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Explainer: Where do Harris and Trump stand on social welfare?

washington — With the U.S. presidential election coming November 5, the importance of social welfare — such as government-run programs for pensions and health care, known as Social Security and Medicare, along with affordable housing, and support for families — is again in the spotlight.

More than 71 million people in the U.S. received benefits from programs administered in 2023 by the Social Security Administration, which helps retired workers and people with disabilities. But the Social Security Trust Fund and Medicare, a federal health insurance program for the elderly, are running out of funds, and without a new source of funding or cuts in benefits are expected to become insolvent by 2035 and 2036, respectively.

Both candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, have pledged to protect Social Security and Medicare.

But the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released an analysis this week that said, if left unaddressed, Harris’ economic agenda would see Social Security go bankrupt in nine years, while Trump’s agenda would force its insolvency in six years.

Meanwhile, a housing shortage is driving up prices to buy and rent, while high mortgage rates are slowing home sales, and both candidates are discussing ways to help families with the rising cost of raising children

So, how do the two candidates plan to address these issues?

The candidates have stark differences in their social welfare policies that reflect the values of the two dominant political parties in the U.S., the Democratic and Republican parties, on government intervention and personal responsibility.

Harris and the Democratic Party have generally advocated for the government to actively support vulnerable groups and those struggling to get out of cyclical poverty through higher taxes on the wealthy, which they see as key to achieving social equity and promoting economic mobility.

In contrast, Republicans, including Trump, have generally emphasized the importance of individual accountability, market mechanisms and lower taxes to encourage productivity, arguing that too much government intervention will weaken the economy.

But there is some overlap, especially when it comes to helping families.

VOA Mandarin has compiled the positions and views of the two candidates on Social Security and Medicare, affordable housing and supporting families:

Social Security and Medicare

Trump’s policy: Trump wants to ensure the sustainability of Social Security and Medicare through economic growth, which he hopes to boost by lowering taxes and reducing what he calls “unnecessary” government spending by increasing the privatization options of the health care system to fuel market competition to reduce costs. He also advocates for eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits, arguing that older people should not pay taxes on their benefits. Critics say this will make it even harder to pay for the program.

Harris’ policy: Harris wants to expand Social Security benefits through the Social Security Expansion Act, which proposes raising minimum benefits and adjusting how the cost of living is calculated. She also advocates for long-term home care to be included in Medicare to ease the burden on families caring for the elderly and children. Critics say expanding the programs will make it even harder to pay for them. Harris’ policy continues the Biden administration’s stance of raising taxes on wealthy individuals earning more than $400,000 annually to secure funding for Social Security and Medicare. Harris also says health care costs can be controlled through drug price negotiations and reducing fraud.

Housing

Trump’s policy: Trump wants to promote housing market development by reducing building and land-use regulations to increase the housing supply and reduce home buying costs through competition. He opposes construction of low-income housing in traditional single-family housing areas and blames some of the high housing costs on inflation and illegal immigration, both of which he says he’ll reduce if elected, including through mass deportations. Critics argue that housing prices spiked with rising interest rates and high demand during the COVID pandemic and say mass deportations would only worsen the supply problem as much of the construction labor force consists of immigrants.

Harris’ policy: Harris advocates for tax incentives and increased federal funding to support affordable housing construction that markets are not serving and says her plan will add 3 million new homes within the next four years. She supports a $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and restricting companies from large-scale acquisitions of residential properties to combat speculation and protect the housing needs of ordinary families. Critics argue that low-income housing reduces nearby property values and that raising subsidies for home purchases could drive up demand and lead to higher housing prices.

Helping families

Child Tax Credit (CTC)

Trump’s policy: Trump as president temporarily raised the CTC, from $1,000 to $2,000 per child in 2017 and expanded the income cap to make more families eligible, but the expanded program expires in 2025. If elected again, Trump says he’ll make this policy permanent. However, a key requirement is that only households making income are entitled to the tax credit as Trump believes it incentivizes people to work. Critics say it’s unfair to unemployed parents who are already struggling.

Harris’ policy: Harris wants to reinstate and expand the CTC to families without income so that all families with newborns receive a $6,000 tax credit per child, those with children aged 1-6 get $3,600 per year for each child, and those with children aged 7-17 receive $3,000 per child. Critics say the subsidy would weaken incentives for unemployed parents to find work.

Paid family leave

Trump’s policy: Candidate Trump’s policy on family leave — to take care of a child, or sick relative or personal medical issue — is not so clear, though his campaign says he supports it. As president, he signed into law 12 weeks of such paid leave for federal employees and a tax credit for companies that give low-income workers paid family leave.

Harris’ policy: Harris supports 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all employees that would be funded through a payroll tax shared between employers and employees.

Childcare costs

Trump’s policy: In September, Trump suggested revenue from tariff increases could raise money to support childcare, and his running mate, JD Vance, has suggested more family members, such as grandparents, should be involved in family childcare to reduce expenses.

Harris’ policy: Harris proposed capping family spending on childcare for low-income workers to 7% of household income and raising the level of wages for childcare workers while lowering the cost of care.

Critics note that neither candidate has provided details of their plans.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Biden casts 2024 election ballot near his Delaware home

NEW CASTLE, Delaware — President Joe Biden has cast an early ballot in the 2024 general election. 

It’s a bittersweet moment for Biden, who decided to end his reelection campaign in July because of growing concerns about his health and Democrats’ worries about his chances of defeating former President Donald Trump. Biden voted on Monday at the state of Delaware Department of Elections, not far from his home outside Wilmington, Delaware at an early voting site, where voters were lined up on the street to cast ballots. 

Biden chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair ahead of him. The president waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot. 

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.” 

As the president cast his ballot behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them. 

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has either held office or been running for one during election season. 

But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed after dropping out, is vying to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president. 

State Sen. Sarah McBride is looking to become the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House. 

McBride, a longtime friend of the Biden family, had served as an aide in then-President Barack Obama ‘s administration and on the campaigns in 2006 and 2010 for the president’s late son Beau Biden’s runs for Delaware attorney general. She also worked for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. 

McBride hopes to succeed Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who wants to become Delaware’s first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. She has served as Delaware’s lone representative in the House since 2017. 

On Monday, Biden had breakfast with Blunt Rochester. He’s known her family for decades, and campaigned with her father, Theodore “Ted” Blunt, who served on the Wilmington City Council for almost a quarter century, including as president. Biden on Sunday evening formally endorsed Blunt Rochester, cutting a video for her campaign in which he called her “Delaware through and through.” 

Blunt Rochester is vying to succeed Sen. Tom Carper, who has held the seat since 2001 in the solidly Democratic state. He is retiring. 

Early voting in Delaware began on Saturday.

 
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How Green Party candidate Jill Stein could affect US election results

In next month’s U.S. presidential election, Green Party candidate Jill Stein is polling at around 1%. But her candidacy could have an outsized impact on the outcome, with some political analysts predicting that even a small percentage of votes for Stein could make a difference in crucial swing states. Maxim Adams has the story. VOA footage by Artem Kohan.
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America’s youngest voters help get out the vote for November election

The youngest voters taking part in the U.S. presidential election are called Gen Z. They range in age from roughly 18 to 27 years old. From learning how to vote, to soliciting support door to door, many are embracing the civic process of voting. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has our story. VOA footage and video editing by Saqib Ul Islam.
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Missouri sports betting ballot measure highlights national debate about tax rates

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The ads promoting a November ballot measure to legalize sports betting in Missouri tout the potential for millions of new tax dollars devoted to schools. If voters approve the measure, it’s a good bet they will see even more ads offering special promotions for bettors. 

Many of those promotional costs — in which sportsbooks provide cash-like credits for customers to place bets — will be exempt from state taxes, effectively limiting the new revenue for education. 

The Missouri ballot measure highlights an emerging debate among policymakers over how to tax the rapidly growing industry, which has spread from one state — Nevada — to 38 states and Washington, D.C., since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to legalized sports wagering in 2018. 

“It’s a fledging industry,” said Brent Evans, an assistant finance professor at Georgia College & State University who has taught classes on gambling. “So nobody really knows what is a reasonable tax.” 

Since authorizing sports betting, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., all have already raised or restructured their tax rates. And Colorado and Virginia have pared back the tax deductions they originally allowed. 

Tax rates range from a low of 6.75% in states such Iowa to 51% in states such as New York. That tax gap is even wider, because Iowa allows promotional bets to be deducted from taxable revenue while New York does not. 

About half the states allow tax deductions for promotional costs. It’s a common way of enticing people to start — or continue — making bets. But in the short-term, it also can decrease the tax revenue available for governments and schools. 

Missouri’s proposed 10% tax rate on sports betting revenue is below the national average of 19% that sportsbooks paid to states last year. Because of deductions for “free play,” there could be some months in which sportsbooks owe nothing to the state. Missouri’s proposed constitutional amendment acknowledges that possibility, stating that negative balances can be carried over from one month to the next until revenue rises enough to owe taxes. 

Unlike in some states, Missouri’s amendment caps the amount of promotional credits that can be deducted from taxable revenue, at 25% of all wagers. But it appears unlikely that cap would come into play. An analysis conducted by consultant Eilers & Krejcik Gaming for amendment supporters projects promotional bets will comprise around 8% of total wagers in Missouri’s first year of sports betting, declining after that. 

The Missouri proposal “is very much in line with what has worked and been effective in other states,” said Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for Winning for Missouri Education, the group backing the measure. 

After voters narrowly approved it, Colorado launched sports betting in 2020 with a 10% tax rate and full deductions for promotional bets. It logged $2.7 billion of total bets during its first full fiscal year, yielding $8.1 million in taxes, just slightly below legislative projections. But Colorado changed its law starting in 2023 to cap promotional tax deductions at 2.5% of total bets, gradually declining to 1 .75% by July 2026. 

Colorado’s sports betting tax revenue has since risen to over $30 million in its most recent fiscal year. That growth led lawmakers to place a proposal on the November ballot seeking permission for the state to keep more than the original $29 million limit on sports betting tax revenue. 

Capping tax deductions for promotional bets is a good step, said Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate at the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. But he questions why some states exempt them from taxes in the first place. 

“We don’t give out free samples of cannabis when a state legalizes cannabis,” Auxier said. “Is this something you want to be subsidizing through your state tax policy — to encourage people to gamble?” 

The Missouri amendment was placed on the November ballot by initiative petition after legislation to legalize sports betting repeatedly stalled in the state Senate. The $43 million campaign — a record for a Missouri ballot measure — has been been funded entirely by DraftKings and FanDuel, which dominate the nationwide sports betting marketplace. If the measure passes, the companies could apply for two statewide licenses to conduct online sports betting. The amendment authorizes additional sports betting licenses for Missouri casinos and professional sports teams. 

The $14 million opposition campaign has been funded entirely by Caesars Entertainment, which operates three of Missouri’s 13 casinos. Although Caesars generally supports sports betting, it opposes “the way this measure is written,” said Brooke Foster, a spokesperson for the opposition group Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment. 

In some other states, sports betting is run through casinos. Though research is limited, a study of seven states released last year found that casino gambling revenue declined as online sports betting increased. 

“There will definitely be a shift from placing bets in a physical space with a Missouri incorporated casino versus hopping on an app in your living room,” Foster said. 

The effect of different tax rates can be seen in Illinois and New Jersey, which spearheaded the court challenge leading to widespread legal sports betting. People in each state placed between $11.5 billion and $12 billion of sports bets last year, resulting in $1 billion of revenue for sportsbooks after winnings were paid to customers, according to figures from the American Gaming Association. 

New Jersey took in $129 million in tax revenue, based on a 14.25% tax rate for online sports bets and a 9.75% tax rate with some promotional deductions for sports bets at casinos and racetracks. Illinois took in $162 million of tax revenue — one-quarter more than New Jersey — with a 15% tax rate in most places and no promotional deductions. 

But Illinois officials weren’t satisfied with those results. Beginning in July, Illinois imposed a progressive tax scale, starting with a 20% tax on sports betting revenue of less than $30 million and rising to a 40% rate on revenue exceeding $200 million. 

Some sportsbooks representatives had raised the possibility of leaving Illinois if tax rates rose. But that hasn’t happened. 

There’s also not much evidence that sportsbooks worsen the odds for wagers in states where they pay higher taxes, said Joe Weinert, executive vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, a consulting firm. 

“The sports betting operators compete vigorously for bettors,” he said, “and how you compete vigorously is to offer attractive odds and good promotions.” 
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Trump headlines New York rally after allies’ racist remarks; Harris rallies in Philadelphia

NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump headlined a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday that began with a series of vulgar and racist remarks by allies of the former president. 

Trump, a New York celebrity for decades, hoped to use the event at the iconic venue known for Knicks basketball games and Billy Joel concerts to deliver his closing argument against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, even though the state last backed a Republican presidential candidate in 1984. 

“I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump said at the start of his speech. The crowd shouted: “No.” 

He went on to promise that he would stop an “invasion of criminals coming into our country” if he wins the Nov. 5 election and called Harris a “very low IQ individual.” 

The list of at least 20 opening speakers varied widely from former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr. 

Some of Trump’s introductory speakers used racist and misogynistic language in warming up a capacity crowd. 

Rudy Giuliani, the one-time New York City mayor and a former personal lawyer to Trump, falsely claimed that Harris was “on the side of the terrorists” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wanted to bring Palestinians to the United States. 

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe used crass language in joking that Latinos “love making babies” and called the Caribbean U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” 

Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin posted a clip of the comments on his Instagram and wrote, in Spanish, “This is what they think of us.” 

Harris earlier on Sunday visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia in the must-win state of Pennsylvania to encourage people to vote. She posted a video on social media promising to “invest in Puerto Rico’s future” as president.  

While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, those living on the island cannot vote in U.S. general elections. However, millions of Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland United States can fully participate in elections, and many have taken up residence in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. 

Harris’s campaign in an email said the Madison Square Garden rally was “mirroring the same dangerously divisive and demeaning message” as Trump. 

Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, has accused him of “re-enacting” a pro-Nazi rally that was held at Madison Square Garden in 1939 on the eve of World War Two. 

Trump’s critics have long accused him of empowering white supremacists with dehumanizing and racist rhetoric. 

Trump rejected the comparison to the 1930s. “This is called Make America Great Again, that’s all this is,” he said on Friday. 

“Today, this is Donald Trump’s house,” said the wrestler Hulk Hogan in a speech at the New York event on Sunday, later rejecting accusations that Trump is a fascist: “I don’t see any Nazis in here.” 

U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, who is supporting Trump’s reelection bid with his X social media platform, enormous wealth and cash giveaways that have raised legal questions, was greeted to the stage with chants of “Elon.” 

“This is the kind of positive energy that America is all about,” Musk said. 

Musk, who Trump has said he would tap to lead a new government efficiency commission, said the federal budget could be reduced by “at least” $2 trillion. Federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30. 

Trump got cheers inside the arena for his tough-on-migrants rhetoric. He vowed to ban sanctuary cities and invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to deport immigrants with criminal records. 

Polls show the rival candidates are neck and neck in the battleground states that will decide the next president with just over a week until Election Day. More than 38 million votes have already been cast in early and mail-in voting. 

Trump has been seeking to tie Harris to the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and the economy. Last week, Trump debuted a new attack line: “She broke it, and I promise you I will fix it.” 

The U.S. economy has outperformed the rest of the developed world since the COVID crisis, and stock markets hit record highs this year. But high prices of food, utilities and housing have roiled voters, who believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction. 

Harris, who held a rally with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta on Thursday and Beyonce in Houston on Friday, will hold another high-profile event with a speech on Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington, where she will highlight contrasts between herself and Trump. 

“He is full of grievance. He is full of dark language that is about retribution and revenge,” Harris said of Trump in Philadelphia on Sunday. 

Trump, who held a rally in Long Island, New York, in September, has said he is making a play for the state. Ronald Reagan’s reelection was the last time New York backed a Republican for president; Democrat Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by 23 percentage points. 

‘Show of strength’ 

By staging the attention-grabbing event in the world’s biggest media market, Trump could help boost Republican candidates in New York congressional races. The state has seven competitive seats that could help determine whether the party holds onto the U.S. House of Representatives next year. 

It could also give Trump a boost in nearby northeastern Pennsylvania, a battleground state that has increasingly become home for New York commuters. 

Trump’s campaign said the event at the 19,500-seat arena, which can cost upwards of $1 million to rent, was sold out. Tickets are free and on a first-come-first-served basis, as was the case with Harris’ Houston rally. 

A crowd of some 30,000 people attended Harris’ rally with Beyonce on Friday night in Houston, and about 20,000 attended the Atlanta rally. 

“My internal polling is my instinct,” Harris said to reporters in Philadelphia when asked how the campaign is faring in its internal election projections. 

“The momentum is with us,” she said. 

After Sunday’s neighborhood Philadelphia stops, Harris plans to visit every battleground state in coming days, including a Madison, Wisconsin, rally and concert with folk rock band Mumford & Sons and a Las Vegas event with Mexican pop band Mana. 
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Harris, Trump look to sway the last undecided voters

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are headed into the final full week of campaigning ahead of the November 5 presidential election. Both are looking for any small advantage they can gain to woo the sliver of voters who have not made up their minds in what could be one of the country’s closest votes in decades.

Harris, the Democratic candidate, on Sunday visited Philadelphia, the country’s sixth biggest city and a Democratic stronghold where she needs to pile up her vote count in the political battleground state of Pennsylvania.

It is one of seven tightly contested states both she and Trump, her Republican challenger, have frequently visited and plan to head to in the last days of the campaign for a new four-year term in the White House starting in January.

Harris attended a church service in the morning, while planning to also stop at a barber shop, eat at a Puerto Rican restaurant and visit a youth basketball gym.

Meanwhile, Trump is staging a major rally at Madison Square Garden, self-described as “the world’s most famous arena,” in his native New York City. Poll show Trump has almost no chance of winning the vote in New York state, where he received less than 40% in 2020.  

But he wanted to hold a rally at the 19,000-seat arena and some supporters started lining up Saturday morning to get in more than 24 hours later. Hundreds of major political addresses, pop star concerts and basketball and hockey matches have been held there for decades.

“It’s MSG, it’s Madison Square Garden,” Trump told an interviewer during a recent radio show. “Guys like you and I, that means a lot, those words. Madison Square Garden, right? Don’t you think so? … It’s a very big stop.”

Harris is planning to make what her campaign is calling its “closing argument” to voters on Tuesday with an address on the Ellipse in Washington, not far from the White House. She is hoping to draw a pronounced contrast with Trump by speaking at the site, the spot where Trump exhorted his supporters on January 6, 2021, to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to try to block Congress from certifying that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated him in the 2020 election.

More than 1,500 protesters were arrested in the ensuing riot at the American seat of government and 140 law enforcement personnel injured. The demonstrators caused $2.9 million in property damage to the Capitol as they smashed windows and doors and rampaged through congressional offices.

More than 1,000 rioters have been convicted of an array of offenses, with some of the most serious offenders sentenced to years of imprisonment. Trump says if he wins the election, he might pardon them.

The University of Florida’s Election Lab reports that more than 41 million people have already voted either in person at polling stations or by mail, a number that could prove to be about one-quarter of the total vote. Early voting and mail balloting are continuing throughout much of the country this week.

In 2020, more than 155 million votes were eventually cast, with about one-third of them at polling sites on the official Election Day and the remainder ahead of time or by mail.

Political surveys show the 2024 election is very close, leaving supporters of both candidates able to cherry-pick which surveys to look at if they want to say their candidate is in front. The country’s two most prominent newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, both say Harris narrowly leads in four of the seven battleground states, enough of an edge that would hand her the presidency if she holds on.

But ABC News gives Trump the edge in its analysis, as does the Realclearpolitics.com aggregation of polling.

U.S. presidential elections are not decided by the national popular vote but rather through the Electoral College vote, which turns the election into 50 state-by-state contests, with 48 of the 50 states awarding all their electoral votes to the winner in their states, either Harris or Trump, while Nebraska and Maine allocate theirs by both state and congressional district vote counts.  

The number of electoral votes in each state is based on population, so the biggest states hold the most sway in determining the overall national outcome, with the winner needing 270 of the 538 electoral votes to claim the presidency.  

Polls show either Harris or Trump hold substantial or somewhat comfortable leads in 43 of the states, enough for each to get to 200 electoral votes. Barring an upset in one of those states, that leaves the outcome to the remaining seven states – a northern tier of three states (Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), two states in the Southeast (Georgia and North Carolina) and two in the Southwest (Arizona and Nevada).  

Polling in the seven states is easily within the margins of statistical error, leaving the outcome in doubt in all seven.
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Unpacking America’s urban-rural divide

The divide between urban and rural voters is a key indicator in U.S. electoral politics. Cities favoring Democrats and rural areas favoring Republicans isn’t new. But since 2000, the gap has grown dramatically. What is behind this trend, and why is it so important? The answer is partly economic — but there are also complex cultural factors involved. Produced by Yass Monem and Nicky Woolf.
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Migrant families separated under Trump still feel fallout, fear his return

Washington — Billy’s friends don’t know he was one of thousands of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under then-President Donald Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy. 

At their rural high school in the South, where Billy plays football and soccer, the 16-year-old doesn’t talk about what he went through — that his father was told six years ago that Billy was being given up for adoption and feared he would never see his son again. 

With the United States on the verge of an election that could put Trump back in office, Billy wants people to know that what happened to him and several thousand other children reverberates still. Some families have not been reunited, and many of those together in the U.S. have temporary status and fear a victorious Trump carrying out promised mass deportations. 

“It was a very painful thing that happened to us,” said Billy, who was 9 at the time. He did not want his full name or the state he lives in to be identified for fear of endangering his family’s asylum application. 

Trump has made his immigration views central to his campaign, accusing the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, of failing to secure the southern border. Harris has not made immigration a campaign focus but has raised Trump’s zero tolerance policy, one of his most contentious immigration actions as president. 

The Trump administration aimed to criminally prosecute all adults coming across the border illegally. Parents were separated from their children, who were transferred to shelters nationwide. 

Trump and his campaign did not say specifically whether he would revive the practice if he wins on Nov. 5, though he has previously defended it. 

“President Trump will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, said. 

The Harris campaign held an event this month featuring children who were separated from their families, aiming to draw attention to Trump’s policies. 

Billy, who spoke at the event, is part of a group of children who are sharing their stories in short social media videos to highlight the policy. Billy and his father also visited lawmakers in Washington. 

Billy told The Associated Press that even though he doesn’t usually talk about his experiences, he and the others are “making sure that we raise our voices and that we share our stories” so something like this never happens again. 

Most of the families who were separated years ago are in legal limbo, their immigration status in doubt. Under a settlement announced last year between families and the Biden administration, the families have two years to apply for asylum under a more favorable process. 

As the election nears, advocates say they have heard from families who were separated expressing fears about Trump, if elected, making good on promises to deport millions of people. 

A 2023 settlement bars future administrations from using family separation as a widespread policy until 2031. But advocates have concerns. 

Christie Turner-Herbas, senior adviser with Kids in Need of Defense, said she worries about exceptions to the policy being exploited and says there has to be political will to enforce the settlement. 

The Trump administration’s policy deviated from the general practice of keeping families with children together when they come to the southern border. 

The goal was to dissuade people by criminally prosecuting everyone who crossed the border. For families, parents were prosecuted. Kids, who cannot be held in custody, were treated as unaccompanied minors and transferred to shelters. 

After an outcry, Trump said on June 20, 2018, that he was ending the policy. Six days later, a judge ordered the government to reunite the families, thousands of whom had been separated. Agencies kept poor records, making it difficult to reunite families. Many parents were deported, complicating things even more. 

When Democrat Joe Biden became president, he created a task force to reunite families. Building on efforts by groups that had sued the Trump administration, the task force identified about 5,000 children were separated, and about 1,400 aren’t confirmed to be reunited with their families. 

Some are in the process. Others are believed to have reunited in the U.S. but aren’t coming forward, possibly fearing government interaction. For others, no valid contact information exists, so the search continues. 

The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration that helped end family separation, puts the number of separated children closer to 5,500. 

Lee Gelernt, lead counsel in that lawsuit, said the ACLU estimates that as many as 1,000 families are still apart. 

Families and separated children have struggled with the fallout. 

For 22-year-old Efrain, there was guilt. Efrain said his father didn’t want to bring him to the U.S. in 2018, but he pushed for it. When they were eventually separated, Efrain wondered whether it would have been better if his father had been alone. 

His father was sent back to Guatemala. Efrain, who didn’t want his full name used because he fears the repercussions, was placed in a shelter for unaccompanied children for roughly five months. 

Three years later, they reunited at the Atlanta airport. Ever since, Efrain says he’s been trying to make up for lost time. He says he struggles with anxiety and loneliness, echoing the isolation he felt after being separated from his father. 
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Vietnamese Americans in California turn to politics to address local, national concerns

The Little Saigon district in California’s Orange County is home to a large concentration of Vietnamese people. In hopes of engaging these voters, candidates for public office are putting up signs and holding events. VOA’s Long Nguyen reports, Elizabeth Cherneff narrates. Camera: Vu Nguyen.
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New Americans expected make impact in 2024 election

Nearly 3.5 million voting-age adults have become U.S. citizens since the 2020 election, according to the National Partnership for New Americans. Some experts say this growing group could prove pivotal in shaping the election results. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros reports. Camera and contributor: Jeff Swicord.
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Chinese hackers breach parts of US telecom system, target Trump, Harris campaigns

washington — Hackers linked to the Chinese government have broken into parts of the U.S. telecommunications system in a breach that might be connected to an attempt to access data from the presidential campaigns of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.  

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency late Friday said they were investigating “unauthorized access” to commercial telecommunications infrastructure, attributing the attack to Chinese-affiliated actors.

The agencies said they immediately notified affected companies once the breach was detected and had offered assistance, though there might be additional victims.

“The investigation is ongoing, and we encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA,” the statement said.

“Agencies across the U.S. government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the U.S. hacking allegations as disinformation, calling the U.S. “the origin and the biggest perpetrator of cyberattacks.”

“For some time, the U.S. has compiled and spread all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threats,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu in an email to VOA.

“China’s position is consistent and clear,” he said. “China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

Word of the breach linked to China followed a report by The New York Times on Friday that Chinese hackers are thought to have broken into telecommunications networks to target the Trump campaign.

People familiar with the investigation told the Times that the Chinese hackers specifically looked to access data from phones used by Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance.

Separately, a person familiar with the investigation told VOA that people affiliated with the campaign of Vice President Harris were also targeted. 

Investigators are still trying to determine what data the hackers were able to get, if any, and whether the hackers could listen in on conversations in real time.  

The FBI declined to comment on the Trump and Harris campaign breaches.

In a statement shared with VOA, the Trump campaign acknowledged the breach and blamed Harris for letting it happen.

“This is the continuation of election interference by Kamala Harris and Democrats who will stop at nothing, including emboldening China and Iran attacking critical American infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” said Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director.

“Their dangerous and violent rhetoric has given permission to those who wish to harm President Trump,” Cheung added.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions asking for more details on how Harris or her campaign enabled the Chinese hack.

The Harris campaign has yet to respond to VOA’s request for comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have warned for months that foreign adversaries have been using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations to meddle with the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

According to a declassified intelligence assessment issued this week, “foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests.”

It further warned that Russia and Iran were formulating plans to spark election-related violence.

In addition, reports issued this week by private cybersecurity firms likewise indicated a significant uptick in activity by actors linked to Russia, China and Iran.

All three nations have repeatedly denied accusations of election meddling.

And while U.S. intelligence officials assess there is little agreement among the three countries on the desired outcomes of the presidential election — Russia is said to want a Trump win, Iran is said to be rooting for Harris, and China sees both as equally bad — the Trump campaign has become a frequent target of attacks.

Last month, the U.S. Justice Department charged three Iranian hackers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with a hack-and-leak operation seeking to undermine Trump’s reelection bid.

U.S. intelligence officials have also accused Iran of trying to ensnare the campaign of current U.S. President Joe Biden before he stepped down in favor of Harris.

But U.S. security officials have been even more leery of China.

U.S. agencies, led by CISA and the FBI, have been warning that China-linked hackers have burrowed into U.S. computer systems and networks, in some case hiding for years.

The China-linked group, known as Volt Typhoon, has been “positioning itself to launch destructive cyberattacks that would jeopardize the physical safety of Americans,” according to an advisory issued in February.

“What we’ve found to date is likely the tip of the iceberg,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement at the time.
…

Can either Trump or Harris end the wars?

Vice President Kamala Harris says she believes the U.S. should lead by building alliances to manage conflict. Former President Donald Trump says his projection of strength, and unpredictability, can stop wars before they begin. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara spoke to experts on which foreign policy approach would be better at reducing conflict, amid wars in the Middle East and Europe.
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Can a ‘Nebraska nice’ politician win over rural America?

Tim Walz was elected to two terms as governor of the Midwestern state of Minnesota before he became Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president. On the campaign trail, he speaks about his days in Nebraska and how they shaped the person he has become. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya reports.
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Republican candidate for VP credits his grandmother, Kentucky roots

U.S. Republican Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance grew up in Appalachia, attended an Ivy League school, and could become one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history. Carolyn Presutti takes us back to his roots. Camera: Henry Hernandez, Saqib Ul Islam. Contributor: Lynn Davis.
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Handful of races across US to decide control of Senate

When U.S. voters head to the polls to choose a president on November 5, they will also be choosing who controls Congress. The winners will be key to the new president’s enactment of a legislative agenda. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at key races around the country.
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What makes Nevada a ‘pure battleground’ state

During the U.S. presidential election, all eyes will be on the seven so-called battleground states that are expected to determine the outcome of the 2024 contest. While some battleground states have shifted politically over the years, the Western swing state of Nevada has reliably voted right down the middle. Camera: Miguel Amaya
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New evidence China, Russia and Iran targeting US elections

WASHINGTON — There is new evidence China, Iran and Russia are aggressively expanding their efforts to influence American voters to potentially sway the result of the upcoming U.S. elections.

Two threat intelligence reports Wednesday, one from software giant Microsoft and the other from the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, detail growing activity by cyber actors linked to each country — all aiming to impact U.S. public perceptions with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.

The biggest change, according to Microsoft, comes from Chinese-linked actors known to researchers as Spamouflage or Taizi Flood.

“Chinese influence operations have recently taken a new turn, shifting focus to several down-ballot candidates and members of Congress,” Microsoft said, noting that starting in September, China has targeted at least four prominent Republican lawmakers, all of whom are known critics of the government in Beijing.

Most recently, the Chinese-linked accounts targeted Texas Republican Michael McCaul, accusing the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of “abusing power for personal gain.” 

Late last month, other Spamouflage began going after Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, Microsoft said. And earlier this month, the same effort began promoting Blackburn’s opponent in the November 5 election.

Other targets include Alabama Republican Representative Barry Moore, who was subjected to content criticizing his support for Israel, and the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Marco Rubio, who was accused of corruption.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations in the Microsoft report.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ domestic affairs,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told VOA Wednesday, echoing previous Chinese denials. 

“Such allegations are full of malicious speculations against China, which China firmly opposes,” he added.

U.S. lawmakers, however, said they were not surprised by the uptick in malign activity.

“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] cannot stand anyone who supports and gives a voice to those they oppress; their response is to sanction and attack,” McCaul said in a statement to VOA. 

“I consider it a badge of honor when the CCP — a leading abuser of human rights, censor of free speech, and oppressor of its own people — takes issue with my work,” he said. 

Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for the Chinese influence efforts to “be taken very seriously.”

“China is becoming increasingly more aggressive,” Rubio said in a statement to VOA. “China’s goal is to shape American opinion on critical issues and target specific candidates, especially those they view as anti-China.”

Growing threats

The reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future warn Beijing is not alone.

Specifically, the reports caution the Russian-linked cyber actors, known to researchers as Storm-1679 or Operation Overload, have increased their pace of operations over the past month and a half and are showing signs that more influence operations are on the way.

“Operation Overload is very likely to ramp up its activities,” said the Recorded Future report.

Recorded Future said many of the Russian efforts, of late, have sought to provoke anger toward the LGBTQ+ community “using disinformation to perpetuate discriminatory beliefs around transgender individuals, perceived behavioral issues, gender transition and reassignment surgeries, and pharmaceutical treatments.”

Other influence operations, the report said, are making use of AI-generated voiceovers to emulate the style of U.S. broadcast journalists.

Microsoft said the Russian cyber actors also have found ways to reach additional U.S. voters by shifting much of the content from the Telegram social media platform to X.

“Storm-1679 videos posted to X received higher levels of engagement,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft researchers also warned there are signs Iran is also ramping up its election interference efforts.

The Microsoft report says that in one instance, less than two weeks ago, “an online persona operated by Iran began falsely posing as an American and called on Americans to boycott the elections due to both candidates’ support for Israel’s military operations.”

Russia and Iran, like China, have repeatedly denied any involvement in efforts to meddle with the U.S. election.

But the new findings from Microsoft and Recorded Future align with assessments from U.S. intelligence officials.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to a declassified assessment issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials have previously said Russia has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

And while there is little evidence to suggest China has sought to affect the U.S. presidential race, intelligence officials have said Beijing has been focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests.
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US Justice Department warns Musk’s super PAC over $1 million giveaways

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has sent a letter to Elon Musk’s super PAC warning that the billionaire Tesla CEO’s $1 million giveaways may violate federal law, several media organizations reported on Wednesday, citing people briefed on the matter.

A letter from the department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, went to the PAC.

The Justice Department and Musk’s America PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South African-born Musk, who has thrown his support behind Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the November 5 election, announced on Saturday while speaking before a crowd in Pennsylvania that he was giving away $1 million each day until Election Day to someone who signs his online petition supporting the U.S. Constitution.

He handed $1 million checks to two separate people over the weekend — one to a man in Harrisburg on Saturday and another to a woman in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest person, so far has supplied at least $75 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group a crucial part of Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
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Voting for Harris another milestone in former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy

Plains, Ga. — In a cavernous store filled with trinkets and knick-knacks, Philip Kurland is surrounded by politics.

“We’re the largest political memorabilia dealer in the United States,” he tells VOA as he sorts through numerous bins that line his shop.

If there’s a button or badge supporting a political candidate, chances are Kurland has it, as he stops and inspects one button in particular.

“This is the number one button people request and come in for,” as he proudly shows an image of a smiling peanut shell.

Every four years, Kurland stocks up on items featuring the candidates of the moment, and gauges support by the volume of related memorabilia he sells.

“Our sales have always equaled to who has won,” said Kurland. “This year’s election is really hard to even say by my sales.”

His store isn’t just any ordinary shop in the country. It’s the Plains Trading Post … as in Plains, Georgia, the hometown of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter with a population of around 600 people, where the streets are lined with dueling signs from the current election supporting both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

“For the first time ever, I’d say there was some tension over the upcoming election,” Kurland told VOA.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Sumter County which encompasses Plains, and narrowly won the state of Georgia by 11,779 votes out of more than 5 million cast.

“It’s shocking that we’re a battleground state now,” said Kurland, acknowledging that polls continue to show a close race in Georgia this election cycle where both campaigns recognize every vote counts, including a prominent one cast by mail-in ballot from the most famous resident of Plains.

“I don’t think he’d miss any opportunity to vote,” said Kurland, “I can remember one time when they passed a new law in the state that you had to show an ID, and he went to vote and didn’t have an ID, and they said, ‘you can’t vote.’

And he said, ‘I’m the president of the United States!’ and they said, ‘well, we’re sorry,’ and he had to go home and get an ID to vote, which I thought was hilarious.”

“He was excited to turn 100, but he’s more excited to cast his ballot for Vice President Harris,” Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson, explained to VOA during a recent interview.

Jason Carter currently serves as chairman of the board of the former president’s global nonprofit Carter Center.

“It would be an incredible story, at the end of his 100-year life, that is continuing on as we know, to have grown up in the segregated south and for one of his last political acts is to help elect a Black woman who is a president, I do think it would be important,” he said.

“Jimmy Carter has already said it was important for him to vote for Barack Obama in 2008,” said Joe Crespino, a professor of history at Emory University.

Crespino believes Carter’s vote this year is directly connected to his legacy, specifically his efforts to get the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or ERA — which prohibits sex discrimination — ratified by some U.S. states while he was president in the 1970s.

“Voting for the first female candidate of color would be important for him not only because of his experiences with race over the course of his life but also his experiences in trying to advance women in public life,” he said.

More than 40 years after Carter served in the White House, the ERA is still an unsettled issue as legal debates over its ratification continue.

Jason Carter believes with a vote in the 2024 election, his grandfather is thinking as much about the future as he is the past.

“I think he wants to see this country brought back together,” said Carter. “I think he wants to reduce that polarization; I think he wants us to focus on what makes us Americans first and fundamentally, and I think he thinks she [Harris] can do that.”

Kurland said not everyone in Plains agrees with Jimmy Carter, or his candidate of choice, as he sees not just the tourists but some of the locals stopping in to pick up memorabilia.

“Some days you can’t get eight people to say the sun is shining at the same time,” he said.

But Kurland admits everyone in Plains honors the man who continues to draw tens of thousands of tourists to their small town each year.

“Even though he’s come out for Kamala Harris, everyone that’s not for her would instantly forgive him and still love him,” Kurland said.

As election day nears, Jimmy Carter continues to receive hospice care in his modest home in Plains on the edge of town, not far from the Depression-era boyhood farm where his story began 100 years ago.
…

Eligible Latino voters reach record numbers in 2024

With a record number of Latino voters eligible for the 2024 election, their influence will likely be felt more than previous elections. Examining how this dynamic group shaped past elections in the pivotal state of Florida and key battlegrounds across the country can offer clues about how Latinos might impact the upcoming race.
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Britain Prime Minister Starmer plays down Trump team claims of interference 

London — Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday played down allegations made by Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s team of “blatant foreign interference” by his Labour Party in the U.S. election, saying it was normal for its volunteers to campaign.   

Starmer also insisted that he maintained “a good relationship” with Trump, having met him for talks last month.   

The former president’s legal team filed a complaint to the U.S. Federal Election Commission alleging the “British Labour Party made, and the [Kamala] Harris campaign accepted, illegal foreign national contributions.”   

The filing cited media reports that Labour officials, including the prime minister’s new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, traveled to the United States to advise the Harris campaign.   

Trump’s team also submitted a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour director of operations Sofia Patel calling for volunteers to travel to North Carolina, saying “we will sort out your housing.”   

Foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer in U.S. elections but may not be compensated.   

Starmer told media traveling with him to a Commonwealth meeting on the Pacific island of Samoa that his party had done nothing wrong, and that the volunteers had paid for themselves.   

“The Labour party has volunteers, who have gone over pretty much every election,” he said.   

“They’re doing it in their spare time, they’re doing it as volunteers, they’re staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.”   

“That’s what they’ve done in previous elections, that’s what they’re doing in this election and that’s really straightforward.”   

He also denied suggestions that it could damage relations with Britain’s most important ally should Republican party candidate Trump beat Democrat Harris and secure a return to the White House.   

Starmer said he had “established a good relationship” with the former president, having met him last month for a two-hour dinner at the former real estate tycoon’s Trump Tower residence in New York.   

Adding to the dispute, Trump surrogate Elon Musk wrote on his X site on Tuesday that “this is war” after leaked documents from campaign group Center for Countering Digital Hate appeared to show that one of its objectives was to “kill Musk’s Twitter,” X’s former name.   

The campaign group and think-tank is led by a former Labour adviser and McSweeney is a former director. 
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‘Made in China’ election merchandise floods US market

WASHINGTON — As the United States presidential election enters its final phase, more and more voters are expressing support for their favored candidate by wearing election merchandise.

What they may not realize is that the “Make America Great Again” Trump hat or “Childless Cat Lady for Harris” T-shirt they’re wearing quite possibly was made in China.

With the help of e-commerce platforms, Chinese traders are flooding the market for U.S. election merchandise with cheap goods. Anecdotal evidence suggests U.S. makers of these products are struggling to compete.

“I think the amount of stuff on Amazon and Etsy that’s coming from China and other countries in cargo ships and unloaded on American shores is drastically impacting American manufacturers’, like myself, ability to compete and grow our own business. I think it’s dramatic,” said Ben Waxman, founder and co-owner of American Roots, an American apparel company.

Waxman wouldn’t share production or profit figures with VOA Mandarin Service because of privacy concerns, but he did say his U.S.-made campaign T-shirts, for example, sell for about $15 each, while those on Chinese online retailer Temu can sell for as little as $3.

“It’s more expensive when you pay higher wages, living wages, and abide by environmental standards,” Waxman said, referring to long-standing criticisms of China’s manufacturing practices.

His unionized company has been producing campaign merchandise for presidential candidates since 2016, mainly T-shirts and sweatshirts, with all raw materials and production sourced within the U.S.

Flooding the market

VOA Mandarin Service was unable to find total sales figures for made-in-America election merchandise versus made-in-China ones. But the massive number of Chinese-made election products for sale on e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and eBay, show they are flooding the market.

On Temu alone, tens of thousands of election-themed items have been sold at a fraction of the price of the official campaigns’ versions.

Among them, a “Make America Great Again” hat costs less than $4, while the official Trump campaign store website, which boasts “All Products Made in the USA,” sells them for 10 times that price at $40 each.

Likewise, Temu’s “Kamala Harris 2024” hats can sell for less than $3 each, while the official Kamala Harris campaign store website sells “Kamala” hats for $47 each.

The Harris campaign also vowed to only sell products made in the U.S. on its official websites.

VOA asked both campaigns for comment but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.

The stark contrast in prices highlights the challenges the U.S. faces in reducing its dependence on Chinese products and closing a trade loophole, known as the de minimis loophole, that allows Chinese companies to ship goods worth less than $800 to the U.S. without paying import duties.

Kim Glas, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations, a labor union-aligned organization, said abuse of the de minimis loophole is rampant, adding that her group “lost 21 manufacturing operations over the last 18 months.”

Glas said some of NCTO’s member manufacturers found sales of campaign products are slower this year than in any previous U.S. election cycle.

VOA Mandarin reached out to Amazon and eBay for comments on the volume of presidential campaign merchandise imported from China on their websites and their regulations of the Chinese vendors but didn’t receive a response by the time of publication.

Temu didn’t comment on election product sales in the U.S., but the company’s spokesperson replied in an email to VOA Mandarin, “Temu’s growth isn’t dependent on the de minimis policy. The primary drivers behind our rapid expansion and market acceptance are the supply-chain efficiencies and operational proficiencies we’ve cultivated over the years.”

The spokesperson added, “We are open to and supportive of any policy adjustments made by legislators that align with consumer interests.”

U.S. textile industry representatives note the irony of the two U.S. presidential candidates talking tough on trade with China while their own followers are buying China-made products to show their support for them.

“If someone is supporting a candidate because of that candidate’s economic policy and their position toward improving our economy and improving our environment and improving our labor conditions, and doing so by increasing the amount of domestic manufacturing, and then they’re supporting a candidate by buying a product that’s made in a country that stands for the opposite of that, they’re actually doing themselves and the candidate and the economy a disservice,” said Mitch Cahn, president of Unionwear, a New York-based apparel company that has supplied more than 300,000 baseball caps to Harris’ campaign.

‘Anybody can make the product’

Cahn notes that anyone can produce campaign products because the campaigns don’t control their intellectual property. They think “it’s more valuable for them to have a person wear the campaign’s name on their head than it is to make money from selling the merchandise.”

“When anybody can make the product and sell it, a lot of the products are going to end up being made in China because there’s just not a lot of manufacturers here,” he told VOA Mandarin.

The Associated Press reported on October 18 that thousands of Donald Trump’s “God Bless America” Bibles were printed in China. The AP also noted that most Bibles, not just the Trump-backed one, are made in China.

Critics note Trump’s promotion of Made in the USA products could be undermined by the revelation.

“In past [election] years, this would’ve been a scandal,” says Marc Zdanow, a political consultant and CEO of Engage Voters U.S. “I think Trump voters just don’t care. … I guess the question is whether or not this rises to the top for those voters who are still undecided. This issue is certainly one that could be enough to push this group away from Trump.”

Chris Tang, a business administration and global management professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, told VOA Mandarin the impact of merchandise made in China on the U.S. economy is not simply about one-sided manufacturing job losses. Consumers also get these products at low prices.

“While there are job losses in manufacturing, it creates opportunities for small businesses to import small quantities quickly using [online Chinese sellers like] Alibaba to find suppliers to produce election merchandise quickly and sell them online quickly.”

Tang said the U.S. should develop a manufacturing sector that focuses on high-value products, not cheap ones such as U.S. election merchandise.
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US warns ramped-up election influence efforts aim to stoke violence

WASHINGTON — Efforts by U.S. adversaries to divide Americans and sow growing distrust in the upcoming presidential election have already begun to intensify, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials, who warn some countries appear to be leaning toward additional measures to spark election-related violence.

The latest declassified assessment, issued Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, comes just two weeks before voters head to the polls November 5 to choose a new president and vote on a series of statewide and local races and initiatives.

“Foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests,” according to the assessment.

But it warns U.S. intelligence agencies are “increasingly confident” that Russia is starting to engage in plans “aimed at inciting violence.”

It further assesses Iran also “may try to incite violence.”

Post-poll closing concerns

Of particular concern is what appears to be a growing focus on the hours, days and weeks after the polls close, when state and local election officials begin to tally and certify the results.

U.S. adversaries “probably will be quick to create false narratives or amplify content they think will create confusion about the election, such as posting claims of election irregularities,” said a U.S. intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assessment in additional detail.

The official said Russia, Iran and China “may perceive a window of vulnerability to push disinformation or foment or amplify protests and threats” starting with the moment polling centers close and extending to January 6, when the presidential results are certified by a joint session of Congress.

“Foreign driven or amplified violent protests, violence or physical threats to election workers or state and local officials could challenge state and local officials’ ability to conduct elements of the certification and Electoral College process,” the official said. “Particularly if they prevent necessary physical access to facilities or venues.”

U.S. intelligence officials have previously warned that Russia and Iran have been especially active, running a variety of influence operations targeting U.S. voters, with a high likelihood that these efforts would extend beyond the November 5 election.

Russia, they said, has been working to boost the chances of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, while Iran has been working to hurt Trump’s reelection bid and instead buoy the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

China, according to U.S. intelligence officials, has so far stayed out of the presidential race, focusing its efforts on congressional and state and local candidates perceived to be promoting policies detrimental to Beijing’s interests, including those voicing support for Taiwan.

Officials said Tuesday that new intelligence streams have raised concerns that Moscow, especially, will try to foment violence once the polls close.

“We expect Russia will be more aggressive in this period if the vice president [Kamala Harris] wins the election,” the intelligence official said. “Russia would prefer the former president to win, and they would seek to more aggressively undermine the presidency of the then-president-elect.”

Russia, China and Iran have all rejected previous U.S. accusations of election meddling.

Russia and Iran have yet to respond to requests from VOA for comment, but China on Tuesday again rejected the latest U.S. intelligence findings.

“The presidential elections are the United States’ own affairs,” Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA in an email. “China has no intention and will not interfere.”

U.S. intelligence officials, though, point to what they describe as growing examples of malign intent, especially by Russia and Iran.

Influence operations

In one example, the officials said Russian-linked actors were responsible for a post on the X social media platform earlier this month that contained false allegations against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

“There are several indicators of manipulation that are consistent with the influence, efforts and tactics of Russian influence actors this cycle,” the U.S. intelligence official said.

In another case, U.S. officials said a Russian intelligence unit sought to recruit what they assess to likely be an unwitting American to organize protests.

They also point to actions taken last month by multiple U.S. agencies to counter several Russian influence efforts, including the use of fake websites and the creation of a shell company to funnel $10 million to a U.S. media company to push pro-Russian propaganda.

Also last month, the U.S. placed bounties and lodged criminal charges against three Iranian hackers, all accused of seeking to undermine the Trump reelection campaign.

And there are fears that even these types of ongoing influence operations, which often seek to exploit divisive political issues, could lead to problems.

“Even if these disinformation campaigns are not specifically calling for violence, the tactics used to undermine confidence in the democratic institutions can lead to violence, even if not deliberately called for,” said a senior official with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, who, like the U.S. intelligence official, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

‘Expect disruptions’

And while U.S. officials express confidence that safeguards are in place to prevent U.S. adversaries from attacking or hacking systems used to record and tally votes, there is concern that they will target other U.S. infrastructure to try to induce panic or violence.

“That is a real possibility,” said the CISA official, adding the U.S. public should “expect disruptions.”

“We’re going to see a voting location lose power,” the official said. “We’re going to see potentially some type of impact on a transportation system. We’re going to see a potential ransomware attack against a local election office.”

CISA officials say they have been working with state and local election officials to make sure they are prepared to handle sudden disruptions. And state officials say they are prepared.

“All states consider their election infrastructure and IT [information technology] systems a potential target for threats,” said Steve Simon, Minnesota’s secretary of state and the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, during a call with reporters Monday.

“Chief elections officials throughout the United States have worked really tirelessly and consistently to mitigate risks to our election systems and processes,” said Simon.
…

Where have all the bellwether counties gone?

From 1980 to 2016, 19 U.S. counties voted for the presidential winner every time. But the streak was broken in 2020, when only one of those counties, in Washington state, voted for the winner, President Joe Biden. The rest voted for Donald Trump, the incumbent.
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At 100, former President Carter votes for Kamala Harris

After becoming the first U.S. president to reach the age of 100, Jimmy Carter was able to fulfill a wish that he had expressed to his family. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Georgia. Some VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum.
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