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Politics· Verified

Donald Trump rallies Republicans at Reflecting Pool ahead of US midterm elections

Donald Trump chose Washington’s Reflecting Pool — an iconic landmark where botched repairs came to symbolise the 80-year-old’s chaotic presidency — for a final speech on Monday to rally Republicans against a predicted tide of Democratic victories in midterm elections. Polls show Democrats poised to seize the House of Representatives and within reach of the Senate in Tuesday’s vote — a shift that would impose tight political constraints on the president. A White House official told AFP the speech would highlight “this administration’s achievements to make the country safer and wealthier” while contrasting “the Republicans’ commonsense America First agenda” with “the Democrats’ radical, America Last agenda”. The site is one of the US capital’s historic stages. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, overlooking the pool. Trump said on Sunday he picked the site “just to show how beautiful it is”. But the roughly $15 million renovation left the pool’s lining peeling and its water green with algae. He pointed at vandalism, but federal prosecutors blamed faulty work. Under Trump, it has also become part of a sweeping drive to remake Washington, which has included tearing down part of the White House and threatening to demolish the city’s premier arts centre. Trump has predicted victory in the midterms for his Republicans, but he acknowledged the alternative in an interview released on Monday by the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast. “I think we’re going to do great — but if we didn’t win, I veto everything,” he said. “I’ll be vetoing, vetoing. And then they’ll come along and we’ll probably make some deals along the way.” Winning just the House would give Democrats voting power over the federal budget and control of committees able to investigate alleged corruption under Trump, the Epstein files and other explosive issues. A Democratic Senate could also block Trump’s lifetime appointments to the courts, including the Supreme Court. ‘Ransack, rape and plunder’ Trump warned Republican lawmakers in January that losing the midterms would lead to his impeachment. The loss of total Republican control would push him toward lame-duck status, with high inflation at home and the war against Iran still weighing on his presidency. Democrats, meanwhile, prepared final rallies in battleground states, including in Texas with James Talarico and in Kansas with Adam Hamilton — two star Senate candidates seeking major upsets. Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century. But a decade into the Trump era, Democrats remain wary of predicting victory. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN that the mood was “nauseously optimistic”. Republicans have run a scorched-earth campaign, painting Democrats as communists and branding Abdul El-Sayed, the Muslim Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, a terrorist. Addressing a crowd in Iowa on Sunday, Trump said Democrats are “extreme and dangerous radicals” who will “steal your wealth” and let in migrants to “ransack, rape and plunder”. Democrats have faced late divisions of their own, with left-wing candidates at times clashing with the party establishment. On Sunday, Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens endorsed El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, in Michigan’s pivotal Senate race. Stevens lost a bruising primary to El-Sayed in August despite establishment backing. Senate in play While the House appears highly likely to turn Democratic, the battle for the Senate is far closer. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control. Only a third of the 100 seats are being contested, and few of those races initially looked favorable to the party. To win, Democrats must flip seats in states that Trump carried by double digits two years ago. Forecaster Decision Desk HQ has Democrats winning the Senate 52-48 and the House by a comfortable 241-194. The final New York Times/Siena poll, released Sunday evening, showed Democrats leading in all seven of the most competitive Senate races, though five were within the margin of error. Tuesday is election day, but a record 54 million people have already cast ballots. The midterms have also drawn about $11bn in advertising, with large chunks coming from individual mega-donors. Elon Musk, the Trump ally who led the so-called DOGE drive to slash the federal government, has given nearly half a billion dollars to help elect Republicans.

World· Verified

Zaporizhzhia aid distribution hub hit by Russian air strike, leaving 24 dead

At least 24 people have been killed in a Russian air strike in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, civil defence authorities said on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media that another five people were injured in the attack on a school distributing humanitarian aid in Komyshuvakha. Zelensky described the strike as an “utterly horrific Russian attack”, saying the settlement had been hit several times by aerial bombs over the course of the day. Zelensky said Russia had dropped more...

Politics· Developing

New Hampshire Senate battle tightens as Pappas and Sununu clash over Trump

Republican John Sununu tries to distance himself from unpopular president in race against Chris Pappas that has gone from ‘toss-up to ‘lean Democrat’ Chris Pappas is stopping himself from getting too excited ahead of Tuesday’s midterm election. “I take nothing for granted,” said the four-term US representative and Democratic nominee for New Hampshire’s open Senate seat. “This is a very purple, competitive state. Elections are never in the bag here.” Continue reading...

World· Verified

Gulf states fear renewed US strikes on Iran could expose them to retaliation

By Samia Nakhoul, Alexander Cornwell and Timour Azhari MANAMA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Iran again confronts America’s Gulf allies with a stark prospect: another war decided in Washington in which the US bases built to protect them could instead make them targets for harsh Iranian reprisal.

Politics· Developing

US midterm campaign spending heads toward record 12 billion dollars

Major changes in US law and industry have shifted the sources of large contributions to political campaigns – and how much they spend The upcoming midterm elections will be the most expensive elections ever conducted in the US. And more of the money is “dark” than ever before, meaning it’s impossible to get a full picture of who is spending gargantuan sums to influence races that could provide a critical check on Donald Trump’s second term. The elections have also shown how money in politics is being reshaped, with the increasingly powerful role played by big donors from the tech industry as well as the growing concentration of spending among a few powerful individuals and corporations. Continue reading...

Politics· Developing

Barack Obama hits midterm campaign trail to rally Democrats against Trump

Former president has given series of blistering speeches to help candidates in key races – and deployment has proved a hit with party’s progressive wing That could have been awkward. Barack Obama, campaigning for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, acknowledged that his fellow Democrat has criticised some aspects of the Obama presidency. “Yeah, Abdul didn’t agree with some things we wanted to do – that our administration was doing – when I was president,” he told a rally in Detroit. “You know who else doesn’t agree with everything I do? Michelle Obama.” The crowd erupted in laughter. “I’d say about five times a day, she says, ‘You knucklehead. Why you do that?’” Continue reading...

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