Violence, threats hang over Trump-Harris race after turbulent weekend

WASHINGTON -- Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Monday head into a newly intense phase of the US presidential campaign, with tensions heightened after a second apparent assassination attempt against the Republican former president.

The Sunday arrest of a gunman on Donald Trump's golf course came the same day as more bomb threats poured into Springfield, Ohio, a small Midwestern city at the center of Republican-led conspiracies against immigrants.

But the dueling campaigns are set to march on with little interruption, a day after the Secret Service confirmed one or more of its agents "opened fire on a gunman" located near the boundary of Trump's Florida golf course, and that an "AK-47 style rifle" with a scope was recovered along with a GoPro video camera.

The FBI said it was "investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump."

US media named the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who had expressed support for Ukraine and had a lengthy arrest record.

Authorities said they had not identified a specific motive or political ideology for the shooter behind the previous bid on Trump's life, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Trump was wounded in the ear in the July 13 shooting.

Authorities on Sunday said it wasn't clear whether a gunman actually fired a weapon in the direction of the former president before the Secret Service engaged the shooter.

Harris and President Joe Biden both denounced the attack on Trump, with Biden saying "There is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country."

Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee who will face ex-president Trump at the polls November 5, said in a statement Sunday she was "disturbed by the possible assassination attempt" and "thankful that former president Trump is safe."

The same day, Clark State College, in Springfield, announced it would hold classes virtually this week, after receiving bomb and shooting threats over the weekend.

- Bomb threats -

The move comes on the fourth consecutive day of threats of bombings and other violence that have targeted the local city hall, public schools and nearby college Wittenberg University, following racist rumors about local Haitian immigrants pushed by Republicans including Trump.

What started as municipal growing pains in a rapidly growing city have morphed into allegations of an "invasion" by "illegal" Haitian newcomers, baselessly accused of stealing and eating people's pets and causing a crime wave.

Threats have hit hospitals, schools and municipal buildings since Trump declared the immigrants were stealing and eating resident's pets at Tuesday's presidential debate.

Some Haitians living in the city have told AFP they are scared for their lives.

- 'Hate' for Taylor Swift -

Adding to the country's acrimonious political atmosphere, Trump posted on his Truth Social website that "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"

Earlier this week, the superstar singer/songwriter posted a message on Instagram saying she would be voting for Harris, calling her a "steady-handed, gifted leader."

Celebrity endorsements rarely carry enormous weight, but the hugely popular Swift is seen as being in a class of her own, with more than 400 million followers on Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms -- 10 million of whom "liked" her Instagram post.

It was not clear what Trump hoped to gain by attacking Swift, though he may calculate that any publicity is better than none.

He has been criticized, even by fellow Republicans, for his recent association with conspiracy-minded right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, who has at times joined him on his campaign plane.

The 31-year-old Loomer -- who has called the September 11 terror attacks an "inside job" and said some of the country's recent mass shootings were staged by Democrats -- recently suggested that Swift had entered an "arranged relationship" with football star Travis Kelce "to influence the 2024 election."

There is no evidence to support any of those claims.

The race between Trump and Harris remains tight across the battleground states that will decide the election.

Agence France-Presse

Trump says he would make Mexico pay for a border wall

WASHINGTON, United States - Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said in an interview aired Sunday that he would force Mexico to pay to have a wall built along its northern border with the United States.

"I would do something very severe unless they contributed or gave us the money to build the wall," Trump said on CNN's State of the Union.

It was the billionaire's latest broadside against Mexico since he announced his candidacy June 16 with a speech labelling immigrants from the United States' southern neighbor as drug traffickers, criminals and rapists.

His comments caused an uproar, prompting Mexico's interior minister to call him "prejudiced and absurd," and Univision, America's top Spanish-language TV network, to sever its ties with Trump's Miss Universe Organization.

In the CNN interview, Trump insisted "you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And they're bad. They're really bad."

"I'm not just saying Mexicans, I'm talking about people that are from all over, that are killers, and rapists," he said.

Asked about his calls for a border wall, Trump said, "Mexico has not treated us well. Mexico treats us as though we are stupid people. Which, of course, our leaders are.

"I don't blame Mexico. China's even worse," he added.

He said he would force Mexico to pay for the wall "because Mexico makes a fortune because of us."

Trump, a real estate tycoon and star of the TV reality show "The Apprentice," came in second place this week among Republicans in the running for the presidency, behind former Florida governor Jeb Bush, in a poll by Suffolk University.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

US elections: Social media's top 10 comedy moments

WASHINGTON - The US presidential campaign may be a deadly serious affair, but Americans have taken to social networks to lighten the mood with a good dose of humor and sarcasm.

Here are our top 10:

- The hashtag #eastwooding went viral on Twitter after Hollywood star Clint Eastwood's guest appearance at this year's Republican National Convention, where his speech focusing on an empty chair meant to represent Barack Obama baffled many.

Obama's team eventually tweeted a tongue-and-cheek photo of the President sitting in a chair with his back to the camera, captioned "This seat's taken."

- A widely-viewed YouTube video managed to poke fun at the otherwise gaffe-free Barack Obama. The spoof lip-read of the first presidential debate mocks the President's lackluster performance.



At one point, a sleepy-looking Obama appears to be dozing on his feet. "Yep, er, he's asleep" a wide-eyed Mitt Romney quips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwilbVYvUg

- Mitt Romney's "Big Bird" comment at the first debate featured widely on Twitter, with several parody accounts created.

"I like PBS (US public TV network). I like Big Bird," Romney said at the debate, but nevertheless pledged to cut support for public television. The Twittersphere promptly exploded. "Obama killed bin Laden. Romney would put a hit on Big Bird," @EliClifton joked.

Romney even managed to anger otherwise bored children watching the debate in one widely-viewed YouTube video. "What?... I vote for Obama anyway," one kid says angrily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05uQR5C2AXw

- Hot on the success of South Korea's "Gangnam Style" song, a comedy website called CollegeHumor put out "Mitt Romney Style" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCRwi71_ns

Meant to poke fun at the wealthy Republican challenger, a Romney look-a-like prances around horse-riding stables and golf courses to the rhythm of the original song.

"Affluence, extravagance, that's Mitt," the lyrics say at one point in the song, as 'Romney' laughs at a waiter who has a "47%" sign hanging on his back -- a reference to his unguarded comment writing off 47 percent of the US electorate.

- The second debate also provided fodder for wanna-be online comics with Romney's "binders full of women" quip.

Asked about unequal pay, Romney responded that as Massachusetts governor, he went out of his way to add women to his staff. "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women," he said.

The Twittersphere lit up, and a satirical account on Tumblr -- the blogging platform -- was even set up, featuring photos of various women holding custom-made binders: http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/

- When Obama ironically mentioned during the third debate that the army had fewer "horses and bayonets" than it did before, the Internet went crazy.

Netizens took to Twitter to joke about it, and one page on Tumblr spawned countless parody photos: http://horsesandbayonets.tumblr.com/

One shot of Obama leaning over to speak to Joe Biden features the caption: "Iran might get a nuke. Do we have enough horses and bayonets?"

- Saying the middle class had been buried over the last four years, confusing Iowa with Ohio in a speech... Vice President Joe Biden has attracted a lot of attention with his gaffes.

YouTube is full of videos putting them all together. His gaffes have even spawned a new word - "Bidenism."

- Paul Ryan also spawned a few chuckles when Time published photos of Romney's running mate pumping weights with a red cap on back-to-front.

The shots spurred a rash of gifs (animated pictures), funny blog posts and a fake Twitter account called @PaulRyansBicep. The pictures were taken in December 2011 and published in October this year -- the day of the VP debate.

- Jim Lehrer, a respected journalist, may have regretted his decision to moderate the first presidential debate this year.

By the time the debate ended, the Twittersphere was busy poking fun at the 78-year-old -- who was widely regarded as not being tough enough -- and a fake account called @SilentJimLehrer sprung up, garnering thousands of followers.

- Lastly, the Democratic National Committee set up a website mocking Romney's tax plans, which has been widely retweeted.

"For a detailed explanation of how the Romney-Ryan tax plan is able to cut taxes by $5 trillion without exploding the deficit or requiring tax hikes on the middle class, simply click the button below," it says.

But users are unable to press the button -- which reads "get the details" -- as it moves to the side every time the mouse gets near: http://www.romneytaxplan.com/

source: abs-cbnnews.com