Ahead of a game-changing presidential debate, US Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris walked over to her Republican rival Donald Trump and shook hands with him. This was the first time two US presidential candidates have shaken hands since 2016.

The debate also marks the first time the two candidates have met each other face-to-face.

As the two rivals entered the debate stage, Trump headed to his podium on the left to take his place. Kamala Harris, on the other hand, crossed the stage, walked up to him and held out her hand.

“Kamala Harris, Let’s have a good debate,” she said as she introduced herself to the former president.

“Nice to see you, let’s have fun,” Trump replied and the two shook hands.

“Thank you,” Harris said.

Right off the bat, tonight’s debate starts on a different foot than the Biden/Trump debate in June– Harris goes for a handshake, introducing herself to Trump while saying, “Let’s have a good debate.” Trump responds, “Nice to see you– have fun.” pic.twitter.com/QVX8hoX8u6

— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) September 11, 2024

While there is no rule that require the two candidates to shake hand, it does mark a gesture of civility ahead of what is usually a politically brutal face-off.

The high-stakes debate began with a fiery jab by the 78-year-old Republican who called Harris a “Marxist” and claimed that she and President Joe Biden had allowed “millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums.”

Harris jibed the former US president several time by calling him a “convicted felon”, “friend of dictators” and saying that he used “race to divide the American people.”

She said Trump’s own former White House security officials have called him a “disgrace.” “World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump,” she added.

The crucial debate comes only 56 days before the election in what has been a narrow race to the White house.

The last presidential debate in June resulted in Joe Biden pulling out of his reelection campaign and nominating Harris to take his place instead.

Almost all polls have shown the two candidates in a tight neck-and-neck contest.

The debate proved to be a critical chance for the two rivals to battle it out before the US goes to vote on November 5.

Michael Brodkorb, former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, finds himself part of an unlikely yet growing wave that could affect the outcome of the November election: lifelong Republicans who have broken with Donald Trump to support Vice President Kamala Harris.

The movement is without precedent in American presidential politics. Its ranks now include hundreds of staffers of former Republican presidents and nominees, retired senior military officers, White House lawyers going back to Ronald Reagan’s administration and many others.

I’ve known Brodkorb for years. He was a hardcore party guy who delighted in finding dirt on the opposition, including launching an early blog he called “Minnesota Democrats Exposed.”

But he and others in this breakaway group no longer recognize their party under Trump – a party without principles, without history, and built entirely around a cult of personality.

These are not people who have abandoned their conservative principles. Certainly not former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, who last month said in an opinion piece that “the Republican Party will continue its obedience to Trump and destroy our democracy.” Nor Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles, who co-chairs Republicans for Harris. Nor Jim McCain, son of late Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Nor former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and vocal Trump critic, who on Wednesday announced that she will vote for Harris. Cheney, whose criticism of the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and vote to impeach him cost her her seat, said it wasn’t enough to not vote for Trump.

“It is crucially important for people to recognize – not only is what I’ve just said about the danger that Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him, but I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states,” Cheney said during an appearance at Duke University.

Her father, who served two terms under President George W. Bush, said Friday that he also plans to vote for Harris.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” former Vice President Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.

“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” he said.

These “normie” Republicans, as they often call themselves, have a daunting task. To succeed, they must build a structure that allows Republicans to adhere to their conservative beliefs yet gives them permission to act decisively to block the threat of a second Trump term.

The key won’t be in forcing them to move left. They don’t want to abandon a lifetime of GOP principles, including believing in small government, free trade, and a strong defense. Neither will it come from Harris lunging right. Doing so would risk too much of her progressive base.

Instead, it will take a skillful reframing of what’s at stake in this election and the GOP’s role. It centers around a simple message: Country before party, together with a recognition that the old Republican party is gone and that, in Giles’ words, “We don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind.”

This will be a temporary truce, but one that could yield extraordinary benefits for the country and, ultimately, a new Republican Party finally free of Trump’s toxic, decade-long hold.

The spirit of compromise needed to vote for the opposition’s nominee could become the building block for a new, more principled and ultimately more successful Republican Party. In aligning with Harris, these Republicans display a level of discipline and maturity that will bode well for rebuilding their party. 

Such an approach could have yielded the strong border policy crafted by a bipartisan group of senators and maliciously torpedoed by Trump. It could have tempered Democratic spending without resorting to gridlock. It could have shifted focus from the culture war nonsense to the harder but gratifying work of building a stronger economy.

A CBS opinion poll in August showed that 9% of likely voters who support Trump are prepared to at least consider voting for Harris. Tapping into that discontent, Republican Voters Against Trump launched an $11.5 million ad campaign in critical battleground states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The ads feature former Trump voters talking calmly about why they are voting for Harris.

One of those voters, Lars Svahoe, 66, calls himself a strong-on-defense fiscal conservative. Trump, he says in a YouTube video explaining his choice, “turned out to be a disappointment. A clown.” Deporting 10 to 12 million undocumented immigrants “quite literally frightens me. That’s not what we want in a Republican party.”

That type of relatable persuasion, which meets voters where they are, can be remarkably effective. It was just such a campaign that made Minnesota the first state to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2012. Similar bans had already passed in each of the 30 states where they had been introduced.

Harris is wisely seizing on this new movement and making it easy for these disillusioned Republicans to join her. She is openly courting the disaffected, offering a sign-up to “reach out to other Republican, Independent and Trump-skeptical voters” about supporting her campaign. Republicans, including Giles, were given prominent speaking roles at the Democratic National Convention last month. Former Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, who along with Cheney served on the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack and was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, was taken aback by the warm and thunderous reception he received from Democratic delegates.

Harris also has begun offering sensible, middle-of-the-road policies, such as her proposal on small business startups, that belie Trump’s attempts to categorize her as “Komrade Kamala.” She has promised to sign the bipartisan border bill, showing that compromise does not have to be a dirty word. 

We have held together as a nation this long because the ties that bind Americans together are far greater than what divides us: the rule of law, the enduring principles in the Constitution, freedom that does not forsake responsibility, and an acknowledgment that the world still looks to this country as a leader.

If there is a new Silent Majority today, it’s the Republicans who yearn to break free of Trump’s dystopian vision of America on the brink of ruin but have done nothing.

The Republicans who can look past tribal divisions and cross party lines to vote for Harris can also provide something else this country desperately needs: a win decisive enough to shatter Trump’s fallback for challenging the election results.

Giles is actively stumping for Harris. Brodkorb says he is doing persuasion talks with Republicans, holding Zooms and creating lists. “I put my door-knocking shoes back on for the first time in a long time,” he told me.

Giles and Brodkorb are right. It’s not enough to stay home. It’s not even enough to vote for Harris. Republicans who want to defeat Trump and reclaim their party will need to reach out to others and build that breakaway group until MAGA fades into obscurity.

Patricia Lopez is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering the Midwest. She was previously the editorial writer for the Star Tribune.

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump will face off in a debate for the first time on Tuesday, each seeking an edge in what has become a neck-and-neck race for the White House. After weeks of back-and-forth on the where, when and how of the debate, US broadcaster ABC — which is hosting the event — announced the final rules of the contest, as agreed to by the two campaigns, this week.

Here are the major takeaways.

When and where to watch Trump vs Harris debate

The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia at 9:00 pm local time Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday,) and will be aired live. There will be no audience present in the room.

The event will be moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, and will run for 90 minutes of debate time, with two commercial breaks. 

Muted mics in Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris debate?

The issue of whether microphones would be muted — as they were during a previous debate between US President Joe Biden and Trump — was a contentious one, with each side accusing the other of cowardice over the question.

ABC has announced that each candidate’s microphone will only be live for when it is their turn to speak, and muted when the time belongs to the other candidate. 

Only moderators will be allowed to ask questions, and no topics or questions will be shared in advance with the candidates. 

Who speaks when?

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will not offer opening statements. They will be allotted two minutes to answer each question, with two minutes granted to their opponent for a rebuttal. 

There will be an additional minute for “a follow-up, clarification, or response,” according to the rules. 

At the end of the debate, each candidate will offer a two-minute closing statement, with Trump to go last, as per the results of a virtual coin toss.

No props

Candidates will stand behind podiums through the entire length of the debate, with no props or pre-written notes allowed. 

Trump and Harris will each be given a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water.

Campaign staff will not be allowed to speak or interact with the candidates during the commercial breaks. 

Washington:

Hindus for America First, a newly created grassroots organisation, has announced it will endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and launch a campaign against Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

Announcing the decision on Thursday, Hindus for America First chairman and founder Utsav Sanduja claimed that Harris would be “very destabilising for Indo-US relations”.

“The concern is that if Kamala becomes the president of the United States, then she might put in some liberal wolves on the bench who may actually reverse the Supreme Court on this (and) that impacting the Asian-American voters,” he said.

The Biden-Harris administration has not kept the border secure. Harris is the second in command after President Joe Biden and did nothing to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the US, he said.

“As a consequence of all these illegal immigrants, we’ve seen record crime, record drug smuggling… and it ends up affecting minority communities, in particular many of the Asian-American business owners,” he said.

On the other hand, Sanduja praised Trump’s efforts to make the immigration system more merit-based. He also lauded the former president’s efforts to bolster defence and technology cooperation with India.

Trump is “very pro-India”. He was able to cultivate an excellent relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and collaborate on many defence projects that would enable India to take on China, he said.

Unlike Harris, who made a lot of “disparaging remarks” about the government and people of India, Trump did not interfere in the country’s internal affairs, Sanduja said.

“Kamala Harris would be very destabilising for Indo-US relations,” he claimed.

He said Hindus for America First is organising efforts among Hindus in battleground states like Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada against Harris.

Sanduja said the global Hindu community is concerned about the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.

“We would request all political entities concerned to raise this issue,” he said, adding that the Hindus of Bangladesh are suffering.

“I give President Trump a lot of credit. Under his leadership, the State Department acknowledged the persecution of Hindus in various parts of the subcontinent, like in Afghanistan…Pakistan, it was President Trump that took the leadership in acknowledging Hindu genocide,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro violated a law limiting political activity by federal employees when he publicly advocated voting for President Joe Biden and criticized former President Donald Trump, the Office of Special Counsel said on Thursday.

U.S. federal employees are subject to the Hatch Act, a law limiting some political activities to keep the government free from partisan influence. It prohibits using official authority to influence the results of an election.

During a speech in London in January 2024 while on official travel, Del Toro said he was “confident that the American people will step up to the plate come November and support President Biden for a second term as our Commander-in Chief.”

The Office of Special Counsel, which is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency, said that during the event and in an interview with the BBC later that day, Del Toro also “expressed his electoral opposition to President Trump as a candidate.”

“When speaking in his official capacity on a taxpayer-funded trip, Secretary Del Toro encouraged electoral support for one candidate over another in the upcoming presidential election,” Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said.

“By doing so, he crossed a legal line and violated the Hatch Act. This is especially troubling because Secretary Del Toro has himself acknowledged that military work and partisan politics should not be mixed,” Dellinger added.

Del Toro self-reported his comments to the watchdog, saying that his intent was to discuss the importance of strong international alliances.

“In retrospect, I believe my response should have been delivered more broadly without reference to specific candidates,” he told the office.

The U.S. military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the U.S. Constitution and independent of any party or political movement. Del Toro was appointed Navy Secretary, a civilian-held post, by Biden.

Potential punishments include a fine or removal from office.

The Pentagon on Thursday said that it was reviewing the report, but generally it was important for the military to avoid any action that could imply support for any political party or campaign.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci has made a stunning claim – that Donald Trump’s wife Melania is secretly rooting for Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He went on to claim that Melania Trump is supporting Kamala Harris because “she hates Donald Trump”.

Mr Scaramucci, in his recent interview on the MediasTouch podcast, claimed Melania Trump is even more enthusiastic about a Kamala Harris victory than he is.

Interestingly, Mr Scaramucci’s remarks come at a time when the former First Lady has been absent at husband Donald Trump’s political campaign rallies. She was seen only at a few fundraising events and the rally in which there was an assassination attempt on Trump.

Speaking with host Ben Meiselas, Mr Scaramucci claimed Melania Trump is far more keener than him to see Kamala Harris take over the White House. In a response to a question, he said “Maybe Melania Trump. That could be the only person I think of. Because she hates (Trump),” he said.

Mr Scaramucci went on to say that his wife hates Donald Trump too. “My wife hates Trump as much as Melania does,” adding jokingly that even the host of the interview is “nicer to Trump than Melania is”.

WHO IS ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI?

Anthony Scaramucci was responsible for all communications at the White House for a mere 11 days in 2017 – from July 21 to July 31, following which he was fired by Donald Trump. According to UK news website Daily Mail, Mr Scaramucci’s appointment led to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s resignation the very next day. Mr Spicer had voiced his displeasure about Mr Scaramucci being hired.

Within a few days Mr Scaramucci found himself in a major PR mess, soon after which then President Donald Trump fired him as John Kelly, the Chief of Staff at the time, questioning his credibility.

DONALD TRUMP TRASHES CLAIMS

Donald Trump has rubbished Mr Scaramucci’s comments about him and his wife Melania. Mr Trump dismisses his allegations saying his former aide is a bitter man who holds a grudge.

MELANIA TRUMP’S LOW ATTENDANCE AT TRUMP RALLIES

Melania Trump has been keeping a low profile and has hardly attended husband Donald Trump’s rallies. She is reportedly occupied with her son Barron Trump’s college education and spends most of her time in New York, where her son is planning to attend college. She has also expressed her fondness for New York.

Melania Trump is reportedly focusing more on family and personal milestones, than on Donald Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign. On October 1 this year, she will release her memoir, Melania. Her office describes the book as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has forged her own path, overcome challenges, and defined personal excellence.”
 

Los Angeles:

A controversial biopic of Donald Trump that depicts the former president raping his wife and which has drawn legal threats from his attorneys will hit US theaters this October, it was reported Friday.

Tiny indie studio Briarcliff Entertainment plans to release “The Apprentice” for US audiences less than a month before Trump takes on Kamala Harris in the country’s razor-tight presidential election, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Representatives for Briarcliff did not immediately respond to AFP queries.

The explosive film about Trump’s younger years caused shockwaves at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Its most talked about scene shows Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing fat and bald.

In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.

The movie also shows Trump suffering erectile dysfunction, and undergoing liposuction and surgery for hair loss.

Just hours after “The Apprentice” premiered in May, Trump’s lawyers vowed to sue the producers, calling the film “garbage” and “pure malicious defamation.”

Further complicating the film’s prospects for US release is that one of its early financial backers was pro-Trump billionaire Dan Snyder, who was reportedly displeased with its depiction of Trump and sought to block the movie.

He has now been bought out of his financial stake in the movie, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film is set to be released in US theaters October 11, the Los Angeles Times said.

Sebastian Stan’s lead performance as young New York property tycoon Trump received largely positive reviews at Cannes.

The film’s screenplay was written by Gabriel Sherman, a journalist who covered real estate for the New York Observer and regularly spoke to Trump.

Far from a simple hatchet job, the film depicts Trump as an ambitious but naive social climber desperately trying to navigate the cutthroat world of Manhattan property deals and politics.

The Times of London argued it would “make you feel sympathy for Trump.”

But Trump’s decency is gradually eroded as he learns the dark arts of dealmaking and power from his mentor Roy Cohn, played by “Succession” star Jeremy Strong.

Film director Ali Abbasi told AFP he included the rape scene to show how Trump distanced himself from “human relationships that define him and that hold him in check as a human being.”

Stan, best known from the Marvel superhero movies, added that Trump’s early behavior “is much more relatable than we want to admit.”

Briarcliff Entertainment launched in the late 2010s. Its founder Tom Ortenberg previously helped steer Oscar campaigns for best picture winners “Spotlight” and “Crash.”

He is expected to promote “The Apprentice” in Hollywood’s upcoming award season.

The news comes on the same day “Reagan,” another biopic of a former Republican president, Ronald Reagan, hits US theaters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Savannah:

Kamala Harris defended her policy shifts on key issues Thursday, insisting in the first interview of her US presidential campaign that her “values have not changed.”

The 59-year-old Democrat also said that she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she wins November’s election, in her joint CNN sit-down with her running mate Tim Walz.

Rival Donald Trump branded the US vice president the “greatest flip-flopper” as he addressed a rally in the swing state of Michigan.

Harris said her positions had evolved on the issues of fracking, which she previously opposed, and illegal migration over the Mexican border, on which she has taken an increasingly tough stance.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said in an excerpt of the CNN interview. The full version is being screened at 9pm (0100 GMT Friday).

Republicans had criticized Harris for not giving any interviews since President Joe Biden dropped out of the White House race nearly six weeks ago.

Harris has enjoyed a honeymoon period with surging polls and record fundraising, but has also faced scrutiny for keeping many of her policies vague.

But in a gesture of unity she said it would be to the “benefit of the American public” to have a Republican in her cabinet if elected.

The first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history meanwhile brushed aside Trump’s recent comments questioning her racial identity. “Same old, tired playbook,” she said.

Harris gave the interview while on a campaign bus tour of Georgia, one of the seven battleground states that are expected to decide the November 5 election.

‘Tight race’

A number of polls out Thursday showed Harris ahead of Trump, if only marginally, with several of them finding increased support for Harris in battleground states.

A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found Harris leading in six out of the seven swing states while a Fox poll also showed increasing support in the battlegrounds.

At a rally in Savannah at the end of the two-day swing in Georgia, which Democrats flipped from Trump in 2020, she admitted it was “going to be a tight race until the very end.”

Trump has himself been hitting the campaign trail hard in recent days, after a period where the 78-year-old former president appeared to struggle to find his footing against a new, younger, female candidate.

Speaking at an event in Potterville, Michigan on Thursday, Trump targeted Harris on her immigration policy shifts: “Now she’s saying, ‘Oh we want to build a strong border.”

“Where has she been for three and a half years?”

Yet both Trump and Harris appear to be making gestures towards the center ground.

Trump said in an interview with NBC News Thursday that if elected, either the government or insurance companies would cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans.

Reproductive rights have been a major vulnerability for Trump since the Supreme Court gutted federal protections for abortion access in 2022, and an Alabama court ruled in February that frozen embryos created via IVF should be considered children.

Harris’s speech meanwhile focused on the cost of living. She repeated her pledge to give tax cuts to families in the first year of a child’s life “to help pay for that car seat, or the crib, or the baby clothes.”

Her CNN interview is being closely watched in a year where big set-piece political events have shown their ability to produce surprises, like Biden’s debate disaster on June 27 that led to him quitting the race.

Harris and Trump are set to face off in their pivotal first debate on September 10 in Philadelphia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Two members of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign staff had a “verbal and physical altercation” with an Arlington National Cemetery official during a visit by Trump this week, NPR reported on Tuesday.

Trump on Monday participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the 13 servicemembers killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Later in Detroit, Trump blamed Vice Preisdent Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival for the White House, and President Joe Biden for what he termed a “catastrophic” withdrawal.

Citing an unnamed source, NPR reported that when a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staffers from filming and photographing in an area where servicemembers are buried, the Trump staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed the report. “There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said.

“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”

Arlington National Cemetery confirmed in a statement that an incident had occurred and that a report was filed.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the cemetery said.

It did not respond to requests for a copy of the report or an explanation of why the Trump campaign was allowed to visit the cemetery as part of his campaign.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday an agreement has been reached to have closed microphones at the Sept. 10 U.S. presidential debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

The Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for confirmation about the ABC-hosted debate.

The candidates campaigns clashed on Monday over the previously agreed-upon debate, with the vice president’s team seeking a return to open microphones while Trump threatened to pull out entirely after suggesting the network was biased.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said the rules for next month’s debate will be the same as they were for the June CNN debate he had with President Joe Biden, whose poor performance led him to drop out of the 2024 race.

“The Debate will be ‘stand up,’ and Candidates cannot bring notes, or ‘cheat sheets.’ We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a ‘fair and equitable’ Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance,” Trump wrote.

The CNN debate did not have a live audience. Trump’s post did not mention that.

Harris’ campaign had said it wanted the broadcaster to keep the candidates’ microphones on throughout the event, not muted when their opponent was speaking as in the last presidential debate. So-called “hot mics” can help or hurt political candidates, catching offhand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public.

While Trump’s team said it had already agreed to have closed microphones, Trump later told reporters that he preferred to have his microphone kept on.

Trump’s campaign has floated an additional debate on Sept. 4 on Fox News network but the Harris team rejected that.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)