From basketball courts to the rodeo – how the state of Georgia could shape the US election
It’s been a mad few months, even by American political standards.
After Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in New York came Joe Biden’s blunders at that debate, then Trump’s brush with an assassin’s bullet and then that dramatic switch for the Democrats from Biden to Harris.
Events have jolted politics here and the Democratic Party’s remarkably smooth ‘switcheroo’ has upended the race for the White House.
Harris’s entry has turned the race into a neck-and-neck fight. In a few weeks, she has – polls suggest – won back voters who should have been in the bag but were put off by ageing Biden.
But beyond what promises to be a star-spangled crowning convention for Harris this week in Chicago, what’s the vibe in the states where it really matters?
I’m just back from Georgia. It is one of those ‘must-win’ swing states.
So starkly diverse and so close electorally, every vote really does matter in Georgia. Biden won here in 2020 by a margin of 0.23% – just 11,779 votes.
It’s been revealing in so many ways. Yes, Harris has shaken up the race, but the fundamentals of this election are unchanged.
The economy, the southern border, abortion and the character of the candidates remain the key factors. And it will come down to a narrow portion of the electorate – probably just over 10% of persuadables.
Here’s a snapshot of a journey through Georgia.
The barbecue joint
No visit to America’s south is complete without a good barbecue.
The Emerald’s Touch in the southwestern Georgian city of Columbus is new and it is the perfect product of the American dream.
Three generations of the same family run the place.
Jayden is taking the orders, his father is in the kitchen and his grandfather is the master griller out at the back. And Sandy, the matriarch, is the creator of the best mac-n-cheese I’ve had in a long time.
It is a business born in COVID under a Trump presidency as a food truck, it expanded under Biden’s term to the take-away it now is. In the next few months, they will expand again to become a full eat-in restaurant.
It’s the perfect reflection of what’s achievable in America. Trump’s low taxes and then Biden’s bottom-up economics have made it possible.
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Jayden is going to be voting for the first time in November and he is undecided – just the type of person both parties will need to target.
He represents a significant group of so-called “low information” voters. It’s an inelegant phrase, but essentially means he hasn’t yet tuned into it all. He doesn’t know what the two candidates represent.
Conversations with the customers are revealing.
Reflecting on the prospect of a female black president, young black mum Erica says: “It’s something that I would like to tell my daughter about… but I don’t let something that’s so close to me be the blindside of a vote just because it could be so historical.”
Vince Allan is a local pastor.
“To me, it’s a disturbing race,” he says. “We hear a lot of bashing and negative rhetoric instead of the candidates sticking to their policies… it’s pretty toxic.”
Then, away from the microphone, he whispered his candidate in my ear. I will not divulge, but it was a surprise.
The basketball court
This election will be all about targeting different demographics and young black men are key. On the basketball court, as the southern sun set, the perfect group agreed to talk politics.
All under 50 and all black or Latino, they are just the people Harris needs if she’s to win the state.
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‘Trump and who?’
“I’m voting for Trump,” one man says. “He’s our best choice.” Two others pile into the conversation, excited. “I’m Trump too… we’re with the Trump!”
“He’s got 34 felony counts! Hell, he’s more black than me!” another player says with a laugh.
This sort of self-deprecating humour speaks volumes for a certain portion of the electorate.
It’s not the first time I have heard it; the idea that it’s kind of cool that their street fighter has been put through the legal wringer and could still rise to the top.
But on this basketball court, it was clear too that beyond the machismo there are simple back-pocket motivations drawing people to Trump rather than Harris.
“Trump is real bro. He doesn’t care what you think about him. He’s going to speak his opinion,” another man says.
But like Jayden in the barbecue restaurant, here too I found many are just not tuned into it all, not yet, maybe they’ll never be, but their vote – if they vote – will count the same as any other.
Trump and Harris both need to swing them just enough to secure their vote.
The rodeo
In the far north of Georgia is the picturesque town of Blue Ridge.
It sits at the bottom end of the Blue Ridge mountain range which stretches hundreds of miles north through Tennessee and into Virginia. Much of this part of Appalachian America is deeply Trump country.
The annual rodeo is a wonderful snapshot of Americana and felt a million miles from the basketball court a hundred miles or so to the south.
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Young voters divided over Trump and Harris
It’s a country of such extraordinary diversity yet they must coalesce around one of two choices in November.
The first conversation ended any temptation I had to stereotype.
Three young friends, all first-time voters, all in their cowboy hats and all with a different view. One for Trump, one for Harris, and one undecided.
The Trump supporter was motivated mostly by his rough-and-ready character, the Harris supporter was concerned about the situation in Gaza, and the undecided person was worried about petrol prices.
For so many, this election will come down to single issues.
Abortion is another. A debate often framed as choice versus life. And in deeply religious Georgia the issue cuts both ways. A libertarian ‘mind your own business’ attitude intersects with fundamentalist religious beliefs.
For many, religion trumps choice. “I’m a devoted catholic,” one young woman told me. She confirmed that she would be voting Republican because of their abortion-restricting policies.
Another local then suggested, intriguingly, that a significant proportion of female voters may claim to support Trump but would, in the end, quietly vote for Kamala because of what she represents.
It is another dynamic to consider in this fascinating race.
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Remember how dramatically wrong the polls were in the past two presidential elections.
Trump has a tendency to poll lower than he actually performs.
How accurate are the polls on Harris? It’s hard to know because she is, for now, hard to define.
In one sense she represents something entirely new and fresh, certainly in terms of race and gender.
But she is also fully attached to the last four years of Biden.
That’s the challenge for team Harris: are they selling ‘continuity Kamala’ or does she represent change? Will she build on Biden’s legacy or is she distinct from it.
Different voters want different things. It feels like it’s a tricky balance in a campaign where all’s to play for.
A woman in the US who has been missing since 1962 has been found “alive and well”, authorities have said.
Audrey Backeberg left her home in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in July that year when she was 20 years old, Sauk County Sheriff’s Office said.
Investigators pursued numerous leads over the years but the case eventually went cold.
However, during a review of cold cases earlier this year, a detective reassessed all the case files and evidence, and re-interviewed several witnesses – and found Ms Backeberg.
The 82-year-old was “alive and well” – living outside of the state of Wisconsin, the sheriff’s office said.
Ms Backeberg was married and had two children when she disappeared on 7 July 1962, according to the Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy organisation.
She left her home to pick up her salary but never returned, causing her husband to ask family members where she was.
Shortly afterwards their 14-year-old babysitter claimed she and Ms Backeberg had hitchhiked to Wisconsin’s capital city Madison and then caught a bus to Indianapolis, Indiana.
The teenager said when she arrived she became nervous and wanted to go home, while Ms Backeberg refused to return and was last seen walking near a bus stop.
Ms Backeberg’s marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse, the Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy organisation said, with a criminal complaint having been filed days before she went missing.
Her relatives insisted she would never abandon her children, the organisation added, and her husband passed a polygraph test and maintained his innocence.
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‘We talked for 45 minutes’ – detective
Detective Isaac Hanson, who found Ms Backeberg, said her sister’s Ancestry.com account was vital in helping him locate her address.
“That was pretty key in locating death records, census reports, all kinds of data,” he told local news station WISN.
“So I called the local sheriff’s department, said, ‘Hey, there’s this lady living at this address. Do you guys have somebody, you can just go pop in?’
“Ten minutes later, she called me, and we talked for 45 minutes.”
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‘She sounded happy’
Mr Hanson said Ms Backeberg may have left home due to marital issues, but it was unclear why she had stayed away for so long.
He said he had promised to keep their conversation private.
“I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and led her life,” he said.
“She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets.”
Sauk County Sheriff’s Office said Ms Backeberg made the choice to leave and her disappearance “was not the result of any criminal activity or foul play”.
Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed in papal regalia on his Truth Social platform – just 11 days after the death of Pope Francis.
Uploaded onto his account early on Saturday morning, it shows the US president with a large gold cross on a chain around his neck.
From there, it was published, without comment or explanation, on the White House X and Instagram accounts and, though it drew fierce criticism, it was liked more than 100,000 times.
It comes just a few days after the world leader joked that he’d like to be the pontiff.
Last week, he was asked by reporters on the White House lawn who he would like to succeed Francis and he replied: “I’d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.”
He went on to say that he did not have a preference, but there was a cardinal in New York who was “very good”.
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‘I’d like to be pope’
Mr Trump was quickly accused of mocking Pope Francis’s death, but, by noon, UK time, the post had been liked more than 58,000 times on Instagram.
User comments, however, were mostly negative, with one saying that the image “isn’t funny. It’s not satire. And it’s not harmless”.
Another simply called it “disgusting”, while other reactions included “disturbing”, “disrespectful” and “offensive”.
On X, where the picture was liked more than 78,000 times, a user commented that Mr Trump was “making a mockery of the pious”, while another judged it “not a wise decision”.
The conclave to select a new pontiff will begin on 7 May after the death of Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Argentinian, who became pope in 2013, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 due to a stroke and heart failure.
Last weekend, the president was criticised for wearing a non-traditional blue suit for Francis’s Vatican funeral and chewing gum during the ceremony.
However, his meeting in St Peter’s Basilica with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the outdoor mass got under way was dubbed “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy.
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in St Peter’s Basilica. Pic: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
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Mr Trump’s own religious views have long been a matter of speculation.
He was raised as a Presbyterian and publicly identified with it for most of his adult life, before, in October 2020, he renounced it and said he now considered himself a non-denominational Christian.
Many have questioned the depth of his faith, but that hasn’t stopped him appealing to conservative Christians and the Christian right, particularly evangelicals, some of whom have helped him get elected twice.
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Earlier this year, Mr Trump shared a bizarre AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform showcasing what appeared to be a vision of Gaza under his proposed plan.
The footage showed the area transformed into a Middle Eastern paradise with exotic beaches, Dubai-style skyscrapers, luxury yachts and people partying – and featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk.
One of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers broke down in tears and swore on the witness stand as a sexual abuse trial continues.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault
Miriam Haley claims the former Hollywood mogul forced oral sex on her in July 2006.
The case is being retried after the appeals court overturned his conviction last year.
She was working as a production assistant at the time.
Weinstein has strenuously denied all allegations, and Ms Haley also testified at Weinstein’s initial trial.
Miriam Haley. AP file pic
Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday as he appeared for his retrial. Pic: AP
The 48-year-old was testifying in a Manhattan court when Weinstein’s defence lawyer Jennifer Bonjean questioned her account of the incident.
In court, Ms Bonjean asked why Ms Haley would agree to Weinstein’s invitation to his apartment after testifying about his previous behaviour, including her alleging that he barged into her home.
Ms Haley then became emotional after being asked how her clothes came off before Weinstein allegedly pulled out a tampon and performed oral sex on her.
She said Weinstein took off her clothing, but she didn’t recall the details, before Ms Bonjean asked: “You removed your clothes, right?”
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Ms Haley then told jurors that Weinstein “was the one who raped me, not the other way around” – to which his lawyer said: “That is for the jury to decide.”
She then started crying and said: “No, it’s not for the jury to decide. It’s my experience. And he did that to me.”
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reported that Ms Haley said during the exchange: “Don’t tell me I wasn’t raped by that f*****g asshole.”
Judge Curtis Farber then halted questioning and sent jurors on a break. Ms Haley’s eyes were red and her face was glistening as she left the witness stand.
In February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of sexually assaulting Ms Haley – along with raping former actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in 2013 – and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
His conviction for the two crimes was overturned in April after an appeals court ruled the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
After the appeal ruling, Weinstein was charged with raping one woman and forcing oral sex on two others.
Two of the charges are those he faced during the original trial, while the third – one of the charges of forcing oral sex on Kaja Sokola – was added last year.
Weinstein denies all allegations, and his lawyers argue his accusers had consensual sexual encounters.
Regardless of the outcome of the retrial, he will remain in prison over a 2022 conviction in Los Angeles for a separate count of rape. His lawyers are also appealing this sentence.
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