Fact-check: Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City
Former President Donald Trump hammered home an anti-immigration theme in his closing argument pitch to voters on October 27 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. But before Trump spoke, the event made headlines for a series of racist jokes by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. He called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage” and disparaged Black Americans, Latinos and Jewish people. Democrats and at least two Florida Republicans, including Senator Rick Scott, swiftly condemned Hinchcliffe’s remarks about Puerto Rico. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign said in a statement after the rally addressing the comedian’s comment about Puerto Rico. At the rally, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said he presided over the most secure border in United States history (he did not), that the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not deliver hurricane relief because the government spent its money bringing immigrants into the country illegally (it did not) and that foreign nations were emptying their prisons and sending convicts to the US (they are not). A gaggle of speakers preceded Trump, including Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr, Trump’s wife, Melania, his daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump, US House Speaker Mike Johnson, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, entrepreneur Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Carlson riffed about Harris’s potential victory marking “the first Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president”. Harris identifies as a Black woman of multicultural descent; her mother was born in India and her father was born in Jamaica. Trump nevertheless said the Republican Party he leads “has really become the party of inclusion, and there’s something very nice about that”. Trump’s choice of New York City as a rally site may have challenged political logic; New York, as a state, has voted for the Democratic candidate for president for decades, though Madison Square Garden has hosted major political events for more than a century. Appearing in New York City also placed Trump in the back yard of officials whom he frequently has criticised, including District Attorney Alvin Bragg who obtained a 34-count felony conviction against Trump for falsifying business records. Trump supporters gather with banners outside Madison Square Garden ahead of Donald Trump’s rally in New York [Selcuk Acar /Anadolu via Getty Images] Here are eight claims we fact-checked, leading with four about immigration. Immigration Trump said Harris “has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo”. Pants on Fire! There is no evidence that countries are emptying their prisons – or mental institutions – and sending people to illegally migrate to the US. Immigration officials arrested about 108,000 non-citizens with criminal convictions (whether in the US or abroad) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal data shows. That accounts for people stopped at and between ports of entry. Not everyone was let in. Trump said: “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.” Legal experts told PolitiFact that Trump does not have the authority to use the law to carry out mass deportations and that invoking it would lead to legal challenges. The Alien Enemies Act lets a president quickly deport noncitizens without due process if they are from a country at war with the US. The law has been used only three times in US history, all during wartime. The last time the act was invoked was during World War II, and it was used to place non-citizens from Japan, Germany and Italy in internment camps. Trump said: “Think of this: 325,000 children are missing, dead, sex slaves, or slaves. They came through the open border and they’re gone.” This is a distortion of federal data about migrant children. An August federal oversight report about unaccompanied minors released from federal government custody said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not served a “Notice to Appear” to more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors, as of May. (A notice to appear is a charging document authorities issue and file in immigration court to start removal proceedings.) The report said unaccompanied children “who do not appear for court are considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labour”. The report does not state how many children have actually been trafficked. The report led Republican legislators and conservative news outlets to say that ICE “lost” the children or that they are “missing”. But that is not what it said. Trump said Harris “vowed to abolish” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement False. As a US senator in 2018, Kamala Harris criticised the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including a policy that led to family separations at the border. In that context, Harris said US ICE’s function should be re-examined and that “we need to probably even think about starting from scratch.” But Harris did not say there should not be immigration enforcement. In 2018, Harris also said ICE had a role and should exist. Economy Trump said Harris “cast the deciding vote that launched the worst inflation in the history of our country. She cost the typical American family over $3,000 in a short period, but over $30,000 over the last three years”. Mostly False. Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on the motion to proceed to a final Senate vote on the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, a coronavirus pandemic relief bill. An ideologically diverse cross-section of economists agrees that the American Rescue Plan added a couple of percentage points to inflation, but did not cause the wider spike. The primary causes, they say, were supply chain disruptions from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Year-over-year inflation peaked in 2022 at about 9 percent. That made it the worst annual rate in 40 years, but not the worst in US history. The $28,000 increase is a credible estimate of the extra amount that households have paid for
Japan PM Ishiba says will stay in office despite election setback
Sunday’s snap election was the governing party’s worst result in 15 years, exit polls and media showed. Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has pledged to stay in office despite receiving a major blow in Sunday’s snap election he called himself to shore up more support for his party. Ishiba told reporters on Monday he would not allow a “political vacuum” to occur after Japan’s ruling coalition lost its parliamentary majority in a significant defeat for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed the country almost continuously since 1955. Ishiba, 67, called the vote days after assuming office on October 1. But voters, angry at a funding scandal, punished the LDP by reducing it to 191 seats, down from 259 in the 465-member lower house of parliament. LDP’s coalition partner Komeito won 24 seats. The snap election was the governing coalition’s worst result in 15 years, exit polls and results reported by national broadcaster NHK and other media showed. The yen hit a three-month low as results came out. Despite this, Ishiba said: “I want to fulfill my duty by protecting people’s lives, protecting Japan.” “People’s suspicion, mistrust and anger” at the slush fund scandal – which saw LDP figures pocket money from fundraising events and which helped sink his predecessor Fumio Kishida – factored in the election result, Ishiba said. “I will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics,” Ishiba stressed, repeating that voters had delivered a “severe judgement” on the party. Japanese media had earlier speculated that if LDP lost the majority, Ishiba could quit, becoming the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister since the end of World War II. The LDP’s election committee chief, former Premier Junichiro Koizumi’s son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned on Monday. What next? Ishiba is expected to seek to head a minority government, with the divided opposition seen as likely incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said. But the prime minister on Monday said he was not considering a broader coalition “at this point”. As mandated by the constitution, the parties now have 30 days to figure out a grouping that can govern. The opposition, under former premier Yoshihiko Noda’s Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), made significant gains, which raised its projected seat tally to 148 from 96 at the last election. “Voters chose which party would be the best fit to push for political reforms,” Noda said late on Sunday, adding that the “LDP-Komeito administration cannot continue”. Japan’s government and governing coalition officials are planning to convene a special parliament session to select the prime minister on November 11, Kyodo News reported on Monday, quoting multiple unnamed sources. “Lawmakers aligned with [former Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe were cold-shouldered under Ishiba, so they could potentially pounce on the opportunity to take their revenge,” Yu Uchiyama, political science professor at the University of Tokyo, told the AFP news agency. “But at the same time, with the number of LDP seats reduced so much, they might take the high road and support Ishiba for now, thinking it’s not the time for infighting,” he added. Adblock test (Why?)
Report from scene of major Israeli attack on north Gaza homes
NewsFeed Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout has been to the site of a major Israeli air attack on homes in north Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, where dozens of people were killed and left buried under rubble. Published On 28 Oct 202428 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
PM Modi to launch development projects worth nearly Rs 12850 crore, to also extend Ayushman Bharat scheme for…
PM Modi has chosen to unveil the major health sector push on the occasion of the ninth Ayurveda Day and the birth anniversary of Dhanvantari, considered the god of medicine.
Waqf Amendment Bill: Opposition members walk out of panel meeting protesting changes made by board
Opposition MPs walked out of the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill alleging that the changes to the report were made without the knowledge of the Delhi government, however, they rejoined later.
Taj, 5 star- hotel in Lucknow gets bomb threat day after hoax mails sent to 10 hotels
Authorities have redeployed bomb squads to the Taj Hotel for a meticulous inspection, and an investigation into the origin of the email is underway.
Texas’ high housing costs sparked a movement to bring them down. The fight could shape the state for years to come.
A new breed of activists wants Texas to tame costs by building more housing. But longstanding opposition to such policies remains strong.
In Dallas, ballot propositions could drastically change police and city government
Proposed amendments to the city charter would require the city to hire more police, tie the city manager’s pay to community reviews and let citizens sue the city more easily.
As Texas refuses online voter registration, paper applications get lost
Some people who filled out forms find out too late that they never made it onto the rolls. State lawmakers have resisted efforts to expand online options.
Early in-person voting begins in DC, Colorado
Early in-person voting kicked off in both Washington, D.C., and Colorado on Monday. Here is everything you need to know to cast a ballot. There are two competitive House districts across the states that began voting Friday: EMINEM CAMPAIGNS FOR KAMALA HARRIS. WILL IT SWAY DETROIT VOTERS? This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Colorado. Absentee voting kicked off in Colorado on Oct. 11. Residents do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. The state proactively mailed ballots to eligible voters between Oct. 11 and Oct. 18. Those ballots must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. TRUMP ADVISER UNPACKS WHY FORMER PRESIDENT IS HOLDING RALLY IN DEEP-BLUE STATE WEEKS FROM ELECTION Colorado offers early in-person voting, but it varies by location. Be sure to check the state’s election website for early voting dates and locations. Colorado residents can register to vote in person, by mail or online at any point during early voting and on Election Day. Oct. 28 is the last day to register to vote and receive a mail ballot. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., began absentee voting on Monday. Registered voters do not need to apply for a ballot, as the district began sending ballots to all active registered voters starting Sept. 30. Ballots can be returned by mail or in person through Election Day. Washington, D.C., will begin early in-person voting on Oct. 28, and it will run through Nov. 3. The deadline for residents to register to vote online or by mail was Oct. 15. They can also register in-person during early voting (Oct. 28-Nov. 3) and on Election Day.