Trump and Melania attend Al Smith dinner together as former president rips Harris’s no-show: Live
Donald Trump set to speak at Al Smith charity dinner with wife Melania making rare appearance by his side as Kamala Harris skips event in favor of campaign trail
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Donald and Melania Trump are making a rare public appearance together at tonight’s Al Smith charity dinner in New York City.
Trump is set to speak later tonight at the event, which presidential candidates have traditionally attended for decades. Kamala Harris, however, declined to attend in favor of campaigning in Wisconsin, a key swing state.
The Make America Great Again PAC emailed supporters on Thursday slamming Harris for skipping the event, noting she is the first major party candidate to do so since the 1980s. However, Harris has sent in a pre-recorded video to be played at the dinner.
“Her radical policies are fundamentally at odds with Catholic teachings, and her history of anti-Catholic rhetoric has further alienated this crucial voting bloc,” the PAC wrote.
The former president has also again lashed out at CBS flagship news show 60 Minutes over standard edits it made to an interview with Harris. The former president baselessly claims the conduct was criminal and wants the network’s license revoked.
The Harris campaign mocked Trump’s refusal to debate the vice president again and his ducking of interviews and appearances. On Thursday the National Rifle Association announced it has canceled a “Defend the 2nd” event due to “campaign scheduling changes”.
Baier under fire from own side after hostile Harris interview
We saw how Trump reacted to Bret Baier’s Kamala interview earlier.
Here’s what a few ex-Fox producers (and an ex-anchor!) had to say about the host’s performance.
CNN media pundit Brian Stelter meanwhile referred to the network’s studio as “a Trump field office” and suggested that Harris had used the occasion to mount a proxy debate in light of Trump’s refusal to face her again, casting Baier as his “surrogate”.
Stelter also pointed out the tell-tale emphasis on immigration over abortion in Baier’s line of questioning.
Meanwhile, several top Democratic insiders have been noting how well she did in the circumstances.
The Apprentice actors call Trump’s ‘human scum’ reaction to controversial biopic ‘ridiculous’
This is what Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong had to say on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning about Trump’s insane Truth Social post about their new film.
Greg Evans has this one.
The Apprentice actors call Trump’s ‘human scum’ reaction to new biopic ‘ridiculous’
Actor Jeremy Strong brands Trump’s response an ‘endorsement’ of the movie
Republicans think Trump needs to stop focusing on his ‘obsessions’
GOP establishment members are becoming increasingly concerned that Trump is spending more time airing personal grievances and obsessions than talking about Harris’s policies.
Polling suggests that Trump has an advantage over Harris in many key policy areas, such as the economy, but Marc Short, former chief of staff to Mike Pence during his time as VP, said he needs to remind voters of his positions.
“He can make an appeal that gets away from personality and appeals to people who may not like him but do like his policies,” he told The Washington Post.
“Staying focused on the issues does that; if you’re commenting on other things, it I think can remind reluctant voters why they have concerns.”
Trump had an opportunity to do just that during a town hall event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Monday night.
Instead, after taking a few softball questions, the Republican presidential nominee spent almost 40 minutes swaying to music on the stage.
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Republicans think Trump needs to stop focusing on his ‘obsessions’
Trump’s campaign is coming to a free-wheeling, often bizarre, endgame
Watch: Joe Scarborough warns Trump is ‘becoming more erratic by the day’
Baier claims Harris was late as he gives post-mortem on ‘tough’ interview
Rhian Lubin has more on the Fox man’s post-match comments on his encounter with Harris yesterday.
Fox News’s Bret Baier says Harris was late as he gives verdict on ‘tough’ interview
Baier was criticized for repeatedly interrupting the vice president when she joined him on the conservative network
Watch: Vance finally answers on whether he believes Trump lost 2020 election
JD Vance claims family got private health insurance for first time under Trump administration
In an attempt to boost Trump’s record on healthcare, his running mate touted his family members obtaining private insurance for the first time under the former president’s administration.
However, he failed to mention a key fact – it was through the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.
JD Vance claims his mother obtained health insurance under Trump. She used Obamacare
Trump unsuccessfully attempted to repeal Obamacare during his presidency
Don Jr leading charge to compile list of names banned from Trump administration
The former president’s eldest son is reportedly leading an effort to compile a list of people who would be banned from serving in a second Trump administration should that come to pass.
On the list are people connected to Project 2025, first-term staffers who resigned in protest after the Capitol riot on January 6 and those seen as lacking loyalty to his father, two ex-Trump officials told Politico.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Don Jr ‘leading charge to compile list of names banned from second Trump White House’
‘Clearly people working on Project 2025 are blacklisted,’ former Trump official says
Trump had no sense of ‘who he was talking to’ when he made Harris slur
Donald Trump had “no sense of who he was in front of or who he was talking to” when he made a shocking slur about his Democratic rival Kamala Harris during a recent dinner for billionaire donors in New York, according to New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman.
Longtime Trump observer Haberman and her colleagues Jonathan Swan and Shane Goldmacher reported over the weekend that the Republican presidential nominee had vented his frustrations about Harris out-fundraising him by launching into a grievance-filled rant at the exclusive gathering.
During the tirade, Trump had angrily referred to the vice president as “retarded” and also rebuked affluent Jewish Americans for not backing him, the report alleged.
This is what Haberman had to say about that episode and other recent examples of Trump’s erratic public behavior in conversation with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Trump reportedly had no sense of ‘who he was talking to’ when he made Harris slur
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman said the Republican presidential nominee has ‘less of a filter than there used to be, which is what happens when people get older’
Campaign schedule: Who’s doing what where on Thursday
Here’s a look at where the key players will be today.
- Kamala Harris is touring Wisconsin, stopping off in Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay.
- Her running mate Tim Walz will be in Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
- Donald Trump will meanwhile attend the 79th Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, a Catholic gala emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan (who has been playing Walz on Saturday Night Live of late). Trump was busy last month rebuking Harris for not attending but made waves himself at the same event in 2016 by attacking rival Hillary Clinton during his remarks, which was not exactly in the spirit of the occasion.
- His running mate JD Vance will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, keeping up the pressure campaign on the swing states.
- Trump cheerleader Elon Musk will also be continuing his series of “talks” in the same state.
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