US President Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at “stupid” critics from within his own party and called for unity after growing Republican criticism and warnings of a “bloodbath” in the Nov. 3 US presidential election.
Trump issued the comments as he and his Democratic opponent, former US vice president Joe Biden, hit the ground in crucial swing states in the final stretch before an election that opinion polls show the president is at serious risk of losing.
Speaking to a rally in the western state of Nevada, Trump ranged from attacks on Biden and boasts about his economic policies to discussions on bathroom water pressure and a shirt worn by the commissioner of the National Football League.
Photo: Reuters
However, he also addressed comments from US Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican who has told constituents that Trump “kisses dictators’ butts,” mistreats women and uses the White House as a business.
Other Republicans have warned of electoral losses in the polls that would include congressional races, including US Senator Ted Cruz, who like Sasse, said there was a risk of a “bloodbath.”
Even one of Trump’s closest Senate allies, US Senator Lindsey Graham, has said Democrats have a “good chance” at winning the White House.
“We have some stupid people,” Trump said at the rally in Carson City, Nevada’s capital.
“We have this guy Sasse, you know, wants to make a statement... The Republicans have to stick together better,” he said.
Trump, scrambling to make up lost ground, is on a furious multistate barnstorming tour, hopping on Sunday from Nevada to California and then back to Nevada for a day of rallies and fundraising, before moving on to Arizona yesterday.
An infrequent churchgoer, Trump attended services on Sunday at an evangelical church in Las Vegas.
Congregants prayed for him, and when a collection plate was passed, a pool photographer saw Trump toss in a handful of US$20 bills.
Biden, a practicing Catholic, attended Mass with his wife, Jill, at their church near Wilmington, Delaware, before walking outside to visit the grave of son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
Limiting his own campaign itinerary due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns, the 77-year-old Biden then flew to North Carolina for a pair of events.
In Durham, mask-wearing Biden jogged to a stage in a parking lot where people in dozens of vehicles waited for him.
“We choose hope over fear, we choose unity over division, science over fiction and yes, we choose truth over lies,” he told them.
His motorcade also made an unannounced stop to allow him and his granddaughter to order milkshakes, with Biden — keen to play up the stark differences between his campaign and Trump’s — keeping his mask on throughout.
The two candidates’ final nationally televised debate is on Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Polls show that most voters disapprove of Trump’s erratic handling of the pandemic, and Biden has made it a core theme, promising a more sober leadership.
Nearly 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, the world’s worst total, and the outbreak is now spreading in many states at rates unseen in months.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
RSS