Welcome to October Surprise, the Daily Beast’s daily countdown to the biggest election of our lifetime. It’s only 18 days until Election Day and here’s what’s happening in the race to the White House between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
THE DOWNLOAD
Donald Trump begrudgingly said Friday he’d consider bringing GOP primary rival Nikki Haley on the campaign trail to help him win over skeptical female voters.
“I’ll do what I have to do,” Trump said on Fox & Friends when asked if he plans to ask Haley to campaign for him.
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“Nikki Haley and I fought and I beat her by 50, 60, 90 points. I beat her in her own state by numbers no one has ever been beaten by," the size-obsessed former president said. “I beat Nikki badly.” But, just as badly, Trump wants to steal Haley’s primary voters who quickly threw their support behind Kamala Harris after the former South Carolina governor endorsed Trump.
Harris is taunting Donald Trump as unfit to be president after his campaign adviser reportedly said he is “exhausted and refusing” to do more interviews.
“He is ducking debates and canceling interviews,” the Democratic presidential candidate said during a Friday rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “Come on. And check this out: his own campaign team recently said it’s because of exhaustion. Well, if you are exhausted on the campaign trail, it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world. Come on!”
And her team slammed him for cutting a live interview short on Friday morning. But Trump insisted he’s alert, saying, “Tell me when you’ve seen me take a little bit of a rest. I’m not even tired. I’m really exhilarated.”
POLLS OBSESSED
The election could literally break either way. According to simulations by the analysts at FiveThirtyEight polling, Trump wins 52 times out of 100. Harris wins 48 times out of 100. But the bright side for anyone terrified the nation’s democracy could be doomed to limbo with no clear winner emerging: “There is a less than 1-in-100 chance of no Electoral College winner.”
ON THE MOVE
Trump and Harris both criss-crossed Michigan, where they are tied in the polls, as they are in many battleground states. Harris will end her day in Oakland County, Michigan, for a nighttime rally. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama campaigned for Harris in North Carolina and Arizona, respectively.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
On Oct. 18, 2016, Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, was caught up in a censorship storm: He had stopped the college’s paper from publishing a column critical of his close friend Donald Trump. The column, by student Joel Schmieg, took aim at Trump for his infamous P---ygate tape, saying it was not “locker room talk but pre-meditated sexual assault.” Falwell took umbrage and censored it. Ironically, the Moral Majority nepo-baby was later involved in his own Speedo-and-sex scandal. Read about it here.
BEAST OF THE DAY
The World Series of politics is heading into its final, tie-breaking game. And the Democrats are bringing in their superstar closer.
Their bullpen’s ultimate ace, Michelle Obama, is finally set to take the mound, answering the prayers of anxious fans in this history-making slugfest who have been clamoring for a reliever who can throw some strikes
Together, she and Harris will urge Michigan voters to hurry and cast their ballots—as soon as that very day—in a final bid to conquer Donald Trump, whose attacks on Democrats have become increasingly more personal, and vulgar. Her husband, former President Barack Obama, is set to join Harris at a rally in Georgia on Thursday, Oct. 24.
SHAMELESS PLUG
Is Donald Trump bad for your health as well as his own? In a week when questions over the 78-year-old’s fitness grew, check out why Dr. Alice Chen, founder of Doctors for America, thinks he is. She tells The New Abnormal co-hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy why she claims he’s a public health nuisance thanks to being a disinformation superspreader.
Discover her prescription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
