Border security tops list of voter concerns in Arizona – the ‘ground zero’ of election denial
They wear giant slippers with soles of carpet.
It’s the standard item for immigrants making an illegal crossing over the US border into Arizona – the crude wrap-around footwear with carpeted soles that don’t show tracks in the desert sand.
And we saw them everywhere – discarded with camouflaged jackets and trousers, worn to blend with the landscape and offer concealment from border patrols.
The special shoes with carpet on the soles to avoid detection
A sighting of dumped ‘cammo’ is the signature evidence of another one that got away.
It doesn’t work every time.
We joined a twilight patrol with a sheriff’s deputy in Cochise County, where Mexico meets Arizona. It was a late shift on the border, hovering on Highway 92 – until the handbrake turn that signified a sighting.
Roadside cameras had picked up movement on a stretch of highway, well-used as a pick-up point. People making illegal crossings are directed here by the cartels they pay for passage.
Those criminal gangs recruit drivers in the United States through social media, often teenagers. They are paid a fee, typically $2,000 a head, to pick up the immigrants and drive them north.
Our deputy’s search took him into the scrub by the roadside, underneath drains and through weeds, until his torch shone on three people, a man and two women dressed in camouflage and carpeted footwear, hiding silently in the darkened undergrowth.
Crisis levels of illicit exports
They were a sad sight – weary, dejected and eagerly clutching the water provided by the border officials who marched them into the rear of their pick-up vehicle.
The smuggling infrastructure that facilitates human traffic across the Mexican border is exploited to transport drugs, too – in crisis quantities.
Illicit export into the United States is fuelling crisis levels of use of the drug fentanyl, in particular.
Small wonder border security, as a midterm election issue, is top of the list for many in Arizona.
Sheriff Mark Dannels
“We spend a lot of our time chasing the border challenges,” said Sheriff of Cochise County Mark Dannels.
“They’re running through people’s properties, breaking in, car pursuits at 100 miles an hour every day in this county.”
“In 2021, Arizona led the nation – over five million pills were seized here in southern Arizona.
“Our problem is our president, our leadership in Congress, has to change the message – has to get the politics out of it and has to have action behind it.
“We can’t get our president, or leadership of Congress, to even admit there’s an issue out here.
“It’s frustrating for me that the federal government says we don’t have a problem. It’s a huge challenge, and it’s insulting.”
The crowd chanted “four more years” during the recent rally held by former US President Donald Trump
Border security plays into the election priorities in Arizona.
It’s at the core of debate alongside the economy, abortion and crime – significant subject matter and yet, for many, sub-headings at these midterms.
In this voting process, the power of the vote itself is the issue threaded through the campaign.
The Democrats’ warning, from the president down, is of democracy under threat from election denial embedded in the electoral process.
Read more: Anger, betrayal and fear as America braces for the midterm elections
The Republican Party is fielding more than 300 candidates, for various positions of power, who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Prominent among them is Kari Lake, who is standing for the post of governor in Arizona.
She has star quality, no doubt.
The Trump-loyalist is a polished former TV anchor who glides through the campaign trail on an “Ask Me Anything” tour.
Not that anyone asks about election fraud.
There’s a reason for that – no-one doubts it in the court of Kari, Trump loyalist.
Republican candidate for governor of Arizona Kari Lake embraces Mr Trump
We attended her event at the Fire House in Peoria, Arizona, squeezed in alongside TV crews from Japan and France, present to witness a growing phenomenon in US politics.
This poster girl of election denialism is touted as a potential running mate for Mr Trump, should he stand for the presidency in 2024.
I spoke to several members of the audience, and they were as polite as they were strident in volunteering that “the media” was to blame for an election fraud that cost Mr Trump the presidency.
In an awkward, yet somehow matey, interaction, the crowd was encouraged by Ms Lake to turn in their chairs and wave to the “fake news” filming from the back of the room.
For them, cheerful affirmation of election denialism is as routine as it is casual, in a Republican Party that feels Donald Trump’s gravitational pull.
Doubting the integrity of an electoral process has long since evolved from a fringe concept into a mainstream and widely-held conviction – never mind there’s no evidence to suggest election fraud of any material significance.
If Ms Lake becomes governor in Arizona, and polls indicate she has every chance, it will be her job to certify the state’s count at the 2024 presidential election.
This is a Trump-loyalist who claims he was robbed in 2020; she won’t fully endorse the integrity of the midterm election she’s standing in.
I asked her: “Is the only election you’ll endorse, one that you win?”
Her answer was: “I will absolutely accept the results of a fair, honest and transparent election.”
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How do midterm elections work?
It is a straight answer few would disagree with. It’s also one that leaves the door open to denying the integrity of the electoral process.
Who will be surprised if that doesn’t come to pass?
This is Arizona, which saw challenges, audits and lawsuits that led nowhere after the 2020 election.
It was pantomime protest that saw this state dubbed “ground zero” for election denial – that might just have been the curtain-raiser.
US
Cards Against Humanity sues SpaceX for $15m over claims Elon Musk’s firm illegally trespassed on land
The maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity is suing SpaceX for $15m over claims Elon Musk’s company trespassed and damaged a plot of its land.
A lawsuit filed in Texas alleges SpaceX treated a plot of land owned by Cards Against Humanity as essentially its own for at least the past six months.
The company purchased a plot of land in Cameron County in 2017 as part of a stunt to prevent then president Donald Trump from building a border wall in the area between the US and Mexico.
It was purchased after 150,000 subscribers paid $15 to their Cards Against Humanity Saves America campaign.
The lawsuit said Cards Against Humanity – referred to as CAH in legal filings – “acquired the Property for the sole purpose of ensuring that it would stay that way” and added: “SpaceX’s abuse of this Property has not only destroyed its natural condition, but has also caused even greater harm to CAH by virtue of the damage it has caused to CAH’s relationship with its paying supporters.”
Cards Against Humanity purchased a plot of land in Cameron County, Texas, to protest against Donald Trump’s border wall in 2017.
File pic: Cards Against Humanity / Cameron County District Court
SpaceX allegedly trespassed and abused the property for at least six months without Cards Against Humanity’s knowledge
Pic: Cards Against Humanity / Cameron County District Court
In a statement through their Saves America campaign, Cards Against Humanity said SpaceX “f***ed” the land and alleged Mr Musk “figured he could just dump his shit all over our gorgeous plot of land without asking”.
The Chicago-based company then claimed “SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half our land’s value” after they noticed the alleged trespass on their land. They said they declined the offer before filing the suit.
On a website – titled elonowesyou100dollars – the card company said it was seeking $15m in damages and offered the original subscribers to the Save America campaign $100 should they win the claim.
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Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
They also referenced a Reuters news agency report into SpaceX’s rapid development in the south Texas areas where it operates, in which some locals criticised the company for unfair and unchecked property and government dealings.
SpaceX started operating in Texas in 2003. In recent months, Mr Musk has stated he would move more of his businesses to the state.
Neither SpaceX nor Mr Musk have commented publicly on the matter. Sky News has contacted SpaceX for comment.
FBI agents have boarded a boat managed by the same company whose cargo ship crashed into a Baltimore bridge and caused it to collapse.
The two companies in charge of the ship “recklessly cut corners” and ignored electrical problems on the vessel before the crash in March, alleged the US Justice Department on Wednesday.
Three days later, FBI agents boarded the Maersk Saltoro, a second ship managed by the same company, although authorities did not offer further details on the operation.
Six construction workers were killed when the Dali ship had a power outage and crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Read more: Could the Baltimore Bridge disaster happen again?
The Justice Department alleged that mechanical and electrical systems on the massive ship had been improvised and improperly maintained which led to the power outage.
The Dali after it collided with a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Pic: Harford County MD Fire & EMS/Reuters
Authorities are seeking to recover more than $100 million the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port, which was only fully reopened in June.
It could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history and the two Singapore-based companies, Synergy Marine Group and Grace Ocean, are trying to limit their legal liability.
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The Justice Department said it will vigorously contest that limitation, arguing that vessel owners and operators need to be “deterred from engaging in such reckless and exceedingly harmful behaviour”.
Darrell Wilson, a Grace Ocean spokesperson, confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in the Port of Baltimore on Saturday morning.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Mr Wilson has previously said the owner and manager “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight” about the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
The Dali, which was stuck amid the wreckage of the collapse for months before it could be extricated, departed Virginia on Thursday afternoon en route to China on its first international voyage since the March 26 disaster.
US
Well-fitted suits, pearls and ‘the same’ red tie: What Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s fashion tells us about them
The style choices of politicians have long been scrutinised by voters and the media.
Women have historically been subject to more inspection for their looks than men.
But all politicians are communicating through their style, according to two experts.
“We receive most of our information, many of us, through screens and through the visuals,” says Hazel Clark, professor of design and fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been leaning into trouser suits.
Ms Harris arrives to board Air Force Two in New York. Pic: AP
Ms Harris during a debate with Mr Trump. Pic: AP
“The well-fitted suit, the more masculine suit, is telling voters that she is not a politician’s wife, she is not the president’s wife, she is the president,” says Deirdre Clemente, professor of history at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
She wore a dark suit to make her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The presidential hopeful wore a dark suit to make her acceptance speech at the DNC. Pic: AP
The look “gives that sense of the legal profession, judges and authority. I think it was just saying ‘I’m here to be taken seriously, I can be your leader’,” says Ms Clark.
Many of the audience were wearing white, thought to be a reference to the suffragettes, who fought for women to have vote.
Many DNC audience members wore white as Kamala Harris made her acceptance speech. Pic: Reuters
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris wore a dark navy or black suit to make her acceptance speech at the DNC. Pic: Reuters
“I think there’s a lot of weight in the choice of white in the audience of the DNC that night and her choice of a black suit was a power move,” Ms Clemente said.
Donald Trump has had a consistent style for many years – he’s known for his dark blue suit and silky red tie.
Donald Trump at his 2017 inauguration. Pic: AP
Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with vice president Kamala Harris. Pic: AP
“He seems to have been wearing the same red tie since the 1970s. It seems to have gotten longer,” said Ms Clemente.
“It is his way of projecting power, confidence and stability.”
And his vice presidential pick JD Vance seems to have adapted his style to match.
Donald Trump with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance at the Republican National Convention. Pic: AP
“It’s putting on a uniform to say we are all one, we are all following this person. I think sameness, perhaps, with the party as well,” said Ms Clark.
“With Trump it’s almost become like a costume now.”
Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have been seen wearing similar clothing. Pic: Reuters
Harris often wears a pearl necklace, a reference to her college sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded by black women at Howard University.
Kamala Harris wearing a pearl necklace in 2010. Pic: AP
“Her wearing of the necklace is absolutely a shout-out to all the women who have supported her and that sorority is central to that,” said Ms Clemente.
The vice president is also known for her love of Converse shoes.
Vice president Kamala Harris wearing Converse shoes as she arrives to speak at a campaign event. Pic: AP
The trainers, which are associated with American basketball culture, “are a powerful cultural tool because what she’s saying is these shoes are just like the ones you have in your closet”.
Vice president Kamala Harris speaks on the final day of the Democratic National Convention. Pic: AP
Mr Trump and his supporters often wear the instantly recognisable red Make America Great Again baseball cap.
“The MAGA hat has an incredible amount of power, especially here in battleground states,” said Ms Clemente. “You see MAGA hats all around.”
Donald Trump wearing a red MAGA hat in 2016 in Arizona. Pic: AP
Baseball caps are “ubiquitous in being used to signify something, it’s like having a slogan on your t-shirt”, says Ms Clark.
One accessory all US politicians are rarely seen without is an American flag pin badge on their lapel, which can be used to show patriotism.
It may also project a message that “we are all fighting for the same team” despite political differences, said Ms Clemente.
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