How Hurricane Milton, alleged secret phone calls and the Call Her Daddy podcast might affect the tight Trump-Harris race
analysis
Polls show Trump and Harris locked in a dead heat just weeks before election day.
Welcome back to your weekly update on US politics, where North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan catches you up on the biggest developments in America as we hurtle towards election day in November.
Americans were still grappling with the deadly aftermath of one massive natural disaster this week when they learned another monster was on the way.
Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida's west coast as a category three system, two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed more than 200 people through the country's south-east.
The scale of the damage, and the death toll, from the latest storm is still being assessed.
But any expectations that it might prompt the nation's political leaders to set aside their differences — at least temporarily — were dashed long before Milton made landfall.
Instead, the final stretch of a heated election campaign is being marked by an increasingly intense spat over the adequacy of the federal response, and the spread of disinformation.
When emergencies become political
Extreme weather events have tested past US presidents, just as they have Australian prime ministers.
Former Republican president George W Bush was roundly criticised for his response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
George W Bush was widely criticised for viewing the damage unleashed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 from his plane.
Bush was already into his second term in the White House, and therefore didn't face voters again in the wake of the disaster.
But the situation served as a warning to others. And in 2012, polls suggested then-president Barack Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy may have boosted his standing at that year's election.
This time, the current commander-in-chief is not running for re-election, but his vice-president is.
And Donald Trump has accused both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris of botching their response.
"To those who've lost so much, know that you are not alone," he said in a social media video on Thursday, local time.
"Hopefully on January 20th [inauguration day] you're going to have somebody that's really going to help you and help you like never before."
Trump has claimed help was being deliberately held back from areas that typically vote Republican, and that people who lost their homes were only eligible for a single, one-off payment of $US750 ($1,114)
He also accused Harris of diverting funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cover the cost of housing migrants.
FEMA has rejected the allegations, setting up a "Hurricane Rumour Response" on its website to debunk the most widely circulated claims.
And both Biden and Harris have hit back at the former president, accusing him of undermining recovery efforts.
"They got to stop this. I mean, they're being so damn un-American with the way they're talking about this stuff," Biden said.
The president also took aim at Republican Congressional representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, describing her claim that the government could control the weather as "beyond ridiculous" and "so stupid".
Whether or not the dual natural disasters have an impact on the election result won't be known for another few weeks.
Hurricane Milton smashed into Florida just weeks after Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage in America's south.
Trump is widely expected to win Florida, where he now lives.
But two of the states worst affected by Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — are among the seven electorates that could end up deciding the outcome.
What did Trump and Biden say to Putin and Netanyahu?
While domestic disasters consumed most of the attention this week, fresh questions were raised about the relationships between two US presidents and their foreign counterparts.
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, claims in his new book War that Trump secretly sent Russian President Vladimir Putin COVID-19 testing equipment in the early days of the pandemic.
Donald Trump has denied Bob Woodward's claim that he sent COVID-19 testing materials to Vladimir Putin.
He has also alleged to have had up to seven calls with the Russian leader after leaving the White House.
Trump rejected the accusations, telling American ABC that the author had "lost his marbles".
Harris seized on the reporting, arguing Trump had a "desire to be a dictator" and was easily manipulated by leaders like Putin.
But it wasn't the only part of the book to make headlines.
Woodward also detailed expletive-ridden comments Biden reportedly made about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.
According to the New York Times, which obtained the book ahead of its release, Biden exclaimed "Bibi, what the f***?" after Israel assassinated senior figures in Hezbollah and Hamas.
The president reportedly went on to argue that Israel was being increasingly perceived around the world as a "rogue state".
A White House spokesperson responded to the reporting by reiterating US support for Israel.
And while they wouldn't comment on any of the specifics raised, they described the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu as "honest and direct".
Trumps split over reproductive rights
Speaking of books, Melania Trump's new memoir has also generated news with the revelation that she's a supporter of abortion rights.
The former first lady writes in the book that "a woman's fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes".
"Restricting a woman's right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body," she says.
That's despite her husband having appointed three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe vs Wade, a decision that ended nationwide abortion access.
Speculation has swirled over why she has chosen this moment to enter the debate on such a controversial topic.
Is it a political ploy to try to win over female voters who've turned away from the former president due to his position on the issue?
The timing of Melania Trump's comments on abortion have caused a flurry of speculation.
Or a display of openness on a topic that other first ladies have also previously weighed in on?
Either way, it has put reproductive rights back in the spotlight just weeks out from election day.
One to watch: Harris' shifting media strategy
The vice-president has also been seeking out the spotlight in a departure from her earlier reluctance to stray from scripted public settings.
A media blitz saw Harris sitting down with 60 Minutes, appearing on daytime TV show The View, and cracking a beer with talk show host Stephen Colbert.
Trump cried foul over the 60 Minutes interview, pointing to the way it had been edited to argue it was aimed at making the vice-president's answers appear more concise.
Kamala Harris appeared on The View, a popular daytime show in the US.
Republicans also criticised Harris for telling The View that "there is not a thing that comes to mind" when asked whether she would have done anything differently to Biden.
"Kamala Harris's entire campaign is to pretend that she hasn't been the vice-president for the last three-and-a-half years," Trump's running mate JD Vance said in response.
"So you'd think after all this time … she would have a well-prepared answer."
But the interview that perhaps received most attention was the one the vice-president did with podcaster Alex Cooper, the host of the popular Call Her Daddy show.
It bills itself as the "most listened-to podcast by women" and more commonly deals with topics like sex and relationships over politics.
But Harris's choice of outlets reflects a goal of reaching voters who haven't yet made their minds up, or who aren't guaranteed to vote.
And with opinion polls continuing to suggest an extremely close race, her team has likely concluded that the risk of a high-profile stumble is outweighed by the opportunity to connect with those who'll make the difference.
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/hurricane-milton-might-affect-the-tight-harris-trump-race/104448020(责任编辑：admin)
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