Trump makes highly unusual promise of $5,000 for all if Republicans win midterms | First Thing
The Guardian · L · trust 49/100
Donald Trump in Dallas, where he urged voters to ‘pretend that I’m on the ballot’. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Donald Trump in Dallas, where he urged voters to ‘pretend that I’m on the ballot’. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images First Thing newsletter US news First Thing: Trump makes highly unusual promise of $5,000 for all if Republicans win midterms Speaking in Dallas, the president raised ethical concerns with an apparent $1tn offer to the electorate. Plus the US citizens who are finding Scotland to be an irresistible lure
Prefer the Guardian on Google Good morning. Donald Trump has pledged to pay every adult citizen in the US $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The outlandish proposal, which would cost over $1tn, immediately raised ethical concerns.
Trump made the promise during a marathon speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which he assailed Democrats as “radical”, defended his unpopular war in Iran, and urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”. Trump claimed, without evidence, that his second term had been “the most successful two years, financially and every other way, in the history of the presidency”.
In a statement, Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, accused Republicans of holding a “bizarre dog-and-pony show” to placate the president’s “fragile ego”. “Tonight only confirmed that the president is a lame duck failure who is dragging his party toward defeat,” Martin said.
Why did the Republicans hold a mid term convention? Republicans are gambling that the GOP’s first midterm convention can salvage their threatened House majority. However, Donald Trump’s dismal approval rating drove many competitive candidates to skip the two-day event entirely.
What has Trump said about the former attorney Michael Cohen? The US president has said he would consider pardoning Michael Cohen , the former fixer whom he once branded a “rat” for testifying against him. Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer, but flipped in 2018, and pleaded guilty to federal crimes including facilitating a hush payment to the pornography star Stormy Daniels and lying under oath to Congress.
View image in fullscreen Marco Rubio speaks to the press outside the US embassy in Quito. Photograph: Dolores Ochoa/AP The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the Trump administration was focused on working with allied countries and aligning with their laws but insisted the military will “still blow up ships if need be”. The statement comes a year after Washington began a campaign of unilateral deadly strikes against those it calls “narco-terrorists” operating boats in international waters.
“I think its an incredible advance for the first time to have countries that are willing to participate in these efforts in their territorial waters,” Rubio told reporters on a trip to the Ecuadorian capital, Quito. “The important point is that these routes are being disrupted. These routes are being ended”.
How many people has the US killed in its campaign? Late Wednesday, US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the Caribbean Sea, saying it killed three people. That brought the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 230 in 69 strikes.
What has the US announced about Ecuador’s gangs? The US has designated Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang as a terrorist organisation. Rubio said the gang was linked to narcotics trafficking, as well as attacks on civilians, law enforcement officers and journalists. “We are talking about terrorists who, in many cases, possess weapons and equipment resembling the national armies of certain countries,” he said.
View image in fullscreen Apple CEO John Ternus, alongside vice-president of industrial design Molly Anderson, showing off the new iPhone Duo. Photograph: Karl Mondon/AFP/Getty Images Apple has unveiled the iPhone Duo , the company’s first foldable phone and the most significant change to the iPhone since its 2007 introduction. The nearly $2,000 device takes inspiration from iPads’ wide screens, and when opened, is the company’s largest phone display and thinnest phone.
While competitors have been releasing foldable smartphones since the late 2010s, the new model is a first for Apple, and its rollout serves as the first big test for its new CEO, John Ternus, who took over from Tim Cook last week. The phone will be available on 23 October.
What did new CEO Ternus say about his role? Helming the company’s annual showcase for the first time, Ternus said : “I want to take a moment to express what an extraordinary privilege it is to represent the remarkable teams here at Apple. I continue to be inspired every single day by the curiosity, invention and relentless pursuit of excellence that define Apple.”
View image in fullscreen Anthropic has been accused of ignoring the extent of the threat from artificial intelligence. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters Artificial intelligence could kill off humanity within the decade , according to three researchers with the industry giant Anthropic, one of whom has quit his job in protest. Jacob Coxon accused Anthropic and his previous employer, OpenAI, of ignoring or, at best, mishandling their response to the threat.
He said “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. No other human activity poses this level of danger.” Lawmakers including Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have raised concerns following Coxon’s words .
View image in fullscreen North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a nuclear materials production factory. Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images North Korea has built a new uranium facility to expand its nuclear arsenal , a UN agency has said.
Hawaii’s western islands saw significant damage as Hurricane Lowell passed by leaving widespread power outages on Kauai.
A…
Read the original at The Guardian →
Open in TruthVane →