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US Ready For Woman President, Harris
Kamala Harris said Tuesday that America is “absolutely” ready to elect its first woman president but downplayed her historic bid, saying she simply wants to turn the page for a nation “exhausted” by Donald Trump.
With two weeks to Election Day, Harris and Trump are saturating swing states with rallies and taking to the airwaves and podcasts on the hunt for an advantage in a race that polls suggest is effectively tied.
Speaking on the national NBC network, Harris responded “absolutely” when asked if America was ready to elect its first woman — but also noted her candidacy was about “turning the page.”
“People are exhausted with Donald Trump and his approach, because it’s all about himself,” she said.
Trump, speaking to supporters in North Carolina, pitched a very different message.
“This election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence, failure and disaster, or whether we’ll begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” he said to cheers.
He repeatedly called Harris and her running mate Tim Walz stupid during the rally.
– ‘Lock him up’ –
The race is overshadowed by extraordinary tensions and fears of violence or a refusal by Trump to recognize the results if he loses, as he continues to do over his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Harris told NBC that her campaign was “of course” ready for a scenario where Trump prematurely claims victory during a vote-counting process that could take days to complete.
Biden, who has been an infrequent presence in Harris’s campaign, took a shot at Trump Tuesday by re-wording the ex-president’s notorious anti-Hillary Clinton chant of “Lock her up”.
On a visit to New Hampshire, Biden told a small crowd that “we got to lock” Trump up –- adding quickly, “politically lock him up.”
With Trump facing multiple pending criminal charges as he competes against Harris to succeed Biden, the White House has been very careful not to weigh in on the Republican’s legal problems.
The Trump campaign responded that Biden and Harris had a “plan all along… to politically persecute their opponent.”
About 18 million Americans have already voted by mail or in person — representing more than 10 percent of the total in 2020.
Some polls appear to be giving the Republican, who at 78 is the oldest nominee from a major party in US history, a slight edge recently — but all within the margin of error.
Whatever the result, US voters will make history on November 5: they will either elect the country’s first woman president, or they will put the first convicted felon into the White House.
– Early voters –
Harris, 60, is also deploying two of her party’s most popular emissaries onto the campaign trail: Barack and Michelle Obama.
The former president, speaking at a rally in Madison on Tuesday, rolled back the years with fiery attacks on Trump.
“Don’t boo, vote!” he implored people after his jibes.
Laster in the day, Rapper Eminem upped the star factor when he introduced Obama at a major Harris campaign event in Detroit, drawing a rapped reply from the ex-president.
“I don’t usually get nervous, but I was feeling some kinda way following Eminem,” Obama said before launching into a recitation of the lyrics to the rapper’s hit “Lose Yourself”.
At the same time, Trump has increasingly repeated conspiracy theories on the campaign trail, often taking aim at migrants and his political opponents.
While speaking to Latino leaders Tuesday in Florida he said: “As president, you have tremendous — it’s called extreme power. You have extreme power.”
“You can, just by the fact, you say, ‘Close the border,’ and the border’s closed,” he added.
The Harris campaign has begun to hammer at his mental and physical fitness to occupy the Oval Office while trying to woo moderate Republican voters.
One of Trump’s top aides as president, former Marine general John Kelly, confirmed Tuesday to The New York Times previous reports that he considered the Republican to be a fascist.
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Joe Rogan, host of one of the most listened to podcasts in America, said his interview with Trump is due out Friday.
Non-traditional media, including podcasts, have played a key role in the campaign in targeting specific audiences like young women and Black men.
AFP
Jeremy Doku insisted Manchester “will keep on fighting” in the Premier League title race despite their “painful” draw with Everton on Monday.
City drew 3-3 with the Toffees at Hill Dickinson Stadium, with Doku scoring a 97th-minute equaliser, having also scored the opening goal.
Doku’s equaliser (96:49) is City’s third-latest goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League game after John Stones’ strike against Arsenal in September 2024 (97:14) and Gabriel Jesus’ goal against Everton in February 2019 (96:52).
Doku has had a hand in six goals across his last five games for City in all competitions (four goals, two assists), as many as in his previous 22 games combined (one goal, five assists).
The Belgian also created the most chances in the match against Everton (four), completed the most dribbles (5/7) and won the most duels (14/19).
City avoided defeat in a Premier League game despite trailing by 2+ goals as late as the 82nd minute for the first time since March 2012 against Sunderland (3-3).
They went on to win the league title in 2011-12, and Doku believes City can still beat Arsenal to the trophy this season.
“First half, we played well and created a lot of chances. We know if we don’t score those chances, it is going to get difficult at the end,” said Doku.
“Obviously, they are at their own stadium, they create chances, and they are dangerous, and they scored two goals, but I think we gave them the game.
“Good that we came back because one point is not bad in games like this.
“We will see. It feels painful now. There is still a lot of games to go. We lost two points, but we know that one point can be important at the end.
“We will keep on fighting. We owe it to ourselves and to our fans.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Nigerians interested in repatriation from South Africa will be responsible for the cost of their return trip to Nigeria.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, stated this during a press briefing on Monday in Abuja.
The briefing came shortly after a closed-door meeting between the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dunoma Ahmed, and the South African Acting High Commissioner, Lesoli Machele.
Mr Ebienfa said the process will be self-funded and not state-funded, as it is a voluntary decision that the Nigerian government will only facilitate and coordinate.
In the recent past, such reparations have been sponsored by Nigerian airline owners, particularly Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace.
The Nigerian government, on Sunday, indicated its readiness to repatriate its citizens from South Africa due to xenophobic violence.
The effort primarily targets Nigerians who feel threatened by the xenophobic violence and tension in parts of South Africa, as the protests against black immigrants in the country continue. Two Nigerians were killed last month.
Since the announcement, about 130 Nigerians in South Africa have expressed a willingness to return home voluntarily.
Mr Ebienfa stated that the return of the Nigerians depends on their financial capacity, as they would be expected to fund their trip back home individually.
He said, “Those willing to leave are expected to approach the high commission and, given that their decision is voluntary, have the resources to fund their return to Nigeria.”
The government will not “provide an aircraft from Nigeria to convey them.”
He also noted that the speed of the repatriation process will be determined by the availability of funds.
“Yes, 130 as of this morning have registered, but actualisation would be required to have their flight ticket to move back to Nigeria.”
Mr Ebienfa also explained that Nigerians who have so far expressed interest are motivated either by concerns about threats to their lives or by fear of arrest by South African law enforcement agencies.
“There are two groups of Nigerians who want to come back. One group feels the country is not safe for them and wants to come. They have all their papers intact.
“Then there is also the second group that has travel document violations or resident permit violations. And instead of running away from law enforcement, they are appealing that the government facilitate their movement back to Nigeria,” he explained.
However, he noted that the process is still being worked out and that the government would step in to provide aircraft or other needed assistance if tensions rise and the situation becomes more volatile.
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