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Ping! Harris and Trump are blowing up your phones with political texts in campaign’s last days

WASHINGTON — For the millions of Americans on the radar of the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns and those of their allies, the apocalypse is only a text message away.

The very future of the republic is at stake, some of the texts say and many others imply. But you — yes, YOU, Sally, Jose or insert-your-first-name here — can save it. For as little as $7.

Texting is a cheap and easy way to reach potential voters and donors, without all the rules meant to keep traditional paid broadcast advertising a bit honest. Both sides are working the texting pipeline aggressively. In the last days of the campaign, the pinging of phones can be relentless.

“All day, every day,” Robyn Beyah said of the torrent as she stood in line to get into a Kamala Harris rally outside Atlanta last week. “They have my number. We’re practically besties.”

Beyah is cool with that. She considers the text bombing “harmless” because it’s for a candidate she believes in. She even invites the Harris campaign to “harass me with text messages.” Not all voters are so charitable.

“To be honest with you, at this point, I’ve tuned it out of my brain,” said Ebenezer Eyasu of Stone Mountain, Georgia, standing in the same Harris rally line. He said the dozen or so texts he gets each day have become “background noise.”

Sarah Wiggins, a 26-year-old graphic designer from Kennesaw, Georgia, who supports Harris, prefers face to face persuasion. “I feel like it’s all about people around you,” she said. “Word of mouth is underrated.” As for the texts, “I just delete, to be honest. I don’t want to read it.”

Many Trump supporters also get pestered. Several at his rally in Tempe, Arizona, last week professed low-grade aggravation about that.

“They’re more of an annoyance than anything else,” said Morse Lawrence, 57, a physician assistant from Mesa, Arizona. “I get bombarded by text messages outside of political things as well. People wanting to buy my house, people wanting to sell me insurance, it’s all of it.”

He figures it’s an effective marketing strategy for campaigns even if the great majority of recipients don’t bite. “You go fishing and you catch two fish, you’ve got a meal for the day.”

Jennifer Warnke, 57, of St. John’s, Arizona, also at the Trump rally, expressed mixed feelings about what’s happening on her phone.

“They’re at least reaching out, because for years nobody ever called me,” she said. “I’ve been a registered Republican all my life and nobody ever called.”

She added: “It’s annoying, but it’s almost over.”

Trump’s campaign, although uniquely fixated on selling hats via text, shares certain traits with the Democrats.

Both sides traffic in dire warnings should the other side win. Both cook up phony deadlines to get you to hurry up with your money. Both play on the fantasy that luminaries — whether Harris, Trump, George Clooney, Nancy Pelosi or Donald Trump Jr. — are texting you personally, instead of the machinery that really is.

Texts under the name of Trump Jr. come with a twist, if a transparent one: “Please don’t give $5 to help dad before his critical deadline. I’m serious. Don’t. … Let me explain.”

The explanation is a link to a page asking for lots more than $5. You can choose $20.24 if you are a basic Trump supporter in 2024 or $47 if you think the 45th president was the greatest ever and want to make him the 47th.

Trump himself seems to be heavily into merch. “I’m shipping you a Gold MAGA Hat!” say texts in his name. “Should I sign it?”

Tap through and you see the MAGA hat with gold lettering will cost you $50. But there’s more.

“Here’s my offer to you,” the digital Trump says. “If you place your order before the midnight deadline, I may add my signature and a quick personal note right on the brim!” May — or may not.

Thirteen days from Election Day, as she prepared to take the stage for a CNN town hall, Harris took a moment to confide in a Virginian she doesn’t know at all. At least that’s the scene sketched by a text in her name.

“Hi Chris, it’s Kamala Harris,” says the message. “It would mean the world to me if you added another donation to our campaign before my town hall on CNN tonight. Donald Trump and his allies are currently outspending us across the battleground states.”

A donation of $40 is suggested. No hat is offered. Despite the message’s angst over cash, Harris’ campaign and affiliated Democratic groups have raised over $1 billion in mere months and kept a large financial advantage over Trump in the campaign’s last leg.

Ping: “It’s Elizabeth Warren. ”

Ping: “From Trump: I JUST LEFT MCDONALD’S.”

Ping: “We’ve asked NINE TIMES if you support Kamala Harris … but you never completed the poll.”

Ping: “I just got off the debate stage.” — signed by Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Ping: “This is a BIG F#@%ING DEAL.” — in the name of Democratic strategist James Carville.

Ping: “It’s Nancy Pelosi. I need you to see this.”

Ping: “But you haven’t stepped up to defend our Senate majority!?! Rush $7 now.”

Ping: “I have a McGift for you! It’s President Trump. Want to take a look?”

Despite the sucker-born-every-minute undertone of some of the presidential campaign texts, experts say you can be reasonably confident that donations to the official candidate campaigns or the main party organizations will be used for your intended purpose.

But many more groups are pitching for your election-season cash, not all of them are legit and sorting that out takes work. Some voter-mobilization groups that claim to be funded by the left, for example, may be mischief-makers from the right, or just out to collect personal information on you.

This month, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin wrote to the U.S. and state attorneys general to report that thousands of fraudulent text messages from an anonymous source were sent to young people threatening $10,000 fines or prison time if they vote in a state where they are not eligible to cast ballots.

The scam was meant to intimidate students from out of state who are legally entitled to vote in Wisconsin if they are attending college there, or to vote back at home instead, the letter said.

Last weekend, thousands of Pennsylvania voters received a text message that falsely claimed they had already voted in the election, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. It was from AllVote, which election officials have repeatedly flagged as a scam, the paper said. The group said the false claim was the result of a typo.

Experts say to read the fine print at the bottom of any fundraising link you open. It must outline the name of the group and where the money will go.

From there, people can go to sites such as OpenSecrets or the Federal Election Commission to see breakdowns of revenue and spending by groups that are registered political action committees. High overhead and low or no spending on ads or canvassing are red flags.

For all those traps, Beverly Payne of Cumming, Georgia, who has already voted for Harris and volunteers for her, welcomes the pings.

“I get texts every 30 minutes and I answer every single one of them,” Payne said. One favorite was about an ice cream flavor rolled out for Harris by Ben & Jerry’s, Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee layered with caramel and topped with red, white and blue star sprinkles. “I had to donate to that,” she said.

“It’s our culture now, we’re all addicted,” Payne said of texts and Harris’ use of them. “Maybe that’s why she has a billion dollars.”

___

Amy reported from Atlanta, Cooper from Tempe, Arizona. Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.

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October 31, 2024
Fitness app Strava gives away location of Biden, Trump and other leaders, French newspaper says

PARIS — An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde found that the highly confidential movements of U.S. President Joe Biden, presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and other world leaders can be easily tracked online through a fitness app that their bodyguards use.

But the U.S. Secret Service told the newspaper that it doesn’t believe the protection it provides was in any way compromised.

Le Monde found that some U.S. Secret Service agents use the Strava fitness app, including in recent weeks after two assassination attempts on Trump, in a video investigation released in French and in English. Strava is a fitness tracking app primarily used by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with a community.

Le Monde also found Strava users among the security staff for French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In one example, Le Monde traced the Strava movements of Macron’s bodyguards to determine that the French leader spent a weekend in the Normandy seaside resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was meant to be private and wasn’t listed on the president’s official agenda.

Le Monde said the whereabouts of Melania Trump and Jill Biden could also be pinpointed by tracking their bodyguards’ Strava profiles.

In a statement to Le Monde, the U.S. Secret Service said its staff aren’t allowed to use personal electronic devices while on duty during protective assignments but “we do not prohibit an employee’s personal use of social media off-duty.”

“Affected personnel has been notified,” it said. “We will review this information to determine if any additional training or guidance is required.”

“We do not assess that there were any impacts to protective operations or threats to any protectees,” it added. Locations “are regularly disclosed as part of public schedule releases.”

In another example, Le Monde reported that a U.S. Secret Service agent’s Strava profile revealed the location of a hotel where Biden subsequently stayed in San Francisco for high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2023. A few hours before Biden’s arrival, the agent went jogging from the hotel, using Strava which traced his route, the newspaper found.

The newspaper’s journalists say they identified 26 U.S. agents, 12 members of the French GSPR, the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic, and six members of the Russian FSO, or Federal Protection Service, all of them in charge of presidential security, who had public accounts on Strava and were therefore communicating their movements online, including during professional trips. Le Monde did not identify the bodyguards by name for security reasons.

It said movements trackable on Strava could lead to security breaches, especially when security agents travel in advance to places like hotels where leaders then stay and hold meetings.

Macron’s office said Monday that the consequences of the issues reported by Le Monde “are very slight and in no way affect the security of the President of the Republic.”

Local authorities are aware of Macron’s movements ahead of time and the places where Macron is staying are always fully secure, “so the risk is non-existent,” the statement said.

“A reminder was nevertheless issued to agents by the chief of staff asking them not to use this app,” Macron’s office added.

The Harris campaign deferred comment on the security issue to federal officials. In response to questions posed to the Trump campaign, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee repeated some of its criticisms of the Biden administration but did not address the vulnerability or how the campaign has responded.

The security risks associated with fitness apps show the need for better regulations on how tech companies can use consumer data, according to Ibrahim Baggili, a computer scientist and professor of cybersecurity at Louisiana State University.

Baggili’s research has exposed how bad actors could use fitness app data to track potential victims — creating risks for stalking, robbery and other crimes.

Consumers often grant app developers the right to use or sell their data when they agree to the terms of service, Baggili said.

“Companies love our data, and we love the product, so we give away the data for free,” he said. “The government really needs to start cracking down on how data can be used and how long it can be retained.”

Identifying the presidential bodyguards — some of them using their full name on Strava — could also help in finding other details about their personal addresses, their families, their movements, and photos they posted on various social media, all of which could possibly be used to put pressure on them for malicious purposes, the report stressed.

___

AP reporter David Klepper contributed from Washington.

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October 29, 2024
Trump will end unfair trans competition in women’s sports

Young women and girls should never be placed in a position where their safety is at risk. They should never be pushed out of activities and spaces intentionally designed for them.

Yet we are increasingly seeing biological men competing in women’s sports, creating not only unfair challenges but posing a danger to biologically female athletes’ safety.

Time and again, opportunities that rightfully belong only to female athletes are slipping away.

Across America, women and girls are seeing their countless early morning drives to practice, hours spent on the field, and devotion to becoming the best athletes they can be, spent in vain as men with highly unfair physical advantages dominate their sports.

The integrity of girls’ sports is under attack.

Men on average are bigger, faster and stronger than women — an undeniable biological fact.

The competitive advantages these factors give to male athletes, as well as the great risks such factors mean for young girls, are being ignored in the name of pushing a political agenda.

Trump at a rally in State College, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 26, 2024. REUTERS

Female athletes are losing opportunities to compete, earn scholarships and enjoy the activities they once loved.

And reversing this dangerous trend will require strong national leadership.

Former President Donald Trump has proven himself to be the right leader to take on this challenge.

His unwavering stance on defending the rights of women and young girls in sports has set the standard for what must be done on the national level, as well as right here in our local communities.

We stand united on this issue as two individuals with vastly different backgrounds.

As an athlete who has competed at the highest levels, and as an elected official who has heard from countless concerned mothers, fathers and students of all backgrounds, we understand the importance of fairness in sports — and the urgency of addressing it now.

This should not be a red issue or a blue issue. Protecting the physical safety of women and girls, and ensuring they have access to the best opportunities to get ahead in life, should be something that unites all of us.

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In Nassau County, we could not, and would not, sit idly by and wait until a young girl loses an athletic scholarship — or is shattered by a life-changing injury on the field — to take action.

That’s why Nassau County passed a first-in-the-nation law that banned biological males from competing in women’s or girls’ sports at county facilities.

Transgender female athletes are still welcome and encouraged to play on co-ed teams, but under our law they cannot compete against all-women or all-girls’ teams.

Former collegiate swimmers Kaitlynn Wheeler, from third left, Riley Gaines, and Grace Countie, who competed in Georgia but aren’t from the state, prepare to testify in opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports in front of the state senate’s Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports at the Capitol in Atlanta, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. AP

This law ensures that female athletes in Nassau County can compete on a level playing field, without the inherent disadvantages or threats of bodily harm that come with facing off against males.

While we’ve taken decisive action locally, both through policy and raising awareness, we know that the fight must be taken to the national level to protect women and girls across the country.

This issue isn’t just about sports — it’s about protecting the future of young women across America. The achievements and success of generations of female athletes are at risk if we don’t act now.

With President Trump back in office, we can ensure that the protections we’ve enacted in Nassau County become national law and safeguard women and girls everywhere.

President Trump will continue to stand up for fairness in sports and to defend the rights of female athletes.

For the future of women’s sports and the preservation of fairness and opportunity, we urge you to vote for Donald Trump. Together, we can protect the rights of women and girls to compete fairly and safely in sports across the United States.

Bruce Blakeman serves as county executive in Nassau County, Long Island. Caitlyn Jenner is an Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete.

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October 27, 2024
Elon Musk says the real threat to democracy is the people who accuse Trump of endangering it

LANCASTER, Pa. — Tech mogul Elon Musk, speaking at a town hall Saturday night in Pennsylvania to support Republican Donald Trump, played down the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and exhorted supporters to cast votes early in the presidential swing state while describing mail ballots as a “recipe for fraud.”

The freewheeling session inside a ballroom at a hotel in downtown Lancaster touched on a dizzying range of topics, from space exploration and the Tesla cybertruck to immigration and the efficacy of psychiatric drugs. The town hall was part of Musk’s efforts through his super PAC to help boost Trump in swing states ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election against Democrat Kamala Harris.

Musk, whom Trump has vowed to give a role in his administration if he wins next month, spent nearly two hours taking questions from town hall participants. While most were laudatory and covered a variety of topics, one was particularly pointed: A man wanted to know what Musk would say to concerns from voters that Trump’s election could lead to democracy backsliding in the U.S. considering his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

While calling it a fair question, Musk also said that the Jan. 6 attack by Trump’s supporters has been called “some sort of violent insurrection, which is simply not the case” — a response that drew applause from the crowd. More than 100 law enforcement personnel were injured in the attack, some beaten with their own weapons, when a mob of Trump supporters who believed his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of votes.

Musk also claimed that people “who say Trump is a threat to democracy are themselves a threat to democracy,” a comment that was also cheered by the crowd of several hundred people packed tightly into the ballroom. Many more watched the event on X, the social media platform Musk purchased two years ago.

Trump, he said, “did actually tell people to not be violent.” While Trump did tell the crowd on Jan. 6 to protest “peacefully and patriotically,” he also encouraged them to “fight like hell” to stop Democrat Joe Biden from becoming the president.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has committed more than $70 million to boost Trump in the election and, at events on behalf of his super PAC, has encouraged supporters to embrace voting early. Still, echoing some of Trump’s misgivings about the method, Musk raised his own doubts about the process. He said that, in the future, mail ballots should not be accepted, calling them a strange anomaly that got popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic and raising the prospect of fraud.

There are a number of safeguards to protect mail-in ballots, with various ballot verification protocols, including every state requiring a voter’s signature.

The question about Jan. 6 was an outlier during the back-and-forth with the crowd in which Musk was repeatedly praised as a visionary and solicited for advice and thoughts about education, arm wrestling, tax loopholes and whether he’d buy the Chicago White Sox. (He said he was a tech guy and had to pick his battles.)

Musk said he was in favor of “not heavy handed” regulation of artificial intelligence and railed against “woke religion” as “fundamentally an extinctionist religion.” He said the U.S. birth rate is a significant concern.

He said he believes Jesus was a real person who lived about 2,000 years ago and, when asked for the best advice he’s ever received, replied: “I recommend studying physics.”

He also called a woman to the stage to give her a large $1 million check, part of his promotion to give away $1 million a day to a voter in a swing state who has signed his super PAC’s petition backing the U.S. Constitution.

The giveaways are fine with Josh Fox, 32, a UPS driver from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania.

“That’s cool,” Fox said, waiting to get into the rally earlier Saturday. “It would be nice to have it.”

Fox, who plans to vote for Trump, dismissed any suggestion the money may violate federal election rules.

“It’s about driving in support and driving in people who are in support of the Constitution,” Fox said.

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October 27, 2024
AP sources: Chinese hackers targeted phones of Trump, Vance, people associated with Harris campaign

WASHINGTON — Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate, JD Vance, and people associated with the Democratic campaign of Kamala Harris, people familiar with the matter said Friday.

It was not immediately clear what data, if any, may have been accessed. U.S. officials are continuing to investigate, according to the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing inquiry and spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

An FBI statement did not confirm that Trump and Vance were among the potential targets but said it was investigating “unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.”

“Agencies across the U.S. Government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the FBI said.

U.S. officials believe the campaigns were among numerous targets of a larger cyberespionage operation launched by China, the people said. It was not immediately clear what information China may have hoped to glean, though Beijing has for years engaged in vast hacking campaigns aimed at collecting the private data of Americans and government workers, spying on technology and corporate secrets from major American companies and targeting U.S. infrastructure.

News that high-profile political candidates were targeted comes as U.S. officials remain on high alert for foreign interference in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Iranian hackers have been blamed for targeting Trump campaign officials and the Justice Department has exposed vast disinformation campaigns orchestrated by Russia, which is said to favor Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.

China, by contrast, is believed by U.S. intelligence officials to be taking a neutral stance in the race and is instead focused on down-ballot races, targeted candidates from both parties based on their stance on issues of key importance to Beijing, including support for Taiwan.

The New York Times first reported that Trump and Vance had been targeted and said the campaign was alerted by U.S. officials this week. Three people confirmed the news to the AP, including one who said that people associated with the Harris campaign were also targeted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said they were not familiar with the specifics and could not comment, but contended that China is routinely victimized by cyberattacks and opposes the activity.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs. China has no intention and will not interfere in the U.S. election. We hope that the U.S. side will not make accusations against China in the election,” the statement said.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not offer any details about the Chinese operation but issued a statement accusing the Harris campaign of having emboldened foreign adversaries, including China and Iran.

The FBI has repeatedly warned over the last year about Chinese hacking operations, with Director Chris Wray telling Congress in January that investigators had disrupted a state-sponsored group known as Volt Typhoon. That operation targeted U.S.-based small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems across the U.S.

Last month, Wray said that the FBI had interrupted a separate Chinese government campaign, called Typhoon Flax, that targeted universities, government agencies and other organizations and that installed malicious software on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, video recorders and home and office routers.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Chinese hackers had burrowed inside the networks of U.S. broadband providers and had potentially accessed systems that law enforcement officials use for wiretapping requests.

____

Michelle L. Price in New York and Jill Colvin in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

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October 25, 2024
Harris is turning to video games and sports betting to try and win back some of the ‘bro’ vote from Trump

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Kamala Harris is placing ads on video game and sports betting sites in an effort to win back the male vote – often referred to as the “bro” vote – from Donald Trump.

Harris is placing ads on DraftKings, a sports betting company, and Yahoo Sports, NBC News reports. Her campaign is now the first to advertise on DraftKings, the outlet added. She will also place ads on video game sites IGN and Fandom.

Some of these ads will be 30-second spots featuring celebrities such as NBA legend Magic Johnson and actor Ben Stiller.

“Let’s break down Kamala’s economic plan. She has a plan to cut taxes for over 100 million Americans,” Johnson says in one of the ads. “Now let’s look at the other guy. He’s a failed businessman, plain and simple.”

“You know this election is a lot like dodgeball. Kamala Harris is the average Joe underdog and … Ha No, this isn’t a time for jokes,” Stiller says in another ad. “You know what? It’s way too important. Donald Trump wants to terminate the Constitution. Project 2025 will give him nearly unlimited power. We can’t let him get anywhere near the White House. So, vote for Kamala Harris.”

Ben Stiller stars in an ad for Harris that will be featured on sites typically popular with men (Kamala Harris for President)

This push comes as Trump leads Harris in polls among men. The gender divide between Trump and Harris voters is generally significant, according to national polls, with women leaning left and men leaning right.

In most swing states, there’s a noticeable gender divide, especially in Georgia, where Harris enjoys a 12-point lead among women, while Trump has a 14-point lead among men, according to a previous analysis from The Independent.

However, in the swing state of Arizona, there is not a significant distinction between how men and women are voting.

As Harris places these ads, Trump has been targeting 18- to 29-year-old men by dedicating time to YouTubers such as Logan Paul and podcasters like Theo Von, The New York Times reported earlier this year.

The former president sat down with Paul in June for his Impaulsive podcast, which garnered six million views. During that appearance, Trump gifted Paul with T-shirts featuring his Fulton County, Georgia, mugshot.

The Trump campaign has also worked with the Nelk Boys, known for their YouTube pranks and the Full Send political podcast, during which they often host Trump-world guests. Trump appeared on the podcast in April, and his running mate JD Vance sat down with them in August.

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October 19, 2024
Elon Musk holds his first solo event in support of Trump in the Philadelphia suburbs

FOLSOM, Pa. — FOLSOM, Pa. (AP) — Elon Musk held his first solo event in support of Donald Trump for president on Thursday, encouraging voters in the Philadelphia suburbs to register to cast their ballots and vote early, though some attendees shouted back, “Why?”

The America PAC event at Ridley High School’s auditorium in Folsom featured the world’s richest man speaking onstage in front of a large U.S. flag for roughly 15 minutes before taking questions from the crowd, many of whom wore “Make America Great Again” hats.

The event was billed as a call to action to vote early in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are fiercely contesting the election. Some in the crowd questioned Musk’s entreaties to vote early, reflecting the possibility that Republicans are still persuading their supporters to embrace early voting after Trump spent years demonizing the method.

The crowd rose to its feet and took cellphone videos as Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and Space X and owner of the social media platform X, walked onstage. They remained standing during his remarks and cheered loudly after he said the U.S. Constitution needs to be upheld.

“This is literally the fundamental values that made America what it is today. And anyone who is against those things is fundamentally anti-American and to hell with them,” said Musk, who was born in South Africa. The crowd erupted.

He exhorted the crowd to make sure they and their friends and family were registered to vote and to “pester” those who weren’t. Toward the end of the question period, which included more than a dozen from those in the audience, he was asked to explain whether people should vote early in Pennsylvania. Musk was momentarily distracted by a fan waving a hat, which he appeared to sign, and then by a child whom he brought onstage for a photo.

Redirected to the question, he said people should vote immediately.

Some in the crowd cupped their hands and shouted, “Why?” He did not answer. A spokesperson said after the event that he didn’t have additional comment.

Trump for years has sowed doubt about mail and early voting by claiming it was rife with fraud, though voter fraud is rare in the United States. This year, Republicans are making a renewed push to encourage their supporters to vote early and lock in their ballots, though they acknowledge skepticism from those conditioned by Trump’s false claims.

John and Linda Bird, a couple who attended the event, said they had concerns about the integrity of the voting system and worried about voting early.

John Bird said he planned to vote on Election Day. Linda pointed to a sign given out at the event that said Trump called for early voting and worried about the possibility of not getting to the polls on Nov. 5.

Still, she said she’d cast her ballot on Election Day, too.

“Anything can happen, you know, you wake up that morning, some catastrophe happens or whatever,” she said. “But, you know, we’re planning on voting on Nov. 5.”

One of the questioners asked about fraud in elections — something Trump has falsely insisted cost him the 2020 race. An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by Trump found fewer than 475, a number that would have made no difference in the outcome.

Musk said sarcastically that it must be a coincidence that Dominion voting machines, which had been at the center of conspiracy theories in the 2020 election, were used in Pennsylvania and Arizona, two battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to avoid a trial in a defamation lawsuit the voting machine company brought against the network for lies told about their company switching ballots.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Dominion said its machines are not used in Philadelphia, as Musk said. The statement also said its systems are based on “verified paper ballots.”

“These are not matters of opinion. They are verifiable facts.” Dominion said.

Musk has become a major booster of Trump this campaign season. On Thursday evening, he cast the election in dire terms.

“I haven’t been politically active before. I’m politically active now because I think the future of America and the future of civilization is at stake,” he said.

People were lined up to attend before 3 p.m. as school was letting out. A few people began to leave early when it became clear that not everyone who had lined up to ask a question would have a chance to ask one.

The event was livestreamed on X, formerly Twitter, and was at times glitchy and difficult to follow, even as it drew hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Musk is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his America PAC, a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money. He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

Trump and the Republican National Committee he controls opted for an unorthodox strategy of sharing canvassing duties in key regions with groups like Musk’s. They’ve also focused their efforts not on independent or moderate voters, but on those who already support Trump but usually don’t vote.

Republican activists in swing states said in September that they had seen little activity from the PAC’s get-out-the-vote efforts.

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.

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October 18, 2024
Trump pledges to end transgender athletes playing women’s sports

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he has a simple plan to address concerns about transgender athletes participating in women’s sports: “You just ban it.”

Asked by a member of the all-female audience during a Fox News town hall how he would address “the transgender issue in women’s sports,” Trump swiftly quipped that it was “such an easy question.”

“Everybody in the room and you know that answer, we’re not going to let it happen,” he said, noting the dangers involved with transgender athletes playing against women.

Former President Donald Trump said that he would “ban” transgender women from competing in women’s sports. FOX News

Trump highlighted the controversiy surrounding transgender San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming. Instagram/@blaire.fleming

Trump then went on to reference a Thursday night incident in which a San Diego State University women’s volleyball player was hit in the face by an opponent who had transitioned from male to female, knocking the player down.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” he said. “But other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been permanently — I mean, they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men.

“But you don’t have to do the volleyball. We stop it. We stop it. We absolutely stop it. You can’t have it.”

Trump discussed a recent video clip of an opponent getting hit in the head by a ball spiked by Fleming during a game. ICONS, /X

Trump said he “never saw a ball hit so hard.” ICONS, /X

The 45th president, 78, explained that the physical makeup of a person born male creates an unfair — and sometimes dangerous — advantage for transgender players facing off against those born female.

“It’s a man playing in the game. I mean, physically from a muscular, even if it was a little bit less, maybe they do all sorts of tests and drugs and everything else,” he said.

“Look at what’s happened in swimming. Look at the records that are being broken.”

Trump said that people born biologically male have an unfair and potentially dangerous advantage in women’s sports. San Josee State Volleyball

Trump remarked that it was an “easy question.” AP

After explaining his stance, town hall host Harris Faulkner pressed Trump on how he would end the practice.

“How do you stop it? Do you go to the sports leagues? Do you go to the Olympics?” she asked.

Trump had a quick response to the question: “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

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October 16, 2024
Elon Musk commits $70 million to boost Donald Trump

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk, a tech mogul who is the world’s richest person, plunged more than $70 million into helping Donald Trump and other Republicans win in November’s election, making him one of the biggest donors to GOP causes this campaign season, according to campaign finance disclosures released this week.

Musk made the donated over the summer to America PAC, a super political action committee he launched in May to aid Trump in his bid to return to the White House. It quickly became a central player in Trump’s election effort.

“The America PAC is just aiming for common sense, centrist values,” the Space X and Tesla founder said Tuesday on his social media platform X, shortly after the sum of money he contributed was made public in a campaign finance filing.

Super PACs like Musk’s America PAC can raise and spend unlimited sums of money but are typically are forbidden from coordinating their efforts with the candidates they support. A recent opinion by the Federal Election Commission, which regulates federal political campaigns, allowed for candidates and these big-spending groups to work together on so-called ground game efforts, which are the armies of people deployed to knock on doors to help turn out the vote.

While candidates and political parties have traditionally organized and paid for such efforts, Trump’s campaign has struggled to raise money this year and has turned to a handful of outside groups to undertake the work, with Musk’s America PAC being top among them.

But in doing so, the campaign has outsourced a core function to a coterie of untested groups that operate independently. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ decision to have an outside group canvass for him was is said to be one of the reasons his presidential bid failed.

So far, America PAC has spent over $38 million on voter “canvassing” efforts, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Much of America PACs money has been paid to a handful of consulting firms, including a number that are linked to Phil Cox, a former presidential campaign aide to DeSantis and a onetime executive director of the Republican Governors Association. Businesses under the umbrella of Cox’s various companies have collected at least $21 million since August, records show.

Trump’s outsourcing much of his get-out-the-vote effort is not the only unorthodox strategy his campaign has adopted this year. His campaign and allies have also jettisoned the traditional approach toward getting out the vote, which typically focused on winning over independent or moderate voters to your side. Instead, they are trying to drive turnout among Trump supporters who seldom cast a ballot, a novel if risky approach.

Though Musk is America PAC’s top donor, he is not its only one. The super PAC also collected about $8.75 million from a handful of wealthy donors, including the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, the disputed creators of Facebook.

The super PAC has spent nearly $80 million this year. Though most of the spending has gone toward the presidential race, at least $5 million has been spent to help Republican House candidates.

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October 16, 2024
Harris, Trump could give America’s 250th birthday different vibes

The next president probably will play a similar high-profile role during equally tumultuous times as America celebrates its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. On top of that, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump — both big sports fans — will be in office as the United States hosts the 2026 men’s World Cup (along with Canada and Mexico) and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The unprecedented trio of major events in one four-year term offers whoever wins the Nov. 5 election the ability to shape the image they project to the country and the world during a time when American history and sports have become cultural flashpoints. And particularly with the so-called semiquincentennial celebration, those images could vary widely depending on whether Harris or Trump is in office.

“It’s a gigantic difference of how US history will be perceived on the 250th anniversary depending on who’s president,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. “Trump has a very Mount Rushmore approach to things, great men chiseled in stone or marble…. Harris will be more multicultural and inclusive.”

As part of America’s bicentennial celebration, President Gerald Ford delivered a speech marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Concord, Mass., on April 19, 1975.Charles Dixon/Globe Staff

Ford used the bicentennial to try to unify the nation after the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that elevated him to the Oval Office after President Richard Nixon was forced to resign, Brinkley said.

“One hopes that we can pull together as a country and not be divided in a cultural war,” Brinkley said of America’s 250th anniversary.

The president ostensibly has a limited role in those upcoming major events, as they all are run by organizations outside the direct influence of the White House. One, the nonpartisan US Semiquincentennial Commission created by Congress in 2016, has already started a series of events in conjunction with state and local organizations, including the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party last December.

This summer, the commission named former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and former first ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama as honorary national co-chairpersons.

“We anticipate that the future president will be very much engaged,” said commission chair Rosie Rios, who served as US treasurer during the Obama administration.

America’s 250th anniversary is on Trump’s radar.

In a video last year, he unveiled his own plans for what he called “a most spectacular birthday party,” harkening back to the grandiose July Fourth celebrations when he was in office that included a 2019 speech at the Lincoln Memorial amid tanks and military flyovers.

If elected, Trump promised to convene a White House task force to coordinate with state and local governments on a year of festivities leading up to July 4, 2026. He also said he wanted to create a “Great American State Fair” in Iowa to “showcase the glory of every state in the union,” host a sporting contest for high school athletes called Patriot Games, and sign an executive order to create a “National Garden of American Heroes,” which he proposed in his first term.

“As we chart a course toward the next 250 years, let us come together and rededicate ourselves as one nation, under God,” Trump said.

Trump campaign spokespeople did not respond to email requests for comment.

Matthew Spalding, who was executive director of “The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission” that Trump created in late 2020 to restore “patriotic education” after the racial justice protests, said Harris and Trump have different perspectives on the nation’s founding that will affect what they emphasize in 2026.

“If Harris wins the election, her administration will embrace the revolutionary side of the American Revolution in order to replace 1776 with a progressive agenda of identity politics,” Spalding, a constitutional government professor at Hillsdale College, said in a written statement. “If Trump wins, we will see a celebration of the Americanism side of the American Revolution and of a nation that, despite its flaws and imperfections, has done more than any other to advance the principles of 1776.”

Harris hasn’t spoken publicly about the 250th anniversary and her campaign declined email requests for comment.

But Libby Schaaf, a former mayor of Oakland, Calif., and a longtime friend, agreed Harris’s approach would be much different than Trump’s.

“I think President Harris would infuse the celebration with joy and reverence. Trump would infuse it with bombastic superiority,” Schaaf said. “Freedom has been her calling card. It’s been her kind of highest value in this campaign and what better way to put that fully on parade than America’s own birthday party.”

She predicted that Harris would respect the extensive planning underway. John Garrison Marks, director of research and strategic initiatives at the American Association for State and Local History, agreed.

“If Harris wins, I think we can probably expect a continuation of the work that the commission is already doing, especially its emphasis on creating the largest and most inclusive commemoration in American history,” Marks said. “Now, if Trump wins, I don’t think he will completely upend all the work that the commission has done to this point, but he may lean more into the celebratory aspect of the commemoration.”

Marks expects Trump would focus on one big event, like his Independence Day commemorations in Washington in 2019 and at Mount Rushmore in 2020.

President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and daughter Chelsea were surrounded by the victorious USA Women’s World Cup soccer team on July 1, 1999, at Jack Kent Stadium in Landover, Md. The US team defeated Germany, 3-2, in their quarterfinal match. AP Photo/Greg Gibson

The World Cup in 2026, with a match scheduled for July Fourth in Philadelphia, will amplify the attention on the United States during its historic anniversary. And two years later, the next president will have the honor of formally opening the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Aside from attending some World Cup matches or Olympic events, as previous presidents have when the events have been held here, there would be no other official role for Harris or Trump.

But Trump has inserted himself into sports controversies in the past. When he was president, Trump publicly feuded with some high-profile professional athletes when players kneeled during the national anthem to protest America’s racial disparities.

Just this summer, Trump falsely claimed two female gold medal boxers at the Paris Olympics were men after public scrutiny regarding their gender. And he called the opening ceremony of those games “a disgrace” because of a scene involving drag performers that conservatives claim mocked The Last Supper. The ceremony’s artistic designer said it was an interpretation of a scene involving the Greek god Dionysus.

“We won’t be having a Last Supper as portrayed the way they portrayed it the other night,” Trump said on Fox News of the LA Olympics opening ceremony.

President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies of the 23rd Olympiad from their press box view in the Los Angeles Coliseum on July 28, 1984. UNCREDITED/Associated Press

Public criticism like that from Trump is unlikely to affect those major global sporting events, said Dan Lebowitz, executive director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University.

“I think the world already has an opinion of Trump. They’ve gone through a presidency of his. However he chooses to embrace the Olympics, I don’t think is going to change the messaging of the larger games,” he said. “In my mind, the games are bigger than that. The World Cup is bigger than that.”

Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera.

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October 12, 2024