| Donald, defence and disaffected voters as the 60-day countdown begins | By Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel
More planes, more ships, more marines, a bigger army and a modern missile defence shield.
Around $US500 billion in redirected dollars, that was the gist of Donald Trump's pitch on defence delivered within the historic walls of Philadelphia's Union League this week.
It was a prepared speech, delivered in sombre tones to a quiet, conservative crowd beneath the ornate ceiling roses and chandeliers of the patriot's club that was founded to follow the ethos of Lincoln in Philly, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and democracy is said to have been born.
He was, no doubt, not the candidate that the members had expected to see when campaigning first began all those months ago.
However most in the room applauded warmly in response to his plans, including at least two former generals who were among a group of 88 ex-military leaders supporting a Trump presidency.
Afterwards retired generals Remo Butler and Gary Harrell told me they liked his tough-talking demeanour, especially on military matters.
"Trump knows what he's doing. Sometimes you have to stir up the fire. Sometimes you have to hit the bell, and I think he was purposely doing that to get people's attention. People understand and respect strength ... and when you can, like he says, talk the game and carry a big stick, yeah they'll understand that," Gen Butler said.
It was a defence-themed week as Trump and Hillary Clinton then appeared back-to-back to take questions on defence and national security at a televised commander-in-chief forum where they were quizzed by host Matt Lauer and military veterans in the audience.
NO DIS-PUTIN'
Trump has repeatedly praised Vladimir Putin and was at it again on Wednesday night.
Trump suggested Putin was a better leader than President Obama and of course, he knew the Russian President's poll numbers.
Meanwhile Matt Lauer's performance as forum moderator has been slammed by all and sundry because he failed to follow up Trump's assertions that he did not support the Iraq war.
In fact, Trump did support the Iraq War in a 2002 interview, but then gradually wound back his support after that.
As a prospective commander-in-chief, Clinton's poor handling of her emails while secretary of state made up a substantial portion of her conversation with Lauer.
House Democrats also released an email from the former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell providing advice on how to manage her use of a private email server - something he personally had experience of doing.
But by the morning after the forum it was all about whether she smiled enough. Go figure.
AD OF THE WEEK
In a week dominated by military preparedness, the Super PAC Priorities USA released this chilling advertisement pouncing on Trump's statement when he said, "I love war".
STOCK STANDARD VOTERS
Also on ads, GOP State Senate candidates have been caught out using the same kids and teachers in their campaign advertisements.
Supposedly, the Iowa Republican Party scheduled the film shoot on the same day to save money and then just swapped their candidates into the frame.
Sprung!
OHIO WALL
Meanwhile, at the county fair in Ohio this week a donation would buy you a piece of Trump's planned wall across the Mexican border. Yep.
HE SAID
"I've got to tell you, if that were me, I would say, 'You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let's get out of here'." - Trump
President Barack Obama had to walk down a secondary staircase to exit Air Force 1 after it landed in Hangzhou, China, for a state visit this week and a red carpet staircase was not provided.
Trump said he would have turned around and flown home.
SHE SAID
"Every time I think about Trump I get allergic." - Clinton after suffering a coughing fit on stage
IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A CAMPAIGN PLANE
Clinton unveiled her new campaign plane this week emblazoned with the campaign slogan 'Stronger Together' and with a blue 'H' on the tail.
It also marked a new era of openness with Clinton now allowing journalists more access than they've had for some time, holding several gaggles with reporters.
Well, sort of. In one instance, reporters had to literally roll an orange to the end of the plane to ask a question. Seriously.
It's also given cable news some more fodder to compare the two candidates:
EVERYTHING'S A BIGGER DEAL IN TEXAS
Newspapers around the country have been coming out and endorsing candidates as they jet around from place to place, but this week the Dallas Morning News revealed it was encouraging voters towards Clinton.
The publication isn't taking its decision lightly - it's the first time the newspaper has recommended a Democrat for president since before World War II.
As I said, everything's bigger in Texas, which is a red state, but is subject to changing demographics due to an increasing Latino population.
HUMAN OF NEW YORK
Speaking of publications, the New York blog that came to fame by telling the stories of ordinary New Yorkers has a new star after featuring Clinton this week.
In the feature she talks about her law school admissions test and how she's sometimes "perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional".
Check it out:
BY THE NUMBERS
The GOP put out this pie chart during the week, which seems a little wonky to me:
THIRD WHEELS
It has been dubbed "the year of the disaffected voter" and promoted the rise of third party candidates. Two of those: Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.
Just a couple of weeks ago former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson said this was the moment for the Libertarian Party.
Well, on Thursday the presidential hopeful had a moment he'd rather forget on cable TV when asked about the besieged city of Aleppo in Syria.
Appalling.
He tried to clarify later but, too late. His gaffe went viral and Johnson may have torpedoed his chances to be taken seriously, ever, again.
Just in case you need a reminder.
This is Aleppo.
Even in a year overflowing with political gaffes, we're still dumbfounded but moving on to Jill Stein - the Green Party leader, who describes her movement as "Bernie Sanders on steroids".
Well, after missing a rally in Cincinnati this week, she accidentally flew to Columbus instead (it still begins with a 'C', which is so confusing), a warrant for her arrest was issued for allegedly vandalising a bulldozer at a construction site in North Dakota.
You be the judge - it was caught on camera.
YOU KNOW THERE'S ANOTHER OPTION...
And to top it off Sweet Meteor O'Death released a new video this week showing how "one candidate will put an end to the madness"...
Just in case the meteor doesn't hit and you'd like to attend next year's presidential inauguration, Trump's newest hotel, fittingly, in Washington D.C., is set to open over the next couple of weeks and features things like wine by the spoon and a $500,000 inauguration night package.
However, according to hotels reservations website Hipmunk, bookings at Trump hotels are down nearly 60 per cent compared to this time last year so do the guy a favour and book a room.
It's only 60 days until the election, but who's counting, right? | ![]() | | | About this email You received this email because you are subscribed to ABC News email alerts. This message was sent to you at starnewsposting@gmail.com. Please add newslists@your.abc.net.au to your email address book to see images by default and stop the email being treated as spam. This email address is not monitored - Please don't reply to this email. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Add or remove topics | Unsubscribe | Contact Us |
| |
0 comments:
Post a Comment