President Donald Trump has suffered another election blow, this time in his own backyard of Florida after Miami elected Democrat Eileen Higgins to be its new mayor, ending a three decade losing streak for her party.
Higgins will become the first woman to lead Miami, a Hispanic-majority city that was swayed by her attacks on the president’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and mass deportation push.
Trump spent Tuesday in Pennsylvania on the first leg of an “Affordability Tour” intended to reassure Americans about the state of the economy, in which he called cost of living concerns a “hoax”, blustered about the success of his first 10 months back in the White House, engaged in vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric and joked about his administration’s deadly strikes on alleged drug boats off Central America.
“I can’t say ‘affordability hoax’ because I agree, the prices were too high,” the president told his Mount Pocono crowd. “But they use the word ‘affordability’ and that’s their only word… our prices are coming down.”
Trump subsequently took to Truth Social to attack The New York Times for reporting negatively about his health, suggesting the newspaper’s coverage was “seditious, perhaps even treasonous.”
Trump serves up vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric and jokes about deadly boat strikes
Here are a few more choice clips from the president’s address yesterday, which found him launching into a shocking slur against Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, denying ever using the phrase “s***hole countries” when there is some evidence to suggest that he did, and making a bad taste joke about his administration’s missile strikes on alleged drug boats off Central America, which have so far killed at least 87 people.
He also boasted about the achievements of his first 10 months back in the White House, declaring that “they” are saying he is a better commander-in-chief than Abraham Lincoln and that he is particularly popular with Black Americans, providing no basis for his claims in either instance.
Among Trump’s stranger rhetorical flourishes was this advice to the public that they can do just as well with fewer pencils and this item of praise for his White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:
He also marked off a check list of greatest hits, from attacks on “Sleepy” Joe Biden (a week after he appeared to doze off in his own cabinet meeting) to anti-trans provocation and the “war on Christmas,” a conservative bugbear making its annual December appearance right on time, just like Michael Buble or “Fairytale of New York.”
Trump dismisses ‘affordability hoax’ at Pennsylvania rally intended to offer reassurances on economy
The president spent Tuesday far away from Florida on the first leg of an “Affordability Tour” in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, a rally-style event intended to reassure Americans about the state of the economy, in which he instead called their cost of living concerns a “hoax” put about by Democrats, something he also said about Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in 2018 and, more recently, the Jeffrey Epstein files.
His comments were immediately attacked by, among many others, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on MS NOW.
Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s report on the president’s remarks.
Jubilant Democrats react to Miami election win: ‘The blue wave is coming!’
Here’s just some of the reaction to Mayor-elect Higgins’s victory overnight.
Donald Trump suffers another defeat as Miami elects first Democrat mayor in 30 years
President Donald Trump has suffered another election blow, this time in his own backyard of Florida after Miami elected Democrat Eileen Higgins to be its new mayor, ending a three decade losing streak for her party in the city.
Higgins, 61, will become the first woman to lead Miami, a Hispanic-majority city that was swayed by her attacks on the president’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and mass deportation push, issues that threaten family members of many residents originating from Central America.
Despite the race officially being nonpartisan, she campaigned openly as a proud Democrat, ultimately defeating Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who has since called Higgins to offer his congratulations.
Here’s more on the latest ill omen for Republicans ahead of next year’s midterms.
Good morning
Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Donald Trump administration as the president suffers another election defeat and raises eyebrows with his latest rally remarks.
