Donald Trump’s supporters hospitalised as heat hits Florida rally; Joe Biden cut short
Donald Trump’s supporters were hit with heat exhaustion as giant water jets were unleashed in a bid to cool crowds, while Joe Biden was forced to cut short his rally.
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First Lady Melania Trump introduced her husband at their first joint campaign appearance, with the pair sharing a kiss on stage in front of a cheering 6000-strong crowd.
Declaring the president was working towards “destroying the virus”, she said he was rebuilding America’s economy as the Trump administration celebrated record shattering GDP growth.
Figures released Thursday, local time, showed the economy great at a pace of 33.1 per cent in the last quarter.
The third quarter growth was driven a boost in consumer spending and was accompanied by
“GDP number just announced. Biggest and Best in the History of our Country, and not even close,” Mr Trump tweeted ahead of his first rally.
“Next year will be FANTASTIC!!! However, Sleepy Joe Biden and his proposed record setting tax increase, would kill it all. So glad this great GDP number came out before November 3rd.”
But Mr Biden said the resurgence in coronavirus cases and unemployment were due to Mr Trump’s mismanagement of the crisis.
“Yes, GDP rose last quarter, but visits to food banks haven’t slowed, and poverty has grown,” Mr Biden said.
“Today’s report is not a victory for these families. American families need meaningful help, not misleading hype.”
A number of people at Mr Trump’s rally in Tampa, Florida, passed out from heat exhaustion as thousands of supporters packed into a carpark with virtually no shade or shelter from the sun.
Paramedics struggled to find a way through the crowd to help the stricken as the over 30C heat pounded the jam-packed audience, most of whom were not wearing masks.
A dozen supporters were taken to hospital, fire officials told NBC News.
Many people arrived at the outdoor location up to 3.5 hours before Mr Trump and First Lady Melania arrived. He then spoke for nearly two hours, so it wasn’t surprising that supporters were passing out after spending up to 5 hours or so in that heat.
Giant water jets were unleashed twice on sections of the crowd to try to battle the heat and crates of bottled water were passed around.
But after initial enthusiasm for his appearance brought the usual chants of “USA! USA! USA!” and “We love you!”, the big and adoring crowd thinned quickly as more and more people succumbed to the heat.
Among them was Keith, a policeman from New York, who had to be assisted out of the crowd.
“That heat was brutal,” he said later as he recovered on a chair away from the gathered masses, nursing three bottles of water.
“People were going down around me and I went to help them but then I started to feel sick too.
“But I’m okay. It was worth it. I thought he was great.”
Mariely Crowne, who owns an Irish pub with her husband, was one of the colourful characters at the MAGA rally, dancing and waving a huge flag supporting Mr Trump.
“I am here today to support Donald Trump. I’m gonna tell you the truth, I was not a Trump supporter back in March,” she said.
“After COVID happened I watched one of his news conferences and was appalled by what the media and reporters were asking him, how rude they were to him. After that, I started to research what he’s done and the amount of things he said he was going to do and which he has done for the American public, the media was trying to hide it.”
Indeed, Mr Trump and his supporters were openly aggressive towards sections of the media, especially the liberal CNN network, with people chanting abusive slogans at the media yesterday.
But the President had some fun with the crowd too, when he said his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had done well in snaring professional baseballer Sean Patrick Gilmartin as her husband.
“She got herself a ball player, you have to be fit and in great shape to be a professional baseballer - not like these guys out here in front of me,” he joked.
Supporter Maryanne Shintner took her granddaughter out of school to attend the rally. Asked what she thought of Mr Trump’s performance in handling the COVID-19 crisis, she replied: “I think he’s done a good job.
“What else could he have done? I think it was made up to try to bring him down. I don’t believe the numbers when they say 225,000 Americans have died. I don’t believe it. It’s made up.”
She had COVID-19 herself and recovered in three days “just by taking lots of vitamin C”.
Another supporter, volunteer Jill, said she and her family had be infected with the virus. Asked how often they were tested to get a positive diagnosis, she replied: “We didn’t need to get tested. We knew because we had the symptoms, like loss of taste.”
BIDEN RALLY CUT SHORT
In the cool of early evening, Mr Biden hosted 285 cars at his sedate “drive-in” rally where he valiantly ignored the activities across town earlier in the day involving thousands of sun-soaked people he has branded “Trump’s chumps”.
Crowd estimates are notoriously subject to personal biases, but some put the Trump mob at about 6,000. Few wore masks and the only social distancing came when heat-stressed people passed out and had to be separated from the jam-packed masses.
But at the Biden drive-in, the few people there had to stay in their cars and about 100 supporters of both candidates gathered outside the Florida State Fairgrounds to discuss their differences. And the heat didn’t hold up for Mr Biden when heavy rain forced him to cut short his speech.
Jim Moss, 44, attended the Trump rally - held in scorching heat with very little shade or shelter - before making his way over to the Fairgrounds.
“We had plenty of positivity over there, we were told of a great future over there, and over here it’s all darkness, it’s all gloom - look at the clouds! It was sunny over at the Trump rally,” he said.
“That’s all you need to know, my man. I think Biden should hang it up and go home.”
Will Coyner, an accountant, held a sign saying “Bye Don!” outside the Biden show.
“My biggest issue is that Trump doesn’t have the character or the leadership to deliver the country from the current COVID crisis,” said Mr Coyner, who missed out by just seven cars ahead of him to make the cut-off for the Biden event.
“I’m bothered by his divisiveness, he is extremely divisive. He is constantly lying.”
Amanda, a medical worker, said the past four years “have not been good for us”.
“I think it’s good that Joe is holding smaller events,” she said. “I think it is a great idea. I understand they are trying to limit the number of people.
TRUMP, BIDEN HEAD TO ALL-IMPORTANT FLORIDA
The candidates both headed to Florida, a battleground state where they are deadlocked in polling and which Mr Trump needs to win under almost every pathway to retaining the White House.
Mr Biden said: “This election is the most important one you’ve ever voted in.
“The heart and soul of this country’s at stake right here in Florida,” he told supporters at the first of two drive-in rallies.
A record 73 million Americans have already voted, and Mr Biden urged his supporters to keep casting early ballots to battle what he labelled Republican efforts to suppress their votes.
“He knows if you vote, he can’t win,” Mr Biden said.
“Why do you think they’re spending so much time keeping black folks and brown folks and poor folks from voting?”
He also warned Cuban-Americans, a key voting bloc who are breaking for Mr Trump’s anti-socialist rhetoric, that they couldn’t trust the president because his administration’s closeness to autocratic world leaders made them “the worst possible standard bearers for democracy”.
New NBC Marist polling released today showed Mr Trump was supported by Florida’s Cuban American voters at 71 per cent to 23 per cent for Mr Biden.
“President Trump can’t advance democracy and human rights for the Cuban people, for the Venezuelan people, when he has embraced so many autocrats around the world,” Mr Biden said.
He then proceeded to jog off the stage after his Miami speech, ahead of an appearance in Tampa, a few hours after Mr Trump was expected to wind up.
Earlier, the presidential race headed to sunny Florida on Thursday (local time) with Donald Trump launching last minute plans for rallies to rival the rare public appearances of Democrat Joe Biden.
A key swing state which helped secure Mr Trump’s 2016 victory, the Florida events will be followed by head-to-head rallies in Wisconsin tomorrow.
The planned visits were unveiled by Mr Trump after the Biden campaign publicised its plans for coming days.
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