Trump refuses Fox News debate with Harris as he attacks Whoopi Goldberg: Live

The Republican rallied in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton and in Reading, Pennsylvania, yesterday using his time in the pivotal swing state to lash out at a number of female enemies, calling Harris “dumb”, mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren and attacking The View host Whoopi Goldberg as “demented” and “dirty and disgusting”.

Incredibly, he then denied having a problem with women or attracting female support, claiming: “I think [women] like me anyway. I think it’s all bulls***. They make it up.”

Here’s Ariana Baio on Trump’s latest sexist tirades.

Donald Trump has rejected Fox News’s offer to host a final presidential debate between him and Democratic rival Kamala Harris, having also spurned CNN’s invitation to a second contest.

Fox had offered to host a rematch between the two White House contenders on either October 24 and 27 while CNN had separately invited them to a face-off in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 23, which Harris had accepted.

“THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH,” the Republican said on Truth Social. “SO THERE IS NOTHING TO DEBATE.”

Trump was widely felt to have lost their first match-up in Philadelphia a month ago, cutting an absurd figure as he ranted baselessly about Haitian immigrants eating domestic pets in Springfield, Ohio – an exchange that went viral.

After the powerful storm made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, a few hours ago, it set in motion an outbreak of tornados inland.

One of those was spotted just southwest of the city of Wellington, which has a population of 66,000 and lies just 15 miles from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club estate in Palm Beach.

A video of the whirlwind posted to social media has been authenticated by the National Weather Service’s office in Miami, which warned: “ONGOING TORNADO heading toward populated areas. SEEK SHELTER NOW!”

There have been no reports of injuries or property damage as yet.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday slammed his predecessor for leading a massive campaign of misinformation and disinformation that is hampering efforts to help Americans harmed by Hurricane Helene and protect them from the damage that is sure to be wrought by Hurricane Milton when it hits Florida later this week.

Speaking during a briefing alongside administration officials at the White House, Biden said he has been in “constant contact” with governors from all of the states affected by Milton and Helene — Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia — and stressed that the governors have been ”very thankful and appreciative of the help the federal government is providing.”

Andrew Feinberg filed this report from the White House.

The Vice President appeared on the popular morning talk show on Tuesday as part of a media blitz that also included Stephen Colbert.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

A campaign official told the outlet that Trump hopes to host “major arena rallies” in “battleground states” in the last few weeks ahead of the November 5 election. New York, of course, is not one of them.

The vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance was a complete switch in tone from the Harris-Trump matchup in early October — and appears to have given Vance an unexpected advantage.

Exclusive polling for The Independent by Prolific shows that Vance has become substantially more likeable than Donald Trump, according to all voters.

Most strikingly, the poll shows that Republicans are twice as likely to consider Vance more professional than Trump.

Alicja Hagopian looks at the numbers.

Like most things in United States politics, Donald Trump managed to become a central talking point of the Arizona Senate debate on Wednesday evening.

The debate between MAGA Kari Lake and Democrat Ruben Gallego was firey and tense. The candidates, vying to succeed Senator Krysten Sinema, accused one another of not being fit for the position.

Lake, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022, tried to use Trump’s endorsement to elevate her campaign status. She repeated popular anti-immigration policies from Trump, like closing the border.

But Gallego returned her consistent Trump-mentioning by claiming he “doesn’t want to campaign” with Lake.

“He’s not allowing hr pictures on any of his billboards,” Gallego said.

Lake fired back that Trump is her “good friend” and he even bestowed her a nickname: “border Kari.”

“I love the nickname and I’m going to go there, to Washington, D.C., and help him build that border wall and secure the border,” she said.

Social media users have trolled JD Vance for claiming he “never” praises Barack Obama — despite a glowing op-ed about the former president seven years ago.

At a rally in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday, the GOP vice presidential nominee spoke highly of Obama’s response to a natural disaster as a point of comparison to the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Hurricane Helene — efforts that he has repeatedly attacked and spread falsehoods about.

“You’re never gonna hear me praise Barack Obama,” Vance said, before correcting himself: “You rarely hear me praise Barack Obama.”

Kelly Rissman has the story.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris led Republican Donald Trump by a marginal three percentage points – 46% to 43% – as the two remain locked in a close race to win the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The four-day poll completed on Monday showed Trump, who had trailed Harris by six points in a Sept 20-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll, was the preferred candidate for a range of economic issues and that some voters might be swayed by his claims that immigrants in the country illegally are prone to crime, assertions that have been largely discredited by academics and think tanks.

The poll had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.