Donald Trump hurled his usual barrage of insults and accusations at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during a town hall meeting broadcast on Fox News, before falsely claiming that immigrants from all over the world are pouring into the United States.
The pre-taped interview aired Wednesday night, with the former president taking to the stage at an arena in Pennsylvania to cheers, applause and chants of “USA” from his supporters.
The town hall, hosted by Sean Hannity, comes just under a week before Trump and Kamala Harris face off on the debate stage, as both candidates’ campaigns comb through six so-called battleground states in the US – Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona – with election forecaster Nate Silver predicting Pennsylvania will likely be a “tipping point” in the election.
The video also aired hours after two students and two teachers were shot dead at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Asked about the shooting, Trump said, “The world is sick and angry for a lot of reasons. We’re going to make the world better. We’re going to heal the world. We’re going to end all these wars that are starting all over the place because of incompetence… We’re going to make the world better.”
As usual, Trump blasted the Biden-Harris administration on crime, immigration and the intersection of the two issues. He called the vice president a “border czar” and falsely claimed that 20 million people have “streamed into our country,” many of whom he claims are from prisons and “mental hospitals.” He also addressed reports that gang members had taken over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. Harris has never been given the title of border czar.
Trump also thanked his running mate, Tim Walz, for his support after the family posted a photo of them wearing “Nebraska Walz Supports Trump” T-shirts, which the Associated Press reported were of a distant relative of Walz’s paternal relative, the Minnesota governor.
Ms. Harris called Mr. Waltz a “wacko” after falsely thanking Mr. Waltz’s father for his endorsement, and then sought to strike back at Mr. Waltz, who began calling Mr. Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, weirdos during campaign stops and interviews.
Fox News also aired several seconds of Harris’s news footage taken out of context to support Trump’s claims that the Biden-Harris administration’s policies have caused inflation and to criticize Harris’ alleged inconsistency on implementing the fracking ban.
On Thursday, Fox News will air the second part of the town hall meeting between Trump and Hannity.