UNIONDALE: Donald Trump lashed out at illegal immigrants on Wednesday and vowed to visit an Ohio town simmering over racial tensions fueled by his campaign's conspiracy theories, as Kamala Harris courted minority voters and enjoyed a surge in the polls in key states.
The former Republican president, whose hardline anti-immigrant rhetoric has become a centerpiece of his election campaign, told a boisterous rally on Long Island, New York, that he would visit Springfield “in the next two weeks.”
Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have repeatedly falsely claimed that immigrants from Haiti were eating residents' pets in the Ohio city, where schools and government buildings have faced bomb threats following his comments.
In harsh remarks on Wednesday, Trump described illegal immigrants as “animals” and gang members who were destroying the American way of life.
“We are going to capture these violent people and send them back to their country, and if they return, they will pay a very high price,” he warned.
With less than seven weeks to go until the election, the candidates are virtually tied in the polls and on Wednesday the US Federal Reserve released news that could well affect the race. The central bank cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point, the first reduction since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The move, which drastically reduces borrowing costs for Americans, was welcomed by Vice President Harris, who sought to highlight her and President Joe Biden's economic record in their race against Trump.
He called it “good news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices,” while the Biden White House said the rate cut marked a “moment of progress” for the U.S. economy.
But in a potential setback for Harris's camp ahead of the Nov. 5 election, the influential Teamsters union announced it would not endorse any presidential candidate in 2024.
The group had supported Democrats in every presidential election since 2000.
The powerful union's decision came minutes after Harris told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute about her commitment to American workers.
“We have to put the middle class first. We have to put the working class first, understanding their dreams, their desires and their ambitions,” he told the group in Washington.
