More stories

  • in

    Harris, Trump and Biden Consider World Trade Center Site Visits on Sept. 11

    Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are considering visits to the World Trade Center site in New York City on Sept. 11 to memorialize the 2001 attacks.Ms. Harris is planning to travel to New York City after the presidential debate, scheduled for Sept. 10 in Philadelphia, according to three people directly familiar with her schedule who were not authorized to discuss the plans.Mr. Biden, who last year marked the anniversary of the attacks on a military base in Alaska as he traveled back from a diplomatic trip in Asia, is discussing his own plans to attend ground zero, two of those people said. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.And Mr. Trump, who built much of his political brand in the divisive aftermath of the attacks and on anger within the Republican Party about the Middle East wars that followed, is also considering visiting ground zero, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.The annual ceremony at the site has been a somber scene that has drawn mourners and also its fair share of politicians who have held office or are running for it. The vice president visited ground zero last year alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, several former mayors and Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, who was running for his party’s nomination for the presidency at the time.Hillary Clinton, who was the junior senator from New York when the 2001 attacks occurred, attended the memorial ceremony in 2016, when she was running for president. She fell ill as she was leaving, and was later treated for pneumonia. Mr. Trump also went to the ceremony that year, attending as he ran for office for the first time.Mr. Trump, the only native New Yorker of the group, did not make a return visit to the site in 2021, the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Mr. Biden visited all three attack sites that year and Ms. Harris spoke at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pa.The anniversary that year came nine months after Mr. Trump’s term in the White House ended, following an attack by a mob of his supporters on the U.S. Capitol to try to thwart certification of Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump spent part of that anniversary in New York, visiting fire and police station houses, before returning to his adopted home state of Florida for a paid event providing color commentary for a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort.Mr. Trump has a long history of making questionable and provocative statements about what he saw on the day of the attacks.This year, the anniversary of the attacks will come just hours after a presidential debate between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, who have not yet met in person but whose campaigns are engaged in a brawl ahead of what is forecast to be a close election. More

  • in

    TikTok Expands its Election Resources Ahead of November

    The company is an increasingly popular source of political news. It’s adding more content about how elections work and media literacy.TikTok is pushing to improve information about the upcoming U.S. presidential election on the app, it said Wednesday.The company will expand a landing page on how elections work and why they can be trusted and run new in-feed videos about media literacy. It will also increase security requirements for verified accounts from politicians and governments in the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald J. Trump and their vice-presidential nominees each have TikTok accounts as of two weeks ago, a sharp pivot from last year, when the vast majority of American politicians were avoiding the app.TikTokTikTokThe efforts come as TikTok warily acknowledges that it has become a much bigger news source for millions of Americans ahead of the presidential election than it was in 2020. It joins other major tech companies like Meta, Google and X that must regularly grapple with how their platforms handle election-related content. But TikTok has an added layer of scrutiny, since it is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and faces a looming possibility that its app could be banned as soon as January, based on national security concerns.“Young people are going to TikTok and other vertical video platforms for news more than ever,” said Alex Mahadevan, the director of MediaWise at the Poynter Institute, which worked with TikTok to create a series of videos on media literacy that will soon begin airing to users. “As of late, TikTok has been investing a lot in media literacy and fact-checking.”The U.S. government has expressed some concern that TikTok could imperil future elections. The Justice Department said in July that China could direct ByteDance and TikTok to manipulate videos served to Americans to “undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions.” President Biden signed a landmark law in April that will ban TikTok in the U.S. in January unless ByteDance sells the app to a non-Chinese company.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • in

    Cómo el TLCAN arruinó la política de EE. UU.

    [Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]En mayo del año pasado, Marcus Carli, director de la fábrica Master Lock de Milwaukee, Wisconsin, convocó por sorpresa una reunión con la junta directiva del sindicato local 469 de United Auto Workers (UAW, por su sigla en inglés). Varios directivos del sindicato, que representa a los trabajadores de la planta, se reunieron con Carli y un ejecutivo de la empresa matriz de Master Lock en una pequeña sala de conferencias. Carli llevó a un guardia de seguridad. “Está aquí para protegerme”, les dijo Carli a los representantes sindicales. Cuando el guardia se sentó, Yolanda Nathan, la nueva presidenta del sindicato, se fijó en su pistola. “En ese momento pensé: ‘Ah, vamos a perder nuestro trabajo’”, dice. De inmediato, Carli confirmó sus peores temores. “La planta va a cerrar”, anunció. “Me dejó sin aliento”, dijo Nathan. “Nos quitó el aliento a todos”.Media hora más tarde, los trabajadores del primer turno de la planta fueron convocados a una reunión en la antigua cafetería. Una hilera de mesas separaba a los funcionarios de los trabajadores. “La planta va a cerrar”, repitió Carli. Se negó a aceptar preguntas. “Solo nos lanzaron la bomba”, dijo Jeremiah Hayes, quien trabajaba en la planta de tratamiento de aguas residuales de la empresa. Sobre todo, le molestó la barrera improvisada: “Era insultante. Nos sentíamos como animales”.Mike Bink, que empezó a trabajar en Master Lock en 1979, estaba desolado pero no sorprendido. Meses antes, un compañero cuyo trabajo consistía en fabricar placas de acero que se introducían en una máquina para fabricar un cuerpo de cerradura le dijo a Bink que ahora las placas se enviaban a la planta de Master Lock en Nogales, México. Esa fábrica se construyó en la década de 1990, no mucho después de que el presidente Bill Clinton promulgara el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, y la empresa eliminó más de 1000 de los casi 1300 puestos sindicales de Milwaukee. “La gente salió corriendo por la puerta”, dice Bink, que entonces era presidente del Local 469. “Pensaban que la planta estaba acabada”. Bink aguantó, pero el TLCAN cambió de manera radical el equilibrio de poder entre Master Lock y sus trabajadores. “Un supervisor de la planta decía cosas como: ‘Pónganse a trabajar o la empresa cerrará todos los puestos’”, recuerda Bink. “Tras la reducción de plantilla, el sindicato perdió su influencia”.En marzo, el cierre de las instalaciones donde se fabricaron cerraduras emblemáticas durante generaciones, representó la etapa final de la larga decadencia de Milwaukee como potencia industrial, parte de un fenómeno mayor, impulsado por el TLCAN, que se ha producido en todo el país, especialmente en los estados del Cinturón del Óxido. El TLCAN eliminó los aranceles sobre el comercio entre los signatarios del tratado —Canadá, México y Estados Unidos— y permitió la libre circulación de capitales e inversiones extranjeras. Marcó el comienzo de una era de acuerdos de libre comercio que llevaron productos baratos a los consumidores y generaron una gran riqueza para los inversionistas y el sector financiero, pero también aumentó la desigualdad de ingresos, debilitó a los sindicatos y aceleró el vaciamiento de la base industrial de Estados Unidos.Mike Bink, expresidente de Local 469, que representaba a los trabajadores sindicales de Master Lock, trabajó en la planta durante 44 años. Lyndon French para The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • in

    House Republican Subpoenas Blinken Over Afghanistan Withdrawal

    The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee summoned the secretary of state for testimony just days before an expected report on the U.S. exit, in which 13 American service members were killed.The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday issued a subpoena for Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s testimony, threatening to hold him in contempt if he failed to address the panel later this month about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.In his letter subpoenaing Mr. Blinken, the chairman, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, wrote that receiving the testimony was important for committee members as they prepared “potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal,” after the expected release of an investigative report into the subject next week.“You served as the final decision maker for the department on the withdrawal and evacuation,” Mr. McCaul wrote in the letter, demanding that Mr. Blinken appear before the panel on Sept. 19 to speak about his role, and complaining that he had missed previous deadlines to comply.In a statement, Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said Mr. Blinken would not be available on that date and criticized the committee’s refusal to accept what he called “reasonable alternatives to comply with Chairman McCaul’s request for a public hearing.”“It is disappointing that instead of continuing to engage with the department in good faith, the committee instead has issued yet another unnecessary subpoena,” Mr. Miller wrote, noting that Mr. Blinken had testified before Congress 14 times, including four appearances before Mr. McCaul’s panel.The summons comes amid fresh political squabbling over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as the presidential race enters its final weeks. Democrats denounced former President Donald J. Trump for shooting video for his campaign last week at Arlington National Cemetery, where he appeared for a wreath-laying ceremony to honor service members killed during the evacuation. Mr. Trump has stepped up his attacks on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, maintaining that they mismanaged the U.S. exit from Afghanistan and blaming them personally for failing to prevent the deaths of 13 Americans at Abbey Gate, outside the Kabul airport.Mr. McCaul’s report, the culmination of nearly three years of investigative work, is expected to lay similar blame at the feet of Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.“It will serve as an indictment on the administration’s reckless refusal to properly prepare for the withdrawal,” Mr. McCaul said in a statement last week announcing the release of the report. “President Biden and Vice President Harris can no longer sweep their unmitigated disaster of epic proportions that they created under the rug.”In a statement last week, Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, dismissed Mr. McCaul’s threats to subpoena Mr. Blinken as “political stunts that show the Republican Party’s desperation to score headlines during an election season.”Tuesday’s subpoena is the third that Mr. McCaul has issued to Mr. Blinken in conjunction with the panel’s Afghanistan investigation. The previous two sought documents related to the inquiry. More

  • in

    Trump Says There Was ‘No Conflict’ at Cemetery, Despite Official Accounts

    Former President Donald J. Trump insisted in a radio interview on Tuesday that “there was no conflict” between members of his campaign team and an official at Arlington National Cemetery, contradicting his campaign’s previous statements about the episode last week and Army officials’ account.“If you look at just the records, there was no conflict, there was no fight, there was no anything,” Mr. Trump said on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Hours earlier, Mr. Trump on his social media site claimed “there was no conflict or ‘fighting’” at the cemetery, calling the story, without evidence, “made up” by the White House.It was the latest effort by the Trump campaign to defend itself after a physical altercation between a Trump aide and a cemetery official that was set off by the campaign’s defying of a ban on political campaigning at the cemetery in Virginia during Mr. Trump’s visit last week.Army officials said the cemetery employee had been “abruptly pushed aside” by a Trump campaign aide. The Trump campaign has said there was “no physical altercation” but did not deny there was a dispute. Campaign officials also previously attacked and insulted the cemetery official and said they were prepared to release footage of the episode, though the campaign has not yet done so after repeated requests.A woman who works at the cemetery filed an incident report with the military authorities over the altercation. But the woman, who has not been identified but was described as a seasoned official at the cemetery, later declined to press charges. Military officials said she feared retaliation from Trump supporters if her identity became known as part of any formal investigation.Still, Mr. Trump pointed to her lack of a public statement as evidence that the conflict never took place. “Notice that the person representing now doesn’t want to talk,” he said, and added, referring incorrectly to the cemetery official’s gender, “He doesn’t want to speak or talk.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • in

    El incidente de Trump en Arlington es inédito

    Donald Trump no es el primer candidato que infringe la prohibición de actividades partidistas en el Cementerio Nacional de Arlington. Pero nadie ha respondido tan hostilmente como su campaña.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]En noviembre de 1999, el senador John McCain, republicano por Arizona y ex prisionero de guerra en Vietnam, quien era ampliamente considerado un héroe militar, dijo que su recién lanzada campaña presidencial había cometido “un error muy grave”.McCain, que en aquel momento iba muy por detrás de George W. Bush en la carrera por la nominación de su partido, había producido un anuncio de campaña en el que destacaba su carrera como piloto de la Marina y su reverencia por sus compañeros de servicio. En un momento dado, el anuncio mostraba a McCain caminando solemnemente por el Cementerio Nacional de Arlington.El Ejército no tardó en decir que la campaña de McCain nunca había solicitado permiso para filmar en el cementerio. Incluso si lo hubiera hecho, dijo entonces un portavoz del Ejército, la solicitud habría sido denegada porque las actividades partidistas están prohibidas en las instalaciones del Ejército. Un portavoz de la campaña dijo que el video procedía de una de las visitas periódicas del senador a las tumbas de su padre y su abuelo.Fue un incidente político de campaña que se pareció bastante, antes de divergir bruscamente, a otro que tuvo lugar la semana pasada. Un portavoz del Ejército dijo el jueves que la campaña del expresidente Donald Trump tampoco había recibido permiso para filmar en una zona restringida del Cementerio Nacional de Arlington durante la visita de Trump el lunes, y que no podía haberlo recibido porque violaría la ley federal.El Ejército emitió una rara reprimenda pública a los funcionarios de la campaña de Trump por los ataques que dirigieron a un trabajador del cementerio que había tratado de detener la filmación. (Un portavoz de la campaña había acusado al trabajador de sufrir un “episodio de salud mental”). La campaña de Trump había sido informada de que filmar con fines de campaña iba en contra de las normas del Ejército y, sin embargo, los funcionarios de la campaña siguieron adelante, incluso, según el Ejército, empujando físicamente al trabajador del cementerio.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • in

    Pork Chops and Politics: Tim Walz Gets Minnesota Homecoming at State Fair

    For Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, August was a dizzying climb to the highest echelons of politics. Since being selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, he has been the featured guest at glitzy private fund-raisers, flown to more than a dozen states and headlined a night at the Democratic convention in Chicago, with thousands in the arena hanging on his every word.On Sunday, Mr. Walz was back in more familiar territory: the Minnesota State Fair.He chomped on a pork chop on a stick. He admired the dairy princess butter carvings. He handed out ice cream at the Dairy Goodness Bar counter and waved at the crowd, which was eager for a glimpse — or a selfie — with the governor, who, for once, got to eschew the formal suit and tie for his more comfortable T-shirt and Carhartt pants.It could have been just another one of Mr. Walz’s many state fair appearances over the years, where he has burnished his profile as an approachable Midwestern dad by wearing socks with a corn-dog pattern and riding the Slingshot, a nausea-inducing ride, with his daughter, Hope Walz.Except for the presence of the Secret Service. And the motorcade that whisked him to and from the fair. And the officers stationed on the roof of the dairy building for an aerial view of the crowd, which was clamoring to see the man who has a chance this November to complete a meteoric rise from little-known Midwestern governor to vice president.Mr. Walz, clutching a vanilla milkshake, acknowledged the obvious: Things were different this year.“A little bit more of a disruption,” he told reporters, noting that he had to cut down from his usual 12 days of appearances. “But it’s exciting — I think people are seeing that we’re getting to talk about Minnesota across the country.”Charlotte Beller, in the pink sweatshirt, happened to be in line when Mr. Walz began serving ice cream to fairgoers. She likes both strawberry and vanilla ice cream, she said, and gave the ice cream her stamp of approval.Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More