Hate-fueled violence colors final week
NEW YORK — With Election Day looming, hate itself colored the campaign trail Tuesday as President Donald Trump sought to console a community shattered by anti-Semitic violence just hours after he unveiled a divisive immigration proposal that raised new questions about the definition of American citizenship.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were visiting Pittsburgh as the first funerals were held for those killed in a weekend synagogue shooting that killed 11 people. With Election Day one week away, however, neither the president nor his adversaries took a pause from politics.
Before consoling those rattled by the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, Trump lashed out at Democrats on social media as he endorsed vulnerable GOP House candidates.
He also unveiled a plan to end the constitutional right to citizenship for babies of noncitizens and unauthorized immigrants born in the United States, injecting new energy into his hard-line conservative base.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden condemned the surge in hate-fueled violence in recent days as he rallied young voters in Wisconsin. The Democrat said “words matter” as he condemned Trump’s rhetoric against the media and his political adversaries.
“I am sick and tired of this administration,” Biden said. “I am sick and tired of what’s going on. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I hope you are, too.”
GREEN WAVE
The super PAC allied with House Speaker Paul Ryan says the fight for the House majority will come down to 20 races that remain too close to call.
But in those races, it’s warning Republican candidates’ overall financial situation “remains alarming.” Democrats have outraised Republicans in 90 percent of the competitive House races, writes super PAC executive director Corry Bliss in a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
He notes that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently changed his party affiliation from independent to Democrat ahead of a possible presidential run, is giving tens of millions of dollars to Democrats’ midterm efforts.
Bloomberg is spending $110 million this midterm season, according to a spokesman.
BOMB THREAT?
Some Republican candidates are downplaying the threat from improvised explosive devices mailed to several Trump adversaries in recent days.
Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart of Virginia retweeted a post questioning the authenticity of pro-Trump stickers on the suspect’s van. He later deleted the tweet. Several prominent conservatives, including radio host Rush Limbaugh, have raised similar questions recently.
Virginia House candidate Denver Riggleman, a Republican, told a radio host the devices “don’t much look like pipe bombs to me.” He called the explosives, sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN, among others, “an evil sort of hideous prank.”