Election 2024 live: Harris draws contrast with Trump in Ellipse speech; Biden ‘garbage’ comments sparks row

Unfortunately, Harris’s triumphant moment looks like being overshadowed by the president, who has inadvertently whipped up a conservative media storm after seemingly calling Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to Tony Hinchcliffe’s already-notorious Madison Square Garden joke about Puerto Rico.

Speaking on a Zoom call with Latino voters yesterday, Biden stumbled over a few words as he gave a response to the the comedian calling the US territory a “floating island of garbage”.

Per the White House transcript, he said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well let me tell you something. I don’t – I – I don’t know the Puerto Rican that – they I know –or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr- – in my home state of Delaware, they [are] good decent honorable people.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

The White House maintains Biden’s remarks have since been misconstrued and taken out of context, which, of course, did not stop him having to apologize on social media or the Trump campaign from pouncing, eager to change a narrative that has potentially cost it the support of America’s Latinos.

Here’s more from Oliver O’Connell on a gaffe the Trump campaign is keen to portray as Biden’s “basket of deplorables” moment.

Let’s start with a look back at the Democratic presidential nominee’s speech at the Ellipse in Washington DC last night, speaking on the very same spot from which Donald Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” on January 6 2021, leading to the deadly assault on the US Capitol.

Harris urged Americans to finally “turn the page” on the “division, chaos and mutual distrust” of the Trump era, characterising her opponent as a cynical opportunist vulnerable to the influence of malign actors at home and abroad and offered herself as a sunny alternative.

“The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised,” she told her (huge) audience to rapturous applause, closing an address that went pretty much perfectly, at least from her campaign’s point of view.

This was Trump’s notably rather short – and vague – rebuttal on Truth Social.

Andrew Feinberg has this report on the Vice President’s big moment.

The campaign announced the move on Tuesday ahead of Harris’s rally in Las Vegas on Thursday. The pop band Maná will join the vice president at the Halloween event as she makes her final push in the Silver State ahead of Election Day.

Katie Hawkinson has the details.

Donald Trump‘s Truth Social is now worth more than Elon Musk‘s X, thanks to a recent run-up in the shares of the parent company of the former president’s social media platform.

Trump Media & Technology Group is now valued at over $10bn after its shares more than quadrupled since late September.

As Election Day nears, Donald Trump has shared false and exaggerated claims about the integrity of the vote in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

In a Truth Social post on Monday evening, Trump claimed multiple counties in Pennsylvania were experiencing major potential fraud, outpacing the facts on the ground.

The news of Bloomberg’s financial support comes just one week before election day, with the polling between Harris and Donald Trump neck and neck.

Elon Musk reportedly offered friends and associates the use of his sperm in conceiving children, including one such suggestion to Nicole Shanahan, the vice presidential pick for the independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., campaign.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Following the remarks, which the White House maintains were misconstrued and taken out of context, the Trump campaign pounced, eager to change the narrative that has potentially cost them support from Latino voters.

Speaking on a Zoom call with Latinos, President Biden stumbled over a few words as he gave a response to the remarks made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe on Sunday when he referred to the US territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.