Harris vows action on border, healthcare and prices and hits ‘petty tyrant’ Trump in closing argument speech: Live

The newspaper has announced that it will not publicly back either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, with a spokesperson saying it will continue to provide “readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”

However, that stance caused particular anger among staff at the Post, who feel their organ is shirking its democratic responsibility, while reportedly more than 200,000 readers have cancelled their subscriptions in disgust.

Such is the extent of the crisis that call has sparked that owner Jeff Bezos felt compelled to take to the paper’s opinion pages to deny that a quid pro quo was in play.

Josh Marcus has more.

If the Democrat is concerned about broadening her appeal to younger men, this is surely an opportunity she needs to take.

According to a Harris campaign official, the Vice President will be doing five interviews today ahead of her big speech in DC this evening – four battleground state TV interviews to appeal to voters in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh – plus a Spanish radio interview with Rumba in Pennsylvania.

The latter will enable her to reach Latino voters, including Puerto Ricans, who may be increasingly interested in what she has to say in light of what was said in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

The former New York City mayor has reportedly been under “extraordinary pressure” and “months of arm-twisting” from his fellow billionaires like Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman to donate to the Democratic campaign, according to The New York Times, and has now finally done so, paying out to the Future Forward USA Action PAC after speaking privately to Kamala by phone.

“Bloomberg’s decision conforms to a strategy that has become his trademark: Confounding Democratic operatives by refusing to make early investments – only to come in hot and heavy in the homestretch,” the NYT observes.

One person who is not letting Hinchcliffe off the hook so easily is Roberto Octavio Gonzalez Nieves, who has written an open letter to the Republican presidential nominee expressing his shock and anger at the comic’s cruel joke at his island’s expense.

“I enjoy a good joke. However, humor has it’s limits,” Nieves wrote to Trump.

“It should not insult or denigrate the dignity and sacredness of people. Hinchcliffe’s remarks do not only provoke sinister laughter but hatred. These kinds of remarks do not have a place in society founded upon ‘liberty and justice for all.’”

The archbishop said that Puerto Rico “is a beautiful country” and pointed out that “more Puerto Rican soldiers died in the Vietnam War as part of the United States military than soldiers from any state in the United States.”

He continued: “Hinchcliffe’s remarks do not promote a climate of equality, fraternity and good will among and for all women and men of every race, color and way of life which is the foundation of the American dream. These kinds of remarks should not be a part of the political discourse of a civilized society.”

Nieves then called on Trump to personally “disavow these comments as reflecting in any way your personal or political viewpoints.

“It is not sufficient for your campaign to apologize. It is important that you, personally, apologize for these comments.”

Here’s Io Dodds on how the outcry might have been even worse had Hinchcliffe been allowed to say exactly what he wanted to about Kamala Harris.

Trump’s running mate says the uproar over Tony Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico gag is symptomatic of people “getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America” and advises we all just “take a chill pill”, rather than engage with the hateful rhetoric being spouted on behalf of the campaign he represents.

Rhian Lubin reports.

Kamala was in the Trak Houz Bar and Grill in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with that state’s governor Gretchen Whitmer when the leak in question took place, with the VP overheard to admit: “We need to move ground among men.”

At the same event, the nominee also reflected on his lifelong abstinence from booze, recalling the sad death of his brother Fred, which was dramatised in the recent film The Apprentice.

The Republican was speaking at the Inaugural National Faith Summit in Powder Springs, Georgia, yesterday, an event compered by his former White House spiritual advisor Paula White (known for speaking in tongues) at which he did his best Elmer Gantry act, pretending to reflect piously on his brush with death this summer in the hope of tying up those Christian votes.

Over in the Republican’s seething social media swamp, he’s been getting his election denials in early, attacking Fox News for daring to cover the Democratic ticket and shedding crocodile tears for Joe Biden.

Also in the Magaverse, his son Barron Trump’s closest pal found himself brutally fact-checked on Elon Musk’s X over his false claim about the capacity of Madison Square Garden.