A few days before the election, the President of the United States is accused of calling Donald Trump's supporters “scum”. The Republican candidate did not miss the opportunity to try a PR stunt by posing in a garbage truck in response. The Essentials Live Kamala Harris held two rallies on Wednesday, one in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the other in Madison, Wisconsin, and both events were disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who criticized the candidate and the Joe Biden administration for supporting Israel and its strikes in the Gaza Strip. Some activists carried signs calling on people to “don’t vote for genocide” and “don’t fund war crimes” that they say the Harris camp supports. The presidential candidate gave a brief response before returning to the thread of her speech: “We all want the war in Gaza to end and the hostages to return.” But she also became more authoritarian when the disturbances were insistent, saying: “Everyone has the right to be heard, but for now, I am the one speaking.” The results of the presidential election polls do not give an advantage to Donald Trump or Kamala Harris a few days before the election, but historian Allan Lichtman has an idea of the favorite candidate to win the election thanks to the “13 keys” method that he has used for 20 years and has always been right, with one exception and even then. Considering that the American presidential election is summed up as a vote for or against the power in place during the previous mandate, the historian relies on 13 assertions and the responses to these observations: if six responses are negative the party in power loses, but if eight responses are positive this party wins according to his theory. Which has always been true since 1984, even in 2016 when all the polls announced the victory of Hillary Clinton and he bet on Donald Trump. The only error dates back to 2000 when the historian had bet on the Democrat Al Gore, who had lost to George W. Bush after a very controversial result and a recount of the votes in Florida. In 2024, Allan Lichtman predicts a victory for Kamala Harris In the final stretch of the presidential election, every mistake counts, and Kamala Harris is capitalizing on the one made by Donald Trump's camp with the racist remark about Puerto Rico to attract the majority, if not all, of the Latino vote. The Democratic camp is usually the one supported by the Latino community, but Kamala Harris has lost points on the side of male voters seduced by Donald Trump, she hopes that comparing the country to a “floating island of garbage” will bring Latino men back to her. She also has the support of several celebrities of Latino and even Puerto Rican origin: Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, reggaeton star Don Omar, “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi and global superstar Bad Bunny have all shown their support for Kamala Harris. And this Thursday evening, Jennifer Lopez is due to join the candidate at a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada. For his part, Donald Trump had received the support of singer Nicky Jam, who withdrew his endorsement. his support after Sunday's rally and the racist remark about Porti Rico, without however supporting Kamala Harris instead. A change of foot that could also be seen within the Latino electorate particularly present in the swing states, notably in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump presented himself as the protector of women at his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night, but his statement backfired. The Republican candidate was advised by his campaign to abstain, but he followed through and said he would “protect the women of this country … whether they like it or not.” A statement immediately taken up by Kamala Harris to present Donald Trump as a pure patriarchal and misogynistic product: “Donald Trump thinks he should be able to decide what you do with your body. Whether you like it or not,” reacted the Democratic candidate on X. The opportunity is too good for someone who has made the defense of the right to abortion and women's health one of the central arguments of her campaign. On Donald Trump's side, this statement should not help him to be appreciated by the female electorate that he has had difficulty winning over since the start of the campaign. Melania Trump gave an interview to Paris Match on Thursday, October 31, which is her first in the French press since the start of the American campaign. She notably returned to the assassination attempt that targeted her husband last July. She revealed that just after the shootings, she had been directly contacted by Jill Biden, Joe Biden's wife. However, the former First Lady doubted the sincerity of of the latter: “I don't know, however, if her concern was genuine because a few days earlier she called my husband “mean” and “a liar.” She also did not hesitate to attack the Democratic camp, believing that “the verbal attacks by Democratic leaders and the mainstream media” had “succeeded in triggering an assassination attempt” on her husband. “It is clear that the forces behind this perverse behavior will continue to work. In other words (…) they want Donald to disappear,” she even assured. Melania Trump also wondered whether “the notion of respect” “had become “obsolete,” justifying that “we are entitled to doubt it because the political engine of Democrats consists of (…) peddling vile nicknames and calling the 45th president of the United States a “threat to democracy.” Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be in Nevada this Thursday, a key state in the American election. In this state, the major issue for the candidates is the Latino community, representing 30% of the inhabitants and 20% of the electorate. Kamala Harris will hold a rally in Las Vegas alongside Puerto Rican star Jennifer Lopez. Both candidates will also visit Arizona, with Trump meeting with far-right commentator Tucker Carlson. Kamala Harris will attend a rally in Phoenix, where the Tigres del Norte group, which is very popular with the Mexican diaspora, will be present. By posing in a garbage truck in response to Joe Biden's comments, Donald Trump tried to turn the situation in his favor. The sequence was widely commented on on social media and as reported by Le Figaro,some disturbing details were noted by Internet users. They noticed that the former president struggled to grasp the door handle of the vehicle, trying several times. He also appeared to be dragging his left leg. At 78, this raised questions among potential voters about his physical health.
12:01 – Two Kamala Harris rallies interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists
11:35 – Who will win, Trump or Harris ? This historian's prediction that was wrong only once
11:02 – Harris poised to regain Latino vote advantage ?
10:38 – “Whether women like it or not”: Trump is going about it the wrong way to convince female voters
09:55 – The two candidates in Nevada and Arizona this Thursday
09:00 – Donald Trump's successful PR stunt ?
With less than a week to go before the election, Donald Trump attempted a PR stunt, a practice he is very fond of, to respond to Joe Biden. The president is accused of calling the Republican candidate's supporters “garbage”. The latter first denounced the president's remarks, assuring that the latter was “finally saying what he thought” about Trumpists. Then, in Wisconsin, Donald Trump put on an orange jacket and posed in a garbage truck: “What do you think of my garbage truck?”, he said, presenting it as “in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden”. Still wearing his vest, he gave a rally and came out with a new dig aimed at Joe Biden, and through him Kamala Harris: “Kamala and Joe call you trash, I see you as the “soul of America”. Donald Trump thus tried to turn the situation to his advantage. The controversy, in fact, started from his camp after racist remarks at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. Tony Hinchcliffe, a guest comedian on stage, called Puerto Rico, an American territory in the Caribbean, a floating garbage island.
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What you need to know
The American presidential election will take place on November 5, 2024 and is mainly between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, despite the presence of a few other minor candidates in the race for the White House. The election promises to be particularly tight this year according to the various national polls or those conducted in each state. In the United States, it is the results of the state-by-state ballot that are decisive for the outcome of the election.
Each of the 50 states in the country represents a certain number of electors, the more populated the state, the greater the number of electors. It is ultimately these electors who vote for the future president of the United States. But the electors are not distributed to the Republican and Democratic camps proportionally to the results of the election, they all go to one and the same party: the one that obtained the highest score. To hope to win the presidential election, candidates must therefore win the ballot in as many states as possible to obtain the most electors possible. It is necessary to win 270 electors to be assured of victory.
The outcome of the election is already known in most American states that have very strong electoral habits: the territories on the east and west coasts are usually very progressive like California or New York and vote for the Democratic camp, those in the Midwest are rather conservative and mainly support the Republican party. But there are a handful of states, called swing states, which from one election to the next can swing from one camp to another. These are the states that decide the outcome of the election: Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.