Connect with us

Published

on

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.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

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.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘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

Pic

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.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

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.

rodeo

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.

Read more:
Trump had the election in the bag, until he didn’t
US politics is laced with malevolence and division

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.

Continue Reading

US

Trump orders two nuclear subs to be moved closer to Russia

Published

on

By

Trump orders two nuclear subs to be moved closer to Russia

Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the “appropriate regions” in a row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

It comes after Mr Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia‘s Security Council, told the US president on Thursday to remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.

On Friday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: “Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump-Russia live: Follow Ukraine war latest

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump: ‘We’re going to protect our people’

Speaking outside the White House later in the day, Mr Trump was asked about why he had moved the submarines and replied: “We had to do that. We just have to be careful.

“A threat was made and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful. So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we’re going to protect our people.”

The spat between Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev came after the US president warned Russia on Tuesday it had “10 days from today” to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face tariffs, along with its oil buyers.

Moscow has shown no sign that it will agree to Mr Trump’s demands.

Trump’s move appears to signal a significant deterioration in relationship with Putin

Normally it’s Moscow rattling the nuclear sabres, but this time it’s Washington in what marks a dramatic escalation in Donald Trump’s war of words with the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

More importantly, it appears to signal a significant deterioration in his relationship with Vladimir Putin.

The US president’s patience with the Kremlin was already at its thinnest earlier this week, when he shrank his deadline for progress towards a peace deal from 50 days to 10.

But Russia’s lack of outward concern with this stricter ultimatum – which has swung from dismissive to (in Medvedev’s case) insulting – seems to have flicked a switch.

For this is the first time Trump’s pressure on Moscow has amounted to anything more than words.

We don’t know where the subs are, or how far they had to move to get closer to Russia, but it’s an act that sits several rungs higher than the usual verbal threats to impose sanctions.

How will Russia respond? I’m not sure Vladimir Putin has ever caved to an ultimatum and I doubt he’ll start now.

But I don’t think he’ll want the situation to deteriorate further. So I suspect he’ll make another offer to the US, that’s dressed up as a concession, but in reality may prove to be anything but.

It’s a tactic that’s worked before, but the stakes have suddenly got higher.

Read more:
Who are the winners (if any) and losers of Trump’s tariffs?

On Thursday, Mr Medvedev reminded Mr Trump that Russia possessed a Soviet-era automated nuclear retaliatory system – or “dead hand”.

Mr Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was referring to a secretive semi-automated Soviet command system designed to launch Russia’s missiles if its leadership was taken out in a decapitating strike.

He made the remarks after Mr Trump told him to “watch his words” after Mr Medvedev said the US president’s threat of hitting Russia and its oil buyers with punitive tariffs was “a game of ultimatums” and added that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war” between Russia and the US.

Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters

Mr Medvedev served as Russia’s president from 2008 and 2012, when Mr Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, but then stepped aside to let him run again.

As deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, he has become known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Continue Reading

US

Trump says ‘nobody has asked’ him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell – but he has ‘right to do it’

Published

on

By

Trump says 'nobody has asked' him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell - but he has 'right to do it'

Donald Trump has said “nobody has asked” him to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, but insisted he has “the right to do it” as US president.

Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of helping the paedophile financier traffic and sexually abuse underage girls in 2021.

Prosecutors have said Epstein’s sex crimes could not have been done without Maxwell, but her lawyers have maintained that she was wrongly prosecuted and denied a fair trial, and have floated the idea of a pardon from Mr Trump.

Last week, they asked the US Supreme Court to take up her case.

When pressed on the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, Mr Trump told reporters: “I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it.”

He continued: “I know nothing about it. I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons, I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”

Mr Trump also said he would not pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted in July on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump ‘never visited Espstein island’

His comments came shortly after the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said Maxwell has been moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

She was being held at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, that housed men and women, but has now been transferred to a prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

When asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics, but that the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on such factors as “the level of security and supervision the inmate requires”.

Maxwell’s lawyer confirmed the move but also declined to discuss the specific reasons for it.

The Texas camp houses solely female prisoners, the majority of whom are serving time for nonviolent offences and white-collar crimes, Sky’s US partner NBC News reports.

Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
Image:
Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News

Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates considered to be the lowest security risk and some facilities do not even have fences.

A senior administration official told NBC: “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd.

“Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns.”

Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’
Analysis: Trump hopes to escape Epstein controversy

Maxwell has received renewed attention in recent weeks, after the US Justice Department said it would not be releasing the so-called ‘Epstein files’.

The department said a review of the Epstein case had found “no incriminating ‘client list'” and “no credible evidence” the jailed financier – who killed himself in prison in 2019 – had blackmailed famous men.

Officials from the Trump administration have since tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case.

Last month, they lodged a request to unseal grand jury transcripts – which was denied – and Maxwell was last week interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Epstein survivor’s family criticises move

Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility has been criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.

They said in a statement: “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency.

“Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas.”

The statement concluded: “This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better.”

Continue Reading

US

Elon Musk vows to appeal after Tesla ordered to pay $243m to victims of Autopilot crash

Published

on

By

Elon Musk vows to appeal after Tesla ordered to pay 3m to victims of Autopilot crash

A jury has ruled that Tesla is partly to blame for the death of a young woman who was hit by an electric car on Autopilot.

Naibel Benavides was stargazing at the time of the collision, which sent her flying 22m (75ft) through the air in Florida.

Her boyfriend was seriously injured in the 2019 incident, while her body was discovered in a wooded area.

The Tesla Model S pictured after the crash. Pic: NBC/Florida Highway Patrol
Image:
The Tesla Model S pictured after the crash. Pic: NBC/Florida Highway Patrol

The company has now been ordered to pay $243m (£183m) in damages to Ms Benavides’ family, and to her partner Dillon Angulo.

Jurors concluded that not all of the blame could be put on a reckless driver who admitted he was distracted by his phone before he hit the young couple.

The motorist, George McGee, reached a separate settlement with the victims’ families in an earlier case.

Brett Schreiber, who represented the victims, said: “Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans.

More on Elon Musk

“Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Tesla bruised by Musk-Trump fallout

Tesla – and Elon Musk – have said it will appeal the verdict, labelling it “wrong” and a setback for automotive safety.

The verdict would also work to “jeopardise Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology”, the company warmed.

Tesla had claimed Mr McGee was solely to blame for the fatal crash because he had reached down to pick up a dropped mobile phone as his Model S sped through an intersection in Key Largo, Florida, at about 62mph.

Mr McGee allegedly did not receive alerts as he ran a stop sign and a red light – and the plaintiffs’ lawyer argued that the driver’s assistance should have warned the driver and braked before the collision.

The collision sent Ms Benavides Leon flying 22m (75ft) through the air, with her body later being discovered in a wooded area, while Mr Angulo suffered serious injuries.

“To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash,” Tesla said. “This was never about Autopilot; it was a fiction concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.”

Read more from Sky News:
Trump hits out again at ‘stubborn moron’
World’s oldest baby born in the US

Lawyers for the plaintiffs also alleged that Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the collision.

They showed the court that the company had the evidence all along, despite repeated denials, after hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up.

After being shown the evidence, Tesla said it made a mistake and honestly hadn’t thought it was there.

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk onstage during an event for Tesla in Shanghai, China. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Elon Musk hopes to convince people that his cars are safe to drive on their own. Pic: Reuters

Past cases against Tesla were dismissed or settled, so the verdict in this case could encourage more legal action.

Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in this trial, added: “This will open the floodgates. It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”

The verdict comes as Mr Musk plans to roll out a driverless taxi service, hoping to convince people his vehicles are safe enough to drive on their own.

Improvements to the company’s driver assistance and partial self-driving features have been made in recent years – but in 2023, 2.3 million Tesla vehicles were recalled amid fears Autopilot was failing to sufficiently alert drivers not paying attention to the road.

Continue Reading

Trending