TRANSCRIPT
There is less than one month before the US presidential election.
And the race between former President Donald Trump and current Vice-President Kamala Harris is extremely tight, and extremely tense.
That's in no small part due to two assassination attempts against Mr Trump – and now, police say they've prevented a third.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco says the suspect – 59-year-old Vem Miller – was arrested at a security checkpoint near a rally for Mr Trump in the western U-S state of California.
"The deputy noticed that the interior of the vehicle was in quite disarray. The vehicle had a an obviously fake license plate. And that prompted further investigation from our deputy into why the person was why the person was there and what he was doing. During that investigation, the deputy eventually found multiple passports with multiple names, multiple driver's license with different names. So during the investigation, obviously, those identification documents were found in addition to a loaded handgun and a shotgun."
The candidates are now especially taking to seven states where the result is predicted to be very close – known as battleground states.
The vote in those states will likely decide the next President.
Ms Harris campaigning hard in one of them – North Carolina.
"So, North Carolina. We have 23 days until election day and we are nearing the home stretch, we are nearing the home stretch."
This all comes on the heels of two deadly hurricanes in close succession that have hit the south-eastern U-S.
In the aftermath, the clean-up involves more than just debris.
Meteorologists are addressing a deluge of conspiracy theories – alleging they were controlling the weather – amid what they claim is an unprecedented surge in misinformation stoked by Mr Trump and his supporters.
Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, said that she and her colleagues have been on the frontline of misinformation management.
Nickolaou has told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle [[doyt-sha vella]] she’s received messages claiming that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes, and even that scientists should be killed and radar equipment demolished.
“One of the big things that comes from it is you get people who will post something online for clicks or engagement that is completely false. Then people who wouldn’t know any better just see it pop up in their algorithm and take that as the truth. They potentially spread that information. Even just one post with a million views can have massive stretching repercussions – it’s like a root system. Unfortunately, meteorologists can’t go and find each and every one of those people to tell them ‘hold on, that was bad information, this is actually a real thing’. It’s kind of like putting out a million fires with only one fire extinguisher.”
In North Carolina, Ms Harris has rebuked a church congregation for spreading lies.
“Yet, Church, there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community. And I am speaking of those who have literally not been telling the truth - lying - about people who are working hard to help folks in need. Spreading disinformation when the truth and facts are required. And the problem with this beyond the obvious is it's making it harder then to get people life-saving information if they're led to believe they cannot trust. And that's the pain of it all.”
Former president Bill Clinton, while urging rural voters to cast ballots for Vice President Harris in Georgia, decided to appeal closer to religious themes.
“I saw the other day after the terrible, terrible storm hit our neighbours in North Carolina. Congresswoman Greene, I think said that the deep, dark state had found a way to make tornadoes hit only Red areas and leave the Blues alone. Oh, that's pretty cool. Unfortunately, some things are still in God's hands. Some things are beyond human understanding."
Meanwhile, the issue at the top of Trump’s agenda is immigration.
During a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, Donald Trump devoted much of his speech to border enforcement – and pledged to hire 10,000 additional border patrol agents if elected.
Flanked by Border Patrol union leaders, who have endorsed him, Mr Trump claims the country will be turned into a migrant camp under four more years of Ms Harris and his Democratic Party opponents.
“This will ensure that we can hire and keep the Border Patrol agents that we need to keep. And we can also bring in a lot of new ones, really great ones. And we're going to have our choice. I think we're going to have a choice. It's going to be a whole new spirit. This is a group that really needs spirit because they're protecting us. They're protecting our lives. They're protecting our country.”
But earlier this year, Mr Trump's Republican Party helped block a bipartisan border security bill that would have funded 1,500 additional border agents and 1,600 asylum officers.
Either way, Mr Trump's supporters, including Phoenix Resident Kelly Husk, remain fiercely loyal.
"Oh, I've always supported Donald Trump. I think that he is the best president for our country. He's already done it. We had the best four years ever when he was president. We had no inflation, gas was affordable. I mean, you can just go down the list. Everything that he says he's going to do, he does.”
The election will be held on Wednesday, the 6th of November, Australian time.
