Supreme treat and fun trick for Trump
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump took a break from his hectic campaign schedule to host a Halloween party with his wife Melania for hundreds of children at the White House on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
The Trumps kept their distance from the children, all of whom wore masks, but waved and shouted encouragement to the costumed kids.
The President was particularly amused by a young boy and girl who had gone to a lot of trouble to look like Mr and Mrs Trump, and he even suggested the four of them pose for a photograph together.
Despite trailing in the polls just eight days before the election, the President was in high spirits – and his mood is set to lift even further with the expected confirmation on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) of his Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Mr Trump selected the 48year-old mother of seven to fill a vacancy left by the death of liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month. She is all but certain to be confirmed, giving conservatives a 6-3 hold on the nation’s highest court that will potentially shape American life for decades.
While polls put the President behind by an average 9.2 points nationally, and by a tighter margin in several key swing states, Mr Trump is showing no signs of giving up.
He continued his actionpacked rally schedule over the weekend as his Democrat opponent Joe Biden again lay low, only appearing in public on Sunday to go to church.
Mr Biden was also due to appear at a virtual “get out and vote” concert with his running mate Kamala Harris and musicians John Legend, Cher and Jon Bon Jovi.
Thousands of supporters cheered Mr Trump at a rally in New Hampshire, and later at a “surprise” visit to Bangor, Maine, that wasn’t publicised.
“Nine days from now, we are going to win this state. Can you believe nine days?” he said at his first rally. “We are going to win four more great years in the White House – we are going to keep it going.”
He also needled Mr Biden for his light schedule. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with him. He never goes anywhere,” Mr Trump said.
“And when he does, it’s Delaware. Now, I like Delaware too, but he just wants to stay right next to that house.”
Mr Biden’s campaign cochair denied claims that the former vice-president wasn’t throwing enough at the race.
“I don’t think it’s strolling to victory; I think it’s being smart,” said Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer of Mr Biden’s low-key approach.
“We are still in the middle of a global pandemic.”
Despite the fact the US, like Europe, is grappling with an explosion of new COVID cases, Mr Trump plans to hold at least five events in the final days of his campaign.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Mike Pence also continued his public appearances, despite his chief of staff and four other aides testing positive to the coronavirus.
And White House chief of staff Mark Meadows defended the lack of mask-wearing at Mr Trump’s events, saying: “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”