Trump slammed by Giuliani’s daughter as Vance and Walz prepare for VP debate: Live

The bets are on ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate, with bookies rounding up the odds on who will win the showdown: Democrat Tim Walz or Republican JD Vance?

Alicja Hagopian looks at the numbers.

Trump’s former military guru has pooh-poohed the former president’s campaign trail refrain that he could broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia “in one day”.

“I don’t really buy it,” said HR McMaster, who was appointed as a national security adviser by Trump in 2017 and was forced out in 2018, in an interview with CBS News anchor Robert Costa.

“I think it’s a real myth, a real misunderstanding of war, to assume that you can get a favourable political outcome without a favourable military outcome. That’s never really happened in war.

“And so I think the right course of action, if you want to accelerate progress toward a settlement, is to convince [Vladimir] Putin that he’s losing the war. I think that’s the only way you get a favourable settlement.

“How do you do that? You demonstrate our resolve to continue to support the Ukrainians as they defend themselves against this continued onslaught by the Russians.”

According to the Harris-Walz campaign, these are the Democrats that will be stumping for Tim Walz in the spin room at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City tonight:

• Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
• Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona
• Governor Jared Polis of Colorado
• Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois
• US Representative Jasmine Crockett
• Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison
• Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico

And here’s your reminder of who is in Vance’s corner:

• Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller
• Donald Trump Jr
• Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
• Senator Katie Britt of Alabama
• US Representative Elise Stefanik
• US Representative Byron Donalds
• Howard Lutnick

As part of his frankly opportunistic attacks on Biden and Harris over the federal response to the deadly storm that has claimed at least 133 lives in America’s southeastern states, the Republican presidential nominee has set up a GoFundMe page that is already well past its $1m goal.

This gentleman raises a valid point, however.

Republican organizers in battleground states are worried that the Trump campaign isn’t doing enough to drive GOP turnout, as Kamala Harris maintains a roughly three per cent lead in national polls and similar margins in battleground states.

GOP operatives told Politico that the Trump campaign’s tactics to reach voters, relying heavily on super PACs and an army of “Trump Force 47” volunteers to knock on doors and get out the vote, hasn’t made as much of a dent as they would’ve wished in key toss-up states like Michigan and Nevada.

“There’s really no organization,” a Republican operative in Nevada told the outlet.

“He comes out, they scramble to do a rally… but after that, there’s just really nothing else.”

Several prominent GOP members have sought to distance themselves from “insulting” comments made by Trump in which he claimed Kamala Harris is “mentally disabled.”

Many Republicans have urged the former president to “stick to the issues” of his campaign, rather than reverting time and time again to personal attacks on his Democratic rival.

During a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, Trump claimed Harris was “mentally disabled” and “mentally impaired.”

Here’s more from Mike Bedigan.

Here’s how Kamala is plotting to take the fight to her rival over his inability to offer a coherent policy on one of the most fundamental concerns of American voters.

As Republicans and Democrats gear up for the vice presidential debate tonight, exclusive polling reveals the upcoming encounter between Walz and Vance has the potential to change everything.

Two-thirds of Democrats believe the VP candidate has a significant impact on the overall presidential ticket, according to polling from Prolific for The Independent, and three in four Americans say they will be tuning in.

Alicja Hagopian has the details.

Joe Biden is among those sending birthday wishes to the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, who became America’s 39th commander-in-chief as he hits his centenary today, a truly remarkable feat.

I guess this account has no more worlds left to conquer…