, tweeting: “Media and Big Tech are not covering Biden Corruption!”, alluding to the New York Post’s bombshell report on Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
With a remarkable 73 million Americans having already cast their ballots, many fearing the risk of voting in crowded polling stations on election day next Tuesday, Mr Trump was making final pitches to voters in battleground states that he desperately needs to hold in order to secure four more years in office.
But while Mr Trump overnighted in Nevada ahead of back-to-back rallies in Arizona, his challenger remained largely out of sight in Delaware, a breathtaking contrast of campaign styles days before an election that both sides describe as the most important of their lifetimes.
Mr Biden attended a briefing with health experts Wednesday before delivering remarks on his plans to “beat COVID-19,” according to a campaign statement.
The pandemic has up-ended all aspects of American life and overshadowed the election, with polls showing it may well be the president’s undoing.
Some 57.4 per cent of Americans disapprove of Mr Trump’s coronavirus response, while 39.8 per cent approve, according to a poll average compiled by tracker FiveThirtyEight.com.
By contrast voters are far more evenly split over the economy, which Trump declares his strong suit. A RealClearPolitics average shows 50 per cent approve of his handling of the economy while 47.8 disapprove.
With most polls showing Mr Biden leading in the final week, the 77-year-old former vice president has gone on electoral offence as he seeks to expand his state-by-state path to victory on November 3.
On Tuesday he visited Georgia, traditionally Republican territory, and he has said he will travel to Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan in the race’s closing days. All are states that Mr Trump won in 2016 but which are up for grabs this year.
But he has opted for low-key events that follow guidelines established by the Mr Trump administration’s own health agencies: small crowds, social distancing, and mask-wearing.
Mr Trump, who at 74 caught and overcame COVID-19, has thrown that caution to the wind.
He hosted massive rallies Tuesday in Michigan and Wisconsin and then in Nebraska, where he was hunting for a single Electoral College vote, a sign of how Trump’s margin for error has narrowed.
Each event featured thousands of supporters crowded together and many not wearing masks, even as coronavirus cases spike to record levels across the United States.
In Lansing, Michigan, Mr Trump stressed he was orchestrating an economic “super-recovery” while a Biden presidency would trigger a “depression.”
But with American and European COVID-19 cases rising and no agreement yet on a new US pandemic rescue package in Congress, the Dow Jones on Wednesday sank three per cent by midmorning, its fourth straight session of losses.
A Trump remark aimed to show his economic efforts were working may have backfired when, addressing women in the Michigan audience, he said “we’re getting your husbands back to work.”
Women, millions of whom lost their own jobs during the pandemic, have sharply turned away from Trump, particularly those in the suburbs, polls show.
Mr Trump has repeatedly stressed that the US is “rounding the turn” on the pandemic, but figures do not bear that out. More than 226,000 Americans have died and daily case averages have risen, a scenario that throws a wrench into Mr Trump’s re-election hopes.
His own chief infectious disease specialist, Dr Anthony Fauci, offered a warning on Wednesday.
Even if a COVID-19 vaccination campaign launches in the coming months, “it will be easily by the end of 2021, and perhaps even into the next year, before we start having some semblances of normality,” he told a University of Melbourne panel.
Mr Biden on Wednesday again blasted Mr Trump’s handling of the crisis and urged voters to come out in record numbers against the president.
“Only when we vote can we begin to steer America’s future in a new direction — a direction of truth over lies, science over fiction, and hope over fear,” he said in a statement.
US SENATOR SLAMS HUNTER BIDEN ‘COVER-UP’
Meanwhile, US senators clashed with technology CEOs on Wednesday (local time) over legal immunity and suppression of content on social media as a contentious hearing kicked off on reforming rules governing internet platforms.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairing the Commerce Committee hearing, opened the session by renewing a call for reform of a law called Section 230 which gives online services immunity from blame for content on their platforms created by third parties.
“My concern is that these platforms have become powerful arbiters of what is true and what content users can access,” Mr Wicker said at the hearing featuring video appearances by chief executives Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sundar Pichai of Google and Jack Dorsey of Twitter.
“The American public gets little insight into the decision making process when content is moderated, and users have a little recourse when they are censored or restricted.”
Mr Wicker took aim specifically at Twitter, questioning Mr Dorsey on how that platform decides on how to label or remove content, contrasting actions on tweets from Mr Trump and those from China’s government.
“Your platform allows foreign dictators to post propaganda without restriction yet your routinely restrict the president of the United States,” Mr Wicker said, pointing to one message in China accusing the US military of introducing the coronavirus.
Mr Dorsey, who has grown his distinctive beard long, defended Twitter’s actions, saying: “We act as quickly as we can. We have acted against tweets from leaders around the world.”
Senator Ted Cruz also teed off on Mr Dorsey over the social-media site’s censorship of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden reporting, in an extended diatribe during the hearing on Capitol Hill.
“Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report, and what the American people are allowed to hear?” thundered Mr Cruz at the social-media mogul. “Why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC, silencing views to the contrary of your political beliefs?”
A flat-footed Mr Dorsey, while conceding that Twitter erred in blocking the New York Post over its reporting — a block that persists to this day — repeatedly insisted that the outlet was free to return to the platform, so long as it deletes tweets on the story.
The heated exchange began with Mr Cruz grilling Mr Dorsey on the logic that went created the blackout.
“Why did Twitter make the decision to censor the New York Post?” he asked.
Replied Dorsey, “We have a hacked materials policy … limiting the spread of materials that are hacked. We didn’t want Twitter to be a distributor of hacked materials. We found that the New York Post, because it showed the direct materials … [and] it was unclear how those were obtained, that it fell under this policy.”
As Mr Cruz pointed out, the New York Post clearly noted in its reporting that the trove of emails and other personal materials were obtained from a laptop that formerly belonged to Hunter Biden, and was abandoned at a Delaware electronics repair shop, becoming the owner’s property under store policy and agreed to in writing by Biden.
He also blasted Mr Dorsey for erring on the side of censorship, even if they had doubts.
“They weren’t hiding what they claimed to be the source,” Mr Cruz said. “Is it your position that Twitter, when you can’t tell the source, blocks press stories?”
Protested Mr Dorsey, “No, not at all. Our team made a fast decision.”
He also noted that policy has since been amended to avoid a similar situation.
But Mr Cruz then pressed on why the New York Post’s Twitter account remains blocked, two weeks after the ban was rescinded.
“They have to log into their account, which they can do at this minute, delete the original tweet, which fell under our original enforcement actions, and they can tweet the exact same material, the exact same article and it would go through,” Mr Dorsey said.
TRUMP’S GLOVES CAUSE A STIR
On Tuesday (local time), Mr Trump ended yet another busy day on the campaign trail in Nebraska, telling his supporters he plans to “win, win, win”.
The US president made a pit stop to the city of Omaha on Tuesday evening local time, but unlike previous appearances, it’s his outfit rather than his controversial comments that have got voters talking.
The US President took to the stage wearing a pair of black leather gloves, and within minutes, it became the topic of conversation on Twitter, where opinions were divided.
“Random comment: President Trump looks great wearing black gloves with his suit,” one person wrote.
I like Black Glove Trump pic.twitter.com/cALLPW7YRt
— Scipio Arizonas🇺🇸🇻🇦 (@SArizonas) October 28, 2020
“I need some Trump gloves. @realDonaldTrump put those on the market,” another tweeted.
One user, clearly not appreciating the fan, commented, “Those black gloves Trump is wearing today just make him look more evil. Most people can wear black leather gloves and just look normal.”
Another wrote, “Trump is wearing OJ’s gloves as he talks about “vanquishing the vaccine”.
The temperature was hovering at around -3 Celsius in Omaha during the event.
TRUMP ‘COULDN’T BE HAPPIER’
Meanwhile, Mr Trump says he “couldn’t be happier” that America’s top job has cost him “billions of dollars”, as he claimed Democratic rival Joe Biden was “too scared” to lead the country.
Speaking in West Salem, Wisconsin, the US President told crowds: “Unlike Biden who has made a fortune in politics … this has cost me billions of dollar, and you know, I could not be happier.”
Mr Trump also turned to body language analysis to attack his opponent, saying, “Biden is soft, weak and too scared to be president.
“There’s bad body language there …. That’s a lot of bad body language from Joe.
“One thing about this job – you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to want it. This is tough.”
MELANIA’S COVID TIP: ‘DO NOT CLOSE DOWN OR HIDE IN FEAR’
Earlier, First Lady Melania Trump made her first campaign appearance in support of her husband’s bid for re-election.
Speaking in Atglen, Pennsylvania, the first lady told a crowd: “Thank you for the all the love you gave us when our family was diagnosed with COVID-19. We are feeling so much better now thanks to healthy living and some of the amazing therapeutic options available in our country.”
Mrs Trump was backed by American flags and wore army-green as she addressed the crowd who broke into chants of “Four more years! Four more years!”
In her speech, which she delivered with her characteristic broken English, Mrs Trump spoke warmly of her husband who she described as “tough, successful and fair.”
“He has a very big heart and a great sense of humour,” she said.
Referring to his habit of being a prolific Twitter user, Mrs Trump acknowledged, “I do not always agree with the way he says things but it is important to him that he speaks directly to the people he serves,” to which the crowd laughed and applauded.
“Donald is a fighter. He loves the country and he fights for you every day.”
Mrs Trump referred to the coronavirus pandemic when she said, “We do not close down or hide in fear.”
Mrs Trump praised the healthcare workers and scientists who have been working during the pandemic and said that both political parties needed to focus on distributing a vaccine to “save millions of lives over the long term”.
She criticised the Democrats for driving partisan issues and “wasting taxpayers dollars in a sham impeachment.”
“Meanwhile I watched Donald working hard to keep people informed, doing all he could do to keep us all safe.”
Mrs Trump also had some strong words for Joe Biden and asked the crowd to ask themselves if they thought he could get anything done if he was elected.
Mr Trump is riding high after his Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the country’s highest court. But Mr Trump also went on the attack against his opponent Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama and the media’s “obsession” with the coronavirus pandemic.
In another tweetstorm, Mr Trump accused the media of not wanting to talk about anything other than the virus and falsely claimed that “we are rounding the turn” when statistics show that infection rates are rising across the majority of the US.
“Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on COVID, COVID, COVID. We are rounding the turn. 99.9%,” Mr Trump tweeted.
He also pointed to a report in the US that said hospital admissions had lowered amid rising case numbers.
“Death rate of people going into hospitals is MUCH LOWER now than it was.
@MSNBC. Wow, MSDNC [sic] has come a long way! The fact is that we have learned and done a lot about this Virus. Much different now than when it first arrived on our shores, and the World’s, from China!”
Mr Trump also used the opportunity to take a dig at Mr Biden and Mr Obama.
“Obama is drawing VERY small (tiny) numbers of people. Biden is drawing almost no one. We are drawing tens of thousands of people. You’ll see that again today. The Great Red Wave is coming!!!”
Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid. We are rounding the turn. 99.9%.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020
But, campaigning for Mr Biden in Florida on Tuesday (local time), the former US president bit back.
Speaking about Mr Trump he pointed out, “He was fussing about the crowd size of inauguration again. Saying his is bigger.”
“Who’s thinking about that right now?” Mr Obama asked.
The ex-president rattled off the most recent COVID-19 numbers.
“He’s jealous of COVID’s media coverage!” Mr Obama remarked. “If he had been focused on COVID from the beginning, cases would not be reaching new record highs …” he continued.
Mr Obama said Mr Trump “turned the White House into a hot zone.”
“And over the weekend his chief of staff, and I’m quoting here, I’m not making this up. His chief of staff on a news program said, ‘We’re not going to control the pandemic.’
“Yes he did and yes we noticed,” Mr Obama said.
The former president also slammed Mr Trump for saying “not much” when asked if he’d change his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Not much? Not much? Really? Not much? You can’t think of anything you might be doing differently,” Mr Obama said, pointing out how Mr Trump had said “inject bleach” during a White House press conference.
Talking about Joe Biden: “He’s not going to screw up testing, he’s not going to call scientists idiots, he’s not going to host superspreader events at the White House and then take it on a tour all over the country.”
TRUMP APPLAUDS ‘PIONEER’ JUDGE
On Monday night (local time), Mr Trump applauded the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, after she was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice in the United States.
The ceremony to confirm Judge Barrett took place just over an hour after the Senate confirmed the nomination in a 52 to 48 vote.
“It is highly fitting that Judge Amy Coney Barrett fills the seat of a true pioneer for women, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg,” Mr Trump said at the White House ceremony.
Democrats have been highly critical of Judge Barrett, considered to be conservative, replacing Bader Ginsberg, who was a pioneer for equal rights and social reform.
Shortly after Judge Barrett was confirmed to the US Supreme Court on Monday, Democrats warned Republicans that they would regret their decision to hold a vote so closely to an election.
“The Republican majority is lighting its credibility on fire … The next time the American people give Democrats a majority in this chamber, you will have forfeited the right to tell us how to run that majority,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said during a floor speech Monday, according to Fox. “My colleagues may regret this for a lot longer than they think,” he added.
But Mr Trump said that Judge Barrett being “the very first mother of school-aged children to become a Supreme Court justice” was “very important.”
Judge Barrett was officially sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas, who was also mired in controversy during his confirmation in 1991, when a former colleague, Anita Hill, accused him of sexual misconduct.
During her acceptance speech, Judge Barrett made a series of pointed remarks about the politicisation of her appointment, saying, “a judge declares independence not only from congress and the president, but also from the private beliefs that might move her.”
Judge Barrett then said, “even though we judges don’t face elections, we still work for you,” and promised to carry out her duties “without fear or favour” and without personal political preference.
Following the swearing in, Judge Barrett and Mr Trump appeared on the Truman Balcony together before being joined by their spouses.
No one on the balcony wore masks or adhered to recommended social distancing guidelines.
SENATE CONFIRMS CONEY BARRETT
Judge Barrett’s appointment is regarded as a major victory for Mr Trump as he celebrates his third conservative appointment to the court.
Despite the controversy over her nomination, polls show a majority of Americans support the Senate confirming her now. The Republican-dominated Senate voted 52-48 in favour of her appointment.
The 48-year-old mother of seven was appointed to the federal court of appeals for the seventh circuit (Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois) by Mr Trump in 2017.
He nominated her to sit on the Supreme Court following the death in September if the iconic progressive Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
She will become the 115th judge of the nine-person Supreme Court since it was first convened in 1789.
She will be the fifth female justice in the court’s history and the seventh Catholic.
Conservatives believe she will tilt the ideological balance of the bench for decades — infuriating Democrats.
Mr Trump boasted of the victory hours earlier during a rally in Pennsylvania calling Judge Barrett “one of our nation’s most brilliant legal minds”.
“She will defend our rights, our liberties and our God given freedoms,” Mr Trump said. “We were all watching in great amusement as she was so-called grilled by the opposition. That was easy.
“I’m glad she’s not running for president. I’d much rather go against sleepy Joe.”
Judge Barrett, previously a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, is a favourite among religious conservatives and will be the seventh Catholic on the nine-person court.
Her appointment – a job for life – has been strongly opposed by the Democrats on procedural grounds, saying Ginsburg’s vacancy should not be filled until after the November 3 election.
Mr Trump has countered that it is his right as president to make a nomination.
She will be the youngest judge on the court.
Democrats were furious, one Senator saying “there will be consequences”. The Democrats have threatened to “pack” the court if Mr Biden wins, adding seats to the court to ensure it has a liberal-progressive bias.
EARLY VOTING AMERICANS DEMAND RIGHT TO CHANGE VOTE
Meanwhile, many Americans who have already cast early votes in the US election have asked if they can change their minds, with New York one of a handful of states giving some that unexpected right.
More than 58.5 million have already cast their ballots, and searches for “Can I change my vote” started trending over the past few days — linked to searches for “Hunter Biden,” according to Google Trends data.
It comes in the wake of damaging reports about the Biden family’s business dealings.
As the President Donald Trump danced to YMCA at rallies, the New York Post reported that the biggest interest in changing votes has come from Arizona, Tennessee and Virginia, all states that — like most of the US — only give residents one shot at the polls.
But “in some states, you can submit your ballot, have a change of heart and, and submit a new ballot,” Matthew Weil, director of the Election Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told American news network Newsy.
That includes New York, at least for those who mailed in an absentee ballot.
“The Election Law recognises that plans change,” the Empire State’s Board of Elections says.
“Even if you request or cast and return an absentee ballot, you may still go to the polls and vote in person,” the rules state.
“The Board of Elections is required to check the poll book before canvassing any absentee ballot. If the voter comes to the poll site, on Election Day or during early voting and votes in person, the absentee ballot is set aside and not counted.”
Those who change their mind after mailing in a vote can also go to the County Board of Elections to request a new ballot to override the initial one, with the last one sent in counting.
But those who voted early in-person do not get the same second chance. “Once you’ve voted at a machine, that’s it,” a Board of Elections spokesman told The Post. “You cast one vote and that is complete.”
Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin all have specific election laws allowing residents to change their minds after casting an initial vote — with those in the Badger State even getting three chances.
In a recent update, the Wisconsin Elections Commission also noted that “many voters” had been getting in contact to see how they could revoke their initial absentee ballot — something they can easily do.
“A voter, whether voting by absentee ballot in the clerk’s office or by mail, or at the polling place, can receive up to three ballots (the first two are spoiled),” the commission notes, saying it “has been the law in Wisconsin for many years.”
Michigan also has clear-cut rules allowing an early mailed-in vote to be overridden.
“If a voter has already voted absentee and wishes to change their vote … a voter can spoil their ballot by submitting a written request to their city or township clerk,” state law says.
Minnesota voters also get a chance — though not if they have left it this late.
“You can ask to cancel your ballot until the close of business two weeks before Election Day,” the office of Secretary of State Steve Simon says. If they contact the election office before then, though, they can have a new ballot mailed or vote in person on Election Day.
Washington state also allows voters to “cancel a ballot at any time before Election Day,” said Weil, the Election Project director, with the state not counting any mailed-in votes until polling closes.
TRUMP PLAYS BACK BIDEN’S WORDS AT RALLIES
Massive “Jumbotron” screens have been used at rallies by Mr Trump to play videos mocking his rival’s fluid policy positions on fracking and the oil industry in three back-to-back rallies in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Mr Trump has committed to a packed schedule of rallies around the key swing states this week, poking fun at Mr Biden for “hiding in his basement”.
Unlike Mr Trump, Mr Biden’s appearances on the campaign trail have been sparse.
“I am not closing down the oil industry or banning fracking,” Mr Biden said in his appearance in Pennsylvania earlier this week.
It comes as reports emerge of Americans who voted early wanting to change their vote after media coverage of the business dealings of Mr Biden’s son Hunter.
Mr Trump said that Mr Biden has “waved a white flag on life” – and claimed his rival is at 50 per cent mental capacity.
Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania ahead of his rally, Mr Trump was asked about Mr Biden’s comments on the Trump administration “waving a white flag” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Trump said that Mr Biden was the one waving a flag of surrender on his own life.
“This guy doesn’t leave his basement. He is a – he’s a pathetic candidate, I will tell you that,” the president told reporters.
During his rally in Allentown – one of three events to be held in Pennsylvania earlier this week – Mr Trump mocked Mr Biden, claiming he was at “50 per cent” mental capacity.
The US President showed a number of videos at his rallies showing former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attacking Mr Biden during the primaries over his apparent plans to reduce welfare programs.
“You have been on the floor of the Senate time and time again, touting the need to cut Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ programs,” Senator Sanders said to Mr Biden in one clip.
“That is not true,” Mr Biden snapped back.
Mr Trump called the clip “devastating.”
“That’s a devastating video. I just saw it for the first time. That’s devastating,” he said.
BIDEN GAFFE: ‘FOUR MORE YEARS OF GEORGE’
Mr Trump also blasted the media for protecting Mr Biden and mocked the former Vice President after he appeared to confuse the current commander-in-chief with former US President George W. Bush.
The 77-year-old Mr Biden was speaking to supporters at a virtual concert on Sunday (local time) as he continues to shun large rallies over coronavirus fears.
Mr Biden appeared to stumble over his words as he said the Democrat campaign was fighting against “four more years of George”.
His wife Dr Jill Biden then appeared to quietly correct him under her breath, and Mr Biden went back to referring to his opponent as “Trump”.
Following the gaffe, Mr Trump slammed Mr Biden on Twitter.
“Joe Biden called me George yesterday. Couldn’t remember my name. Got some help from the anchor to get him through the interview. The Fake News Cartel is working overtime to cover it up!”
Joe Biden called me George yesterday. Couldn’t remember my name. Got some help from the anchor to get him through the interview. The Fake News Cartel is working overtime to cover it up!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2020
“The character of the country, in my view, is literally on the ballot,” Mr Biden said. “Four more years of George, um, George, gonna find ourselves in a position where if Trump gets elected, we’re gonna be in a different world.”
George Bush was finishing his second term in office when Barack Obama and Mr Biden ran in 2008.
WHY BIDEN THINKS TRUMP COULD STILL WIN
But Mr Biden has said Mr Trump can still win the 2020 US election because delegitimising the race to the White House is part of “how he plays” his strategy.
CBS’ 60 Minutes program in America aired its full interviews with the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates after Mr Trump walked out of the interview last week when it was recorded with journalist Lesley Stahl.
Mr Biden said he knows it will be a hard fight to win against Mr Trump.
“I’m one of those folks, or competitors, it’s not over till the bell rings. And I feel superstitious when I predict anything other than going to be a hard fight,” Mr Biden said.
“We feel good about where we are. But, you know, I don’t underestimate how he plays.”
Mr Biden said Mr Trump is “trying to sort of delegitimise the election,” and those efforts are “all I think designed to make people wonder whether or not they should, whether it’s worth going to vote. Just the intimidation factor”.
"I feel superstitious when I predict anything other than [it’s] going to be a hard fight,†says Joe Biden about the outcome of the presidential election. https://t.co/UNKF4PsWPn pic.twitter.com/hvN8HV1YnG
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 26, 2020
Mr Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, who was also interviewed, said she thought Mr Trump is racist.
When asked: “Do you think the president is racist?” she replied: “Yes, I do.
“You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first Black president of the United States.”
“Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban. It all speaks for itself.”
Does Kamala Harris think President Trump is racist?
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 26, 2020
“Yes, I do. You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first Black president of the United States.†https://t.co/EF7jsaRXM5 pic.twitter.com/w3n8zUbU6D
In his interview, Mr Trump said his social media presence is important in light of “fake news.”
But then he claimed he was getting tougher questions than Mr Biden.
“I wish you would interview Joe Biden like you interview me,” he said.
“I see Joe Biden given softball after softball.
“You started with me. Your first statement was: ‘you ready for tough questions?’ That’s no way to talk.”
He then said: “I think we have enough of an interview here,” before walking out.
“I wish you would interview Joe Biden like you interview me,†President Trump says to Lesley Stahl. https://t.co/ZM8BR1sn39 pic.twitter.com/mSfVFqZuOm
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 26, 2020
Originally published as US election 2020: Donald Trump meets Nigel Farage, Joe Biden casts his vote