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-Top News China USA

Beijing Girds For U.S. Tensions As Trump Returns

With new technology restrictions and Trump’s expected hard-line stance on Beijing, the superpowers’ already fragile relationship may face further strain.

China is bracing itself for an uncertain future as Donald Trump returns to the White House, signalling a volatile period in US-China relations.

Trump’s re-election is expected to bring aggressive trade policies, including tariffs as high as 60 per cent on Chinese goods, potentially disrupting global supply chains and impacting China’s economic growth, CNN reported.

With new technology restrictions and Trump’s expected hard-line stance on Beijing, the superpowers’ already fragile relationship may face further strain.

But while Trump’s protectionist trade stance and transactional approach to foreign policy could put significant pressure on China, it may also lead to opportunities for Beijing. As Trump’s stance threatens US alliances and global leadership, Beijing sees a potential to fill the vacuum left by an “America First” approach and to assert a new global order less reliant on the US, reported CNN.

“Trump’s return to power will certainly bring greater opportunities and greater risks for China,” said Shen Dingli, a foreign policy analyst based in Shanghai. “Whether it eventually leads to more risks or more opportunities depends on how the two sides interact with each other.”

Officially, China’s response has remained neutral. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it “respected” the American electoral outcome, while Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Trump on Thursday. Trump has often praised Xi, calling him “a very good friend,” despite the marked downturn in US-China relations during his first term.

Xi conveyed to Trump that both countries should “find the right way” to “get along in the new era,” as stated by the Foreign Ministry. Yet beneath the calm official statements, Beijing is preparing for what could be an era of increased uncertainty.

“Trump is a very mercurial person,” said Liu Dongshu, assistant professor of international affairs at the City University of Hong Kong. “It remains to be seen whether he will implement, and to what extent, the policies he promised during the election campaign, and if he will stick to his first-term agenda.”

During his first term, Trump enacted sweeping trade tariffs on China, blacklisted telecom giant Huawei, and placed blame on Beijing for the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of his term, bilateral relations had reached their lowest point in decades.

Trump has now indicated plans to impose 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese goods, a punitive measure that could further destabilise China’s economy, already grappling with a property crisis, low consumer demand, and rising government debts, reported CNN.

Analysts warn that these tariffs could slash China’s growth rate by two percentage points, nearly half of the country’s projected annual growth rate of 5 per cent. The Chinese economy is already struggling with a property crisis, low consumer demand, and rising government debts.

Investment bank Macquarie forecasts that tariffs at this level could slash China’s growth rate by two percentage points, nearly half of the country’s projected annual growth rate of 5 per cent.

“Trade war 2.0 could end China’s ongoing growth model, in which exports and manufacturing have been the main growth driver,” wrote Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, in a recent research note.

Unlike prior Republican leaders, Trump’s unconventional style of policymaking adds to the uncertainty Beijing faces. “Trump began his first term as an enthusiastic admirer of Xi Jinping, before levying tariffs and then vilifying Beijing during the pandemic,” said Daniel Russel, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “So, Beijing is likely to approach the President-elect with caution — probing to ascertain which Trump to expect and where there may be opportunities to exploit.”

Despite the risks, Beijing also recognises the potential advantages of Trump’s “America First” stance. “Although Beijing is deeply concerned about the unpredictability of Trump’s China policy, it reminds itself that challenges also bring opportunities,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Beijing sees an opportunity to build closer ties with Europe, which may reject Trump’s tariffs and technology decoupling efforts, as well as other regions wary of US aggression. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Europe Braces For Complexities Of Trump 2.0

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-Top News Europe USA

Too Early To Discuss Detente: Kremlin On Russia-US Ties

Putin on Thursday said that he is ready to hold discussions with Trump and congratulated him on winning the US presidential election.

It is too early to discuss prospects for improving Russia-US relations, local media reported Friday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin remains willing and open to dialogue with the US President-elect Donald Trump but arranging a time would come later.

The spokesman recalled that during the election campaign, Trump mentioned that he intended to contact Putin personally, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Putin on Thursday said that he is ready to hold discussions with Trump and congratulated him on winning the US presidential election.

When answering a question at the plenary session of the Russian think tank Valdai’s annual meeting in Sochi about whether he is ready to talk with Trump, the Russian leader said: “ready.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States,” Putin said, adding that Russia will work with any head of state who the American people trust.

However, Putin made it clear that – to a large extent – the ball remains in the United States’ court.

“Because we have not spoiled relations with them, we have not introduced any restrictions or sanctions against them. We do not contribute to any armed conflict being ignited in territories close to them. We have never sought this, and in practice, I want to emphasise this, we have never allowed ourselves to do this,” said Putin.

“It is unclear why the United States allows itself to do this. I hope that they will eventually come to the realisation that it is better not to do this if we do not want some global conflicts. The President-elect of the United States, Mr. Trump, has spoken in a similar vein. Let’s see how this will actually work, bearing in mind that the institution of the president in the United States is somehow bound by certain obligations. It is somehow bound by those people who contributed to his rise to power,” he added.

ALSO READ: Europe Braces For Complexities Of Trump 2.0

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UK to persuade Trump to not raise tariffs

Trump has said he wants to increase tariffs on goods imported from around the world by 10%, rising to 60% on goods from China, as part of his plan to protect US industries

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she is “confident” trade flows with the United States will continue under President-elect Donald Trump despite his proposal to put up tariffs.

The chancellor was asked what implications the result of the American election will have on her plans for growth as she faced questions from the Commons Treasury Committee.

Trump has said that, when he becomes US president again, he will impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% tariff on goods from all other countries.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) says UK growth could be halved as a result. And Goldman Sachs has reduced its growth forecast for the UK next year following Trump’s election.

It was put to her that investment banking company Goldman Sachs has downgraded its forecast for the UK’s economic growth next year from 1.6 to 1.4%, while EU officials are anticipating a reduction in exports to the US of €150bn (£125bn).

Asked if she agreed with the Goldman Sachs forecast saying growth next year will be 1.4% not 1.6%, Reeves replied: “I think it is too early to start making changes to forecasts for our economy because of the election of a president in the United States. But I would say this, our trading relationship, our economic relationship with the United States, is absolutely crucial. The US are our single biggest trading partner.”

Reeves said that in Trump’s first term “we continued to have a strong and healthy economic relationship” with the US. And she went on, “We’re not just a passive actor in this. It’s a trade relationship with the United States and we will make strong representations about the importance of free and open trade, not just between ourselves and the United States, but globally. The US also benefits from that access to free and open trade with us and other countries around the world, and it’s what makes us richer as societies, to benefit from that open trade.”

Asked by John Glen, a Conservative former Treasury minister, if it was realistic to seek to influence Trump, Reeves said, “We’ve got another couple of months before the inauguration. Obviously, we will begin those conversations. We’ll prepare for different eventualities. I absolutely do not want to sound in any way sanguine. On the other hand, I am optimistic about our ability to shape the global economic agenda, as we have under successive governments.:

A tariff is a tax on imports or exports of goods between countries and is used to encourage or safeguard domestic industry.

Trump has said he wants to increase tariffs on goods imported from around the world by 10%, rising to 60% on goods from China, as part of his plan to protect US industries.

Trump’s victory in the US presidential election over Democratic opponent Kamala Harris has drawn a mixed reaction in the UK.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have both congratulated him on the “impressive” result and vowed to work closely with him.

However, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was a “dark, dark day for people around the globe” as he called Mr Trump a “dangerous destructive demagogue”.

Trump’s victory was confirmed when he surpassed 270 electoral college votes by winning Wisconsin, and he remains on course to claim all seven swing states.

It said that the impact of the global tariffs would be inflationary, pushing up prices by between two and three percentage points, while the Bank of England would be forced to keep interest rates higher.

This in turn would push up the cost of government borrowing, damaging both public and private sector investment. The Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CIPT) said that, if Trump’s policies were implemented, total UK goods and services exports to the US could fall by between £19 billion and £34 billion. At its highest level this would represent a 4 per cent drop in total UK global exports.

Alan Winters, emeritus economics professor at the University of Sussex, warned Trump’s tariff policies could create a global “tit for tat” tariff war Alan Winters, emeritus economics professor at the University of Sussex and founder of the CIPT, said while domestic pressure might mean such tariffs were not “inevitable” there was little sign that Trump would heed the economic warnings.

“You have to remember that the primary objective here is to restore manufacturing jobs to the US,” he said. “And fear of the consequences, from past experience, won’t energise him much.”

Winters added that the greatest danger was a global “tit for tat” tariff war in which countries sought to protect their own domestic industries by putting up barriers to imports. “That would be very damaging to the global economy,” he said.

Since Trump’s re-election, US and European bond markets moved in opposite directions as investors bet that tariffs would hit growth in Europe at the same time as Trump’s economic package boosts the US economy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury traded 0.15 percentage points higher at 4.44 per cent, its highest level since July, while the yield on German Bunds fell 0.03 percentage points to 2.40 per cent.

ALSO READ: Trump Vows Deeper Ties with India Ahead

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-Top News Politics USA

No more presidential debate with Harris, says Trump

Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – that has advised the Harris-Walz campaign on economic messaging – said that Trump’s decision was a “double favour” to the Harris campaign

The possibility of a second meeting between the two US Presidential candidates before election day was dashed on Thursday when former President Donald Trump announced he would not take part in another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

He asserted that he won Tuesday’s debate with Harris despite some polls showing otherwise.

“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH’. Polls clearly show that I won the debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

The former president claimed that subjects like immigration and inflation were covered “in great detail” both in Tuesday night’s discussion with Harris and in his June debate with President Biden.

Trump, in a strong attack on the Biden-Harris administration, said that they have ‘destroyed’ the country.

“She and Crooked Joe have destroyed our country, with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA, totally unchecked and unvetted, and with inflation bankrupting our middle class. Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe. It was discussed in great detail during the first debate with Joe, and the second debate with Comrade Harris,” the former US President said.

“She was a no-show at the Fox debate and refused to do NBC & CBS,” Trump said in his post, adding “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”

Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are the official presidential candidates of their respective parties, after they accepted the nomination at the conventions earlier this year.

The US presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 5 this year.

Notably, the first presidential debate was held in June between President Biden and Trump, where the former’s performance expressed concerns over his age. Following this, Biden made an exit from the race and endorsed Harris.

Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – an organisation that has advised the Harris-Walz campaign on economic messaging – said that Trump’s decision was a “double favour” to the Harris campaign.

“Voters will have a lasting impression of Kamala Harris as looking presidential and standing on their side,” he said. “That will probably do her very well. Another debate would potentially help Harris, but could also shake up the existing glow that surrounds her,” Green added.

Jeremy Petersen, an independent voter from Utah, said that he was not surprised by Trump’s decision. “If [Trump] doesn’t feel like he can score some social media soundbites, there’s no benefit for him to show up,” said Mr Petersen, who added that he would probably support Harris after the Philadelphia debate.

“He felt that Harris wouldn’t have the type of performance she did and now he’s running scared,” Petersen added. “He can’t stop her momentum via debate so he needs a new angle.”

Televised debates date back to 1960, when John F Kennedy faced off against Richard Nixon.

There are traditionally two or three presidential debates happening in most election cycles, along with at least one vice-presidential debate.

That tradition, however, was upended in July, when Joe Biden withdrew from the election weeks after a disastrous performance against Trump in the first debate.

The subsequent debate between Harris and Trump followed weeks of back and forth over whether it would go ahead, and under what conditions.

Trump previously suggested additional debates on Fox and NBC News, although Harris only agreed to ABC.

In his Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said his rival “refused” to do the additional debates.

Statistics from media analytics firm Nielsen show that 67.1m people watched the debate, a significantly higher figure than the 51.3m who tuned into the June debate between Trump and Biden.

Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama praised Harris’ debate performance and said everyone saw who has he vision and strength to move this country forward instead of dividing it.

“Tonight, we saw firsthand who has the vision and strength to move this country forward instead of dividing us. @KamalaHarris will be a president for all Americans,” he stated on X.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama also heaped praises on VP Harris and said there should be no doubt or further room for discussion, that the “only candidate in this race who is ready to be President” is Kamala Harris.

“After tonight’s debate there should be no doubt – no room for discussion -@KamalaHarrisis the only candidate in this race who is ready to be President,” she stated in a post on X.

“I am once again urging everyone to roll up their sleeves and DO SOMETHING – phone bank, knock on doors, talk to any and everyone you know and urge them to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Every vote will matter in what will be a close race. We cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines. There’s simply too much at stake,” she added.

ALSO READ: Biden wears ‘Trump 2024’ hat, White House says ‘show of unity’

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Pennsylvania is key for Harris, Trump  

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November…reports Asian Lite News

When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia, they’ll both know there’s little debate that Pennsylvania is critical to their chances of winning the presidency.

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November.

A loss in the state will make it difficult to make up the electoral votes elsewhere to win the presidency. Trump and Harris have been frequent visitors in recent days—Harris plans to return on Friday—and the former president was speaking in Butler County on July 14 when he was the target of an assassination attempt.

The stakes may be especially high for Harris: No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania since 1948.

Pennsylvanians broke a string of six Democratic victories in the state when they helped propel Trump to victory in 2016, then backed native son Joe Biden in the 2020 race against Trump.

“They say that ‘If you win Pennsylvania, you’re going to win the whole thing,'” Trump told a crowd in Wilkes-Barre’s Mohegan Arena in August.

Republicans are looking to blunt Trump’s unpopularity in Pennsylvania’s growing and increasingly liberal suburbs by criticising the Biden administration’s handling of the economy. They hope to counter the Democrats’ massive advantage in early voting by encouraging their base to vote by mail.

Harris is looking to reassemble the coalition behind Biden’s winning campaign, including college students, Black voters and women animated by protecting abortion rights.

Democrats also say it will be critical for Harris to win big in Philadelphia—the state’s largest city, where Black residents are the largest group by race—and its suburbs, while paring Trump’s large margins among white voters across wide swaths of rural and small-town Pennsylvania.

The debate is set for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The city is a Democratic stronghold where Trump in 2020 notoriously said ” bad things happen,” one of his baseless broadsides suggesting that Democrats could only win Pennsylvania by cheating.

Biden flipped Pennsylvania in 2020 not just by winning big in Philadelphia, but by running up bigger margins in the heavily populated suburbs around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He also got a boost in northeastern Pennsylvania in the counties around Scranton, where he grew up.

In this combination of photos taken in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event, Aug. 18, 2024, in Rochester, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Aug. 19, 2024, in York.

Ed Rendell, a former two-term Democratic governor who was hugely popular in Philadelphia and its suburbs, says Harris can do better than Biden in the suburbs.

“There’s plenty of votes to get, a Democrat can get a greater margin in those counties,” Rendell said.

Lawrence Tabas, chair of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party, said Trump can make gains there, too. The GOP’s polling and outreach shows that the effect of inflation on the economy is a priority for those suburbanites, he said, and that the issue works in the party’s favour.

“A lot of people are really now starting to say, ‘Look, personalities aside, they are what they are, but we really need the American economy to become strong again,'” Tabas said.

Rendell dismisses that claim. He said Trump is veering off script and saying bizarre things that will ensure he gets a smaller share of independents and Republicans in the suburbs than he did in 2020.

“He’s gotten so weird that he’ll lose a lot of votes,” Rendell said.

Harris has championed various steps to fight inflation, including capping the cost of prescription drugs, helping families afford child care, lowering the cost of groceries, and offering incentives to encourage home ownership.

Pennsylvania’s relatively stagnant economy usually lags the national economy, but its unemployment rate in July was nearly a full percentage point lower. The state’s private sector wage growth, however, has slightly lagged behind the nation’s since Biden took office in 2021, according to federal data.

Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm since Biden withdrew from the race and Harris stepped in will carry through Election Day in November.

For one, they hope she will do better with women and Black voters, as the first female presidential nominee of Black heritage. Rendell said he is more optimistic about Harris’ chances to win Pennsylvania than he was with Biden in the race.

“I think we’re the favorite now,” Rendell said.

The debate takes place before voting starts—in Pennsylvania and everywhere else.

A national Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey conducted in July showed that about 8 in 10 Democrats said they would be satisfied with Harris as the party’s nominee, compared with 4 in 10 Democrats in March saying they would be satisfied with Biden as the candidate.

There is some optimism among Pennsylvania Democrats even in Republican-leaning counties, including a number of whiter, less affluent counties near Pittsburgh and Scranton that once voted for Democrats consistently.

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Relief For Trump As Criminal Sentencing Delayed Until After US Election

Judge Juan Merchan explained the reason that delay in the sentencing is in part to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the presidential race.

Former US President Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his New York criminal case until after the 2024 presidential election in November, media reported.

As per the CNN report on Friday, Judge Juan Merchan explained the reason that delay in the sentencing is in part to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the presidential race.

Merchan wrote in a new four-page letter that he would sentence Trump on November 26 — if necessary — in response to a request from Trump’s lawyers to push back the sentencing.

Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult-film star alleging an affair with the former President, CNN reported.

But Trump’s sentencing has been on hold for months after the former President’s lawyers pushed to have the conviction tossed because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

Merchan noted the upcoming presidential election in his decision to delay sentencing, saying that part of his reason for doing so was to avoid the appearance that the sentencing was intended to influence the November election.

“Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and or any candidate for any office,” Merchan wrote.

Trump expressed appreciation for the language Merchan used in delaying his sentencing, noting that it will only commence “if necessary”.

“I greatly appreciate the words in the letter today from the judge. He said ‘if necessary’, being utilised in the decision, because there should be no ‘if necessary’. This case should rightfully be terminated immediately,” Trump said during remarks to the Fraternal Order of Police in North Carolina.

The former President also falsely said that the sentencing was “postponed” because he “did nothing wrong”.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance gesture during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling/IANS)

In addition to pushing back the sentencing until November 26, Merchan wrote that he would decide on Trump’s motion to vacate the verdict because of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision on November 12, which is also after the election, CNN reported.

Merchan wrote in his letter that the Supreme Court “rendered a historic and intervening decision” with its immunity ruling.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded to the decision, saying, “There should be no sentencing in the Manhattan DA’s election interference witch hunt.”

“As mandated by the US Supreme Court, this case, along with all the other Harris-Biden hoaxes, should be dismissed,” Cheung said.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement: “A jury of 12 New Yorkers swiftly and unanimously convicted Donald Trump of 34 felony counts. The Manhattan D.A.’s Office stands ready for sentencing on the new date set by the court.”

The district attorney’s office did not oppose delaying Trump’s sentence, which Merchan cited in his decision on Friday.

The decision to push back the sentencing until after the November 5 election marks yet another delay that’s been a fixture in all of Trump’s criminal cases since he was indicted four times — in New York, Florida, Washington, DC and Georgia — in 2023.

The Florida classified documents case was dismissed by the judge in July — though the special counsel is appealing that decision — while the other two January 6-related cases are in limbo and won’t move forward before the election.

The only indictment that went to trial this year was the New York hush money case that ended in the May guilty verdict. Now the sentencing in that trial — with the question looming about whether a jail sentence will be imposed — won’t occur until after the election, if it happens at all.

Merchan acknowledged the historic nature of Trump’s hush money trial in his decision to push back the former President’s sentencing until after the election.

“This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this Nation’s history, and this Court has presided over it since its inception — from arraignment to jury verdict and a plentitude of motions and other matters in-between. Were this Court to decide, after careful consideration of the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump, that this case should proceed, it will be faced with one of the most critical and difficult decisions a trial court judge faces — the sentencing of a defendant found guilty of crimes by a unanimous jury of his peers,” Merchan wrote.

“The members of this jury served diligently on this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election,” he continued.

“Likewise, if one is necessary, the Defendant has the right to a sentencing hearing that respects and protects his constitutional rights.”

This is the second time that Merchan has pushed back sentencing in the case.

Merchan delayed his initial July sentencing by two months after Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan to vacate the guilty verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

Last week, Trump sought to move the state case into federal court, citing the Supreme Court’s decision this summer on presidential immunity, but a federal judge quickly denied the request day slater without considering further arguments from Trump or the Manhattan District Attorney. Trump’s lawyers are appealing that ruling.

After filing that federal petition, Trump’s legal team also asked Merchan to let that litigation play out in federal court and refrain from issuing a decision over presidential immunity.

Merchan noted the attempts to move the case to federal court in his letter on Friday.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the indictment should be dismissed or at least his conviction should be vacated because the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity means that certain evidence from the trial, such as the testimony of former White House aide Hope Hicks and tweets Trump sent while in office, should not have come before the jury.

Prosecutors have responded the conviction should stand and that the evidence presented at trial was “overwhelming”.

Merchan had said he would rule on the immunity question on September 16. He had planned to sentence Trump, if necessary, two days later.

But Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan to push that date back until after the election, arguing in part that they wouldn’t have enough time to appeal the judge’s decision. Prosecutors wrote in response that they would defer to Merchan on the scheduling.

The delay means that Trump’s criminal conviction — which dominated both Trump’s time and the news cycle during the spring – won’t return to the forefront of the presidential campaign during the final weeks of the race. It also could mean that the election will not interfere with any sentence that Merchan might impose.

Trump could be sentenced to as much as four years of prison time, but Merchan is not required to sentence Trump to prison, and he could choose to impose a lesser sentence, such as probation, home confinement, community service or a fine.

ALSO READ: Trump pushes high tariffs, onshoring; India could face impact

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-Top News Politics USA

Trump recommits to debate with Harris

Trump had previously dropped out of the ABC News debate after President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection…reports Asian Lite News

Republican nominee Donald Trump is set to debate US Vice President Kamala Harris on American television network, ABC News on September 10, the former US President said.

Speaking with reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, Trump said his campaign has agreed to three debates, to be hosted by Fox News, ABC News and NBC News. The September 10 debate to be hosted by ABC News is the only one in which the Harris campaign has also agreed to participate.

Harris confirmed in a post on X she’d see him in September at the ABC debate.

“ABC News will host qualifying presidential candidates to debate on September 10 on ABC. Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend the ABC debate,” the network said in a statement.

Trump had previously dropped out of the ABC News debate after President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection.

“I think it’s very important to have debates, and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4. We’ve agreed with NBC. Fairly full agreement subject to them on September 10. And we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25,” the former president said.

Further Trump said, “The other side has to agree to the terms. They may or may not agree. I don’t know if they’re going to agree. (Harris) hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview. She’s barely competent, and she can’t do an interview, I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.”

Trump calls Harris ‘disrespectful’ of her ethnicity

During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, Trump sidestepped a question about his claim that Harris had “turned Black.” He said that her behaviour was “disrespectful” to both Black and Indian communities.

A reporter asked Trump why Harris, who attended Howard University and has Jamaican American heritage, would only recently identify as Black. “Kamala Harris’s father is Jamaican American, and she went to a historically Black college, how is she only recently deciding to be Black?” the reporter asked.

Trump responded that the reporter should direct the question to Harris, not him. “Well, you’ll have to ask her that question because she’s the one that said it. I didn’t say it. And I very much appreciate that question, but you’ll have to ask her,” Trump said.

Trump added that he found Harris’s behaviour very “disrespectful” to both Black and Indian communities. “But to me, it doesn’t matter. But to her, from her standpoint, I think it’s very disrespectful to both, whether it’s Indian or Black. I think it’s very disrespectful to both,” he said.

Trump also mentioned his past support for Harris, noting, “I’ve known her for a long time. I contributed to her campaign a long time ago because I was a developer. I contributed to lots of campaigns of Democrats, and Republicans, some were liberal and some were conservative.”

‘American public can sniff inauthenticity’

Meanwhile, criticising JD Vance for his campaign trail, Former White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki said that the voters can “sniff inauthenticity” in him, The Hill reported.

“I think, in politics — as we all know, we’ve all been around it a long time — voters … the American public can sniff inauthenticity,” Psaki said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and added that “This guy is… not authentic.”

Vance’s actions during the campaign trail have drawn criticism.

He once encountered backlash for making a joke about Diet Mountain Dew and Democrats arguing that “it’s racist to do anything.” In addition, he has come under fire for his recent shift in opinion toward former President Trump, whom he had previously opposed before endorsing, and later on becoming his running mate in US Presidential elections 2024.

“He’s not presenting himself as who he was for many decades before he had this kind of about-face … in order to try to connect with the MAGA world,” Psaki said, according to The Hill.

“People sniff that, they recognize it. Voters are not dumb, they’re smart,” she added.

JD Vance, prior to accepting Trump’s nomination of him as the US Vice Presidential nominee was very critical of the former US President.

“And that’s, you know, a root problem for JD Vance, is that he is just not authentically who he presents himself to be, at all,” Psaki further said.

Donald Trump made his pick for Vice President, selecting JD Vance as his running mate on July 15. Trump had confirmed Vance’s candidature through a post on Truth Social. It was after years of criticising Trump, Vance embraced the populist ideology of the former president; this choice further elevates him.

ALSO READ-Trump praised Walz for response to unrest over Floyd’s murder

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‘Trump Attack Marks Major Secret Service Failure’

The bullet hit the former President’s right ear and he dropped to the ground, Secret Service agents had thrown themselves on him to provide him extra cover…reports Asian Lite News

US Secret Service Director Kimberly A. Cheatle told lawmakers at a hearing that the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was the “most significant operational failure” for the agency in decades.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle told members of the House committee Oversight and Accountability.

“As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” Cheatle conceded in response to a question from Congressman Ro Khanna whether the attempt on Trump’s life was the single biggest failure of the agency since the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on March 20, 1981.

However, Cheatle declined to resign as the Secret Service Director.

“I will stay in the job and make the agency stronger. We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” she testified.

Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic Party attacked the Director for her agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt in which a lone gunman shot at Trump during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The bullet hit the former President’s right ear and he dropped to the ground, Secret Service agents had thrown themselves on him to provide him extra cover.

A Secret Service sniper killed the gunman, who was positioned on the roof of a nearby building.

Jame Comar, Chairman of the Committee, opened the hearing, calling for the Director to resign.

“The American people will make their own decisions based on her answers today,” James Comer said, speaking before an oversised photograph of Trump being whisked offstage after the shooting.

ALSO READ-Trump Mocks Biden’s Exit, Calls Him ‘Worst President’

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Trump Mocks Biden’s Exit, Calls Him ‘Worst President’

Trump piled on personal insults and questions about Biden’s performance in the post, “Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation.”…reports Arul Louis

Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump crowed, “the Corrupt and Radical Democrats are throwing him overboard” after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race for the White House.

“He was annihilated in an Earth Shattering Debate,” Trump posted on Saturday on Truth Social, the X-like social media platform he uses, mangling the capitalisation of his text.

After the June 27 debate in which his performance raised questions about cognitive abilities and his capacity to match Trump’s campaign vitality, Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party candidate.

Trump piled on personal insults and questions about Biden’s performance in the post, “Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation.”

“He has done everything possible to destroy our Country, from our Southern Border, to Energy Dominance, National Security, International Standing, and so much more,” Trump said repeating his constant refrain.

Trump alleged that “the people around him lied to America about his Complete and Total Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Demise” to prop up Biden.

Trump did not mention Harris, but said, “Whoever the Left puts up now will just be more of the same.”

On Saturday at a campaign rally, Trump ridiculed Harris.

He said, “Kamaala, I call her laughing Kamaala. Have you seen her laughing? She is crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. She is nuts. She is not as crazy as (former Speaker) Nancy Pelosi.”

CNN reported that Trump said that she (Harris) will be easier to defeat than Biden.

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. fired the opening salvo on his father’s behalf, “Kamala Harris owns the entire Left-wing policy record of Joe Biden. The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is really saying something.”

ALSO READ-Kamala Vows to ‘Earn and Win’ Democratic Nomination

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I took a bullet for democracy, says Trump

Many of the merchandise tables outside the venue in Michigan’s Grand Rapids were selling shirts to attendees as they waited in queues to enter the indoor arena…reports Asian Lite News

“I took a bullet for democracy,” former US President Donald Trump said on Saturday, addressing a first rally after he was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt on his life last week, The Hill reported.

Trump returned to the campaign trail in Michigan’s Grand Rapids, days after accepting the Republican nomination for president at the Republican National Convention.

“I don’t want to know anything about it. But what they do is misinformation and disinformation, and they keep saying he’s a threat to democracy,” Trump continued, referring to Democrats. ‘I’m saying, ‘What the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump said.

Speaking about Project 2025, Trump said, “They’re seriously extreme, but I don’t know anything about it.”

Democrats have tried to tie Trump to Project 2025, a conservative policy platform organised by the Heritage Platform, whose contributors include former Trump administration officials, according to The Hill report. Former US President and his campaign have denied any support for Project 2025.

During the rally, he said, “I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God.” Trump was wearing a smaller beige coloured bandage on his right ear at his rally, different from the larger white one he wore at the Republican National Convention earlier this week, according to The Hill report.

It was Trump’s first rally after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday. He was shot in the ear and was escorted off the stage by US Service agents. One attendee and the shooter died during the attack, while two others were injured in the shooting incident in Pennsylvania.

Many Trump supporters who came to attend the rally were wearing shirts featuring the image of Trump holding his fist in the air and telling his voters to “fight” as Secret Service agents were escorting him off the stage after the shooting incident in Pennsylvania, CNN reported.

Many of the merchandise tables outside the venue in Michigan’s Grand Rapids were selling shirts to attendees as they waited in queues to enter the indoor arena.

At the same rally in Michigan, Republican Vice presidential nominee JD Vance slammed US Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning her achievements and defending his own loyalty to the country, CNN reported.

Vance said, “There’s some bad news actually, Vice President Kamala Harris, she doesn’t like me.”

“Kamala Harris said something to the effect that … I have no loyalty to this country. Well, I don’t know, Kamala, I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?,” Vance said.

It was Vance’s first rally with former US President Donald Trump after being selected as his running mate. Vance’s remarks came after Kamala Harris earlier this week criticised him for saying he would not have certified the election results of 2020.

Harris even compared Vance to former US Vice President Mike Pence, saying that Vance “would have carried out Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election.”

In a video released on Wednesday, Harris said, “Donald Trump has picked his new running mate: JD Vance. Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda.” She further said, “Make no mistake: JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country,” ABC News reported.

In his remarks at the rally, Vance rejected the media’s assessment that Trump and the Republican agenda are “radical” and “dangerous,” CNN reported. He was given a warm welcome in Michigan.

ALSO READ-Trump makes unity pitch