(WASHINGTON) — As former President Donald Trump and his team continue to tease his vice presidential pick, his potential VP contenders were gathering in Atlanta Thursday to support the former president around the debate and make a case that they’re the best choice to be his running mate.
Potential vice presidential candidates, including Sens. J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are among the dozens of surrogates the campaign is expected to have on the ground in Atlanta, including in the debate spin room aftereard and at a watch party the campaign is holding Thursday night, where loyal supporters and donors will gather.
Trump himself was scheduled to arrive in Atlanta later Thursday afternoon from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, and is feeling confident and ready, his senior campaign advisers told ABC News.
As Trump was set to take the debate stage later Thursday, his campaign is fundraising off his much-anticipated running mate selection, suggesting that person could be present at the debate.
“Do you want to see my Vice President at the debate? They could be there, but you’ll never know until I make the OFFICIAL VP ANNOUNCEMENT!” a Trump campaign fundraising email sent out to supporters Thursday morning said.
Trump for weeks has been saying that he’s likely to announce his vice presidential candidate around the Republican National Convention scheduled to take place next month, but Trump in recent days has been teasing the idea of his potential running mate joining him in Atlanta, telling his supporters at a retail campaign stop in Philadelphia last week that that his vice president will “most likely” be in attendance at the debate site.
In recent weeks, Trump has also been asking his donors at fundraisers who they want to see as his running mate and sending out fundraising emails to small-dollar donors asking the same question.
Those on the vice presidential shortlist — including Vance, Rubio and Burgum — were staying mostly quiet on the eve of the debate as they prepared to rally behind their Republican leader. Other Trump surrogates have been on a media tour, holding intimate campaign stops in Atlanta on Wednesday and making television appearances Thursday morning.
In a taped interview on “Fox and Friends,” South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott said he had told Trump “never forget the provocative racial past of Joe Biden,” when asked if he helped the former president in prepare for the debate.
“Donald Trump has done more for progress from a racial perspective economically than any president in my lifetime,” Scott continued. “He should focus on that.”
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, asked by CNN Thursday morning if he expects Trump to discuss looking forward as a country during the debate rather than focusing on the past, said the former president has been looking forward but added that he might still comment about the 2020 election and the hush money trial and verdict.
“If you’ve been on a trail with the president — I’ve been on a trail with him — if you listen to everything that he says, he’s been talking a lot, significantly, a lot about what’s going on in our country, inflation, the border, foreign policy, all the issues that really matter to the American people,” Donalds said.
Donalds and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt made rounds of surrogate campaign stops in Atlanta on Wednesday to court black voters on behalf of Trump, stopping by a barbershop and local cigar lounge.
Trump called into the barbershop event earlier on Wednesday, touting his administration’s record, bashing CNN ahead of Thursday’s debate, and once again repeating his argument that he is gaining support with the Black community because of his indictments.
“Since that happened, the Black support, I think my representatives will tell you this, the Black support has gone through the roof and, I guess they equated to problems that they’ve had,” Trump said.
At the watch party Thursday night, where Trump is advertised to potentially make post-debate remarks, Burgum, Vance, Rubio, Donalds, Hunt as well as Rep. Elise Stefanik, former Trump Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Sen. Lindsey Graham are scheduled to attend as featured guests.
Donald Glover has been teasing his upcoming Childish Gambino album with the phrase “Bando is coming,” but a note about one of its songs did not actually come from him.
Taking to Instagram Live Wednesday, he confirmed the news about his final project, titled “Lithonia,” noting it’s a single and the prequel to his forthcoming LP, Bando Storm and the New World.
“That got leaked, it kind of pissed me off,” Glover said. “And I know who did it, Audiomack, f****** no soup for you. You’re not getting the album now. That’s what time I’m on.”
According to Glover, his new album rollout was intended to be “mostly about fun,” but “the problem is we’re not having fun.”
“I’m trying to have fun,” he said. “Because I feel like there’s just people not having enough fun. … When I was a kid there was, like, big things that would unite us and I just feel bad for y’all. I feel bad for some of y’all.”
Glover added that it’s “f***** up” that “the most fun we had was from a fight,” referring to the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud.
“[It] was a song from a fight, from a rap beef, which I enjoyed every minute of,” Glover said. “It was very fun. But, still, kind of negative, in a certain light, I guess.”
50 Cent has a wealth of knowledge in business and music, so he’s sharing some with those attending this year’s Invest Fest, “a first of its kind, in-person experience to combine investing, entrepreneurship, pop culture, and entertainment in a festival setting,” the website describes.
The Grammy winner will be headlining the event, where he’ll talk about Black entrepreneurship and his recent trip to Capitol Hill to push for more Black representation in the liquor industry, among other things. He’ll join a lineup of artists, influencers and more, including T.I., Lauren London, Monica, Wyclef Jean and Steve Harvey.
Invest Fest was launched in 2022 by co-founders Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal of Earn Your Leisure, a media platform that includes information about a range of business, finance and entrepreneurial topics.
Speaking to TMZ, Troy said they chose 50 Cent because he is “the powerful blend of culture and business.”
Bilal added, “We believe [50’s] insights and experiences will inspire and empower our audience to pursue their own paths to financial freedom.”
Invest Fest 2024 takes place in Atlanta Aug. 23-25; tickets are now available.
50 Cent has a wealth of knowledge in business and music, so he’s sharing some with those attending this year’s Invest Fest, “a first of its kind, in-person experience to combine investing, entrepreneurship, pop culture, and entertainment in a festival setting,” the website describes.
The Grammy winner will be headlining the event, where he’ll talk about Black entrepreneurship and his recent trip to Capitol Hill to push for more Black representation in the liquor industry, among other things. He’ll join a lineup of artists, influencers and more, including T.I., Lauren London, Monica, Wyclef Jean and Steve Harvey.
Invest Fest was launched in 2022 by co-founders Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal of Earn Your Leisure, a media platform that includes information about a range of business, finance and entrepreneurial topics.
Speaking to TMZ, Troy said they chose 50 Cent because he is “the powerful blend of culture and business.”
Bilal added, “We believe [50’s] insights and experiences will inspire and empower our audience to pursue their own paths to financial freedom.”
Invest Fest 2024 takes place in Atlanta Aug. 23-25; tickets are now available.
Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump speak during the U.S. presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)
(WASHINGTON) — As extreme weather events impact Americans across the country, will climate change get the attention it demands on the presidential debate stage?
Marking the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set to take the stage Thursday night in a studio at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters. The candidates will reconvene for a second debate in September, hosted by ABC News.
Topics surrounding climate change, including the federal response to extreme weather events, are among the numerous matters that divide Biden and Trump’s campaigns, according to environmental experts.
“Perhaps nowhere is the contrast between these two candidates sharper, or of greater public significance, than on their approach to the climate crisis,” Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund, told ABC News, adding, “The American people need to understand that choice.”
With less than a five-month countdown to Election Day, and recent projections from 538 placing the candidates at a near-tie among polled voters, the presidential debates could be make-or-break events for Biden or Trump.
“Americans deserve to know what the next president will do both to reduce the severity of the climate crisis and to protect them from the impacts that are already inevitable,” Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director with Vermont Public Interest Research Group, told ABC News.
“Whether you live in Phoenix, Arizona, Palm Beach, Florida or Montpelier, Vermont, or anywhere else in this country, the climate crisis is going to impact you,” Walsh continued.
Nearly nine out of 10 Americans (87%) have faced at least one extreme weather event in the past five years, including extreme heat waves, severe winter storms, major drought, hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes or major flooding, according to a 2023 survey from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Among the Americans who have experienced extreme weather events, three-quarters of those polled believe climate change has been at least partially responsible, according to the survey.
“People care about having access to drinking water and being able to turn their power on,” Alys Campaigne, a climate initiative leader with the Southern Environmental Law Center, told ABC News, emphasizing how the effects of climate catastrophes do not adhere to political party lines.
“They care about supporting leaders who can fix the problems,” she said.
Throughout his time in office, Trump repeatedly denounced climate change as a “hoax” while “reversing, revoking or rolling back” more than 100 environmental rules and actions established by the Obama administration, according to analysis published by the New York Times in 2021.
In November 2020, Trump formally withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations’ Paris Climate Accord, an internationally agreed-upon effort to mitigate climate change and ensure that global temperatures do not increase more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Over a year later, President Biden officially reentered the U.S. back into the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.
If Trump were to be elected for another term, Bapna worries that Trump’s reported close ties with fossil fuel company leaders would “gut” federal climate action.
The Washington Post reported last month that Trump, during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, asked oil executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign, with the promise of “scrapping” Biden-enacted policies on electric vehicles and wind energy.
On May 13, during a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, Trump promised he would halt offshore wind energy projects “on day one” if elected.
“I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on day one,” Trump said, claiming that wind turbines “kill” whales.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has denied these claims, reporting there are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.
“Both candidates should address the fact that climate change is not just a scientific topic, but it is something that is felt by everyday Americans,” Dr. Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research with First Street Foundation, told ABC News.
“We did see a cut to climate-related funding under the last Trump administration, so it is not unlikely to see the same under the new administration simply based on past practices,” Porter said.
Ahead of the election, several former Trump administration officials and conservative activists have released a “Presidential Transition Project” titled Project 2025 that lists proposals for the new administration if Trump were to take office.
Among the proposals are sweeping cuts to climate initiatives, saying the next administration will “stop the war on oil and natural gas.”
Trump has said his motivation behind withdrawing from climate initiatives and pushing for continued reliance on oil and gas is driven by economic needs.
“As President, I will set a national goal of ensuring that America has the No. 1 lowest cost of energy of any industrial country anywhere on Earth,” Trump said on his campaign website. “We will not only match China we will be cheaper than China by a lot. And more energy will mean lower inflation that will mean more jobs.”
Ending subsidies for electric vehicles, withdrawing the country from initiatives for sustainable food production, preventing federal regulators from considering the economic impact of carbon emissions and abolishing the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Loan Programs Office, are listed in Project 2025.
The Biden-Harris administration, meanwhile, has channeled substantial funding toward climate action during their term, experts say, namely through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The legislation offers funding, programs and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy, according to the EPA, noting the Act offers, “new access to clean energy tax credits with an emphasis on reaching disadvantaged populations and communities with environmental justice concerns.”
In April 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced $20 billion in awards to expand access to clean energy and climate solutions and lower energy costs for communities across the nation.
Despite taking steps toward a clean-energy future, during Biden’s tenure the U.S. has continued to produce and export the most crude oil out of any country, at any time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Crude oil production averaged 12.9 million barrels per day in 2023, breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million, set in 2019, according to the agency.
Biden’s approval rating on environmental issues was 46% in a Gallup poll conducted in March, higher than his ratings on other issues but still below a majority approval.
The Trump and Biden campaigns did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
“Climate action should not — and cannot — become a victim of politicking,” Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of nonprofit Conservation International, said, noting how the U.S. has a “long and storied history of bipartisan environmental leadership” seen in the creation of the national parks system and Clean Water and Clean Air Acts.
“Climate change affects all of us, and it’s going to take all of us to ensure that our planet remains habitable for generations to come,” Sanjayan said.
The first presidential debate of the general election Thursday — which is slated much earlier in this presidential election cycle than usual — offers both Biden and Trump a chance to change or reinforce voters’ perceptions.
As the candidates take their debate podiums to address the nation, Sanjayan hopes climate stability is regarded as a priority.
“Both parties need to move policy forward, that’s the real conversation,” Sanjayan said. “The public wants a stable climate.”
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft grounded at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — For the first time since the Alaska door plug blowout, Boeing brought reporters into the Boeing 737 MAX factory in Renton, Washington. The tightly controlled tour started with an explanation of what led up to the blowout incident and the changes that have happened since January.
According to the explanation from Boeing officials, the fuselage came to Boeing damaged from the supplier. To fix the fuselage, the door plug needed to come off. Before they could get the plug back on properly, the plane needed to be moved to a new outdoor location. The overnight Move Team put the door plug back on to seal the aircraft from the outdoor elements but didn’t install the bolts (that’s not their job, and they expected it to be handled by the other team), the Boeing reps on-site said.
The first team never filled out the paperwork when they removed the door, so it became a perfect storm of the overnight team doing its job to protect the plane from rain, but because there was no paperwork, the next team never put the bolts back on because they didn’t know they were removed, according to company reps.
“Very transparently, the fact that one employee could not fill out paperwork was shocking to all of us,” Elizabeth Lund, chair of Boeing’s Quality Operations Council, told reporters.
During the visit to the Boeing facilities, a company rep said the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout incident has changed how the airplane maker operates, how they look at safety, their culture and the way they do business.
For the frontline workers, it has taken an emotional toll on many of them.
“Yeah, it’s tough here sometimes,” Bill Riley, who has worked with Boeing for 16 years in the Quality department, said. “We’re human like everyone else obviously … And it’s our work that’s being scrutinized and stuff like that.”
“That’s how our team feels; they obviously feel bruised right now. And our job is to listen, and our job is to take time to heal and double-down and focus on exactly what Bill just walked you through, and that’s how we’ll get through this. There’s a lot to be proud of, but there’s a lot of work to do,” Katie Ringgold, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 737 program, said.
There are 10 stations on the assembly line at the factory, and the safety procedures and production practices at each station have changed. Notably, if a single employee says something is wrong, that employee has the power to stop the entire production line.
Boeing has received 30,000 tips, suggestions, and safety concern reports from employees since the incident. Boeing says they review each one and have made necessary changes when warranted. Lund said company executives call the tips and concerns “gifts.”
Other changes to workflow include:
Each team is required to stand down for one hour each week to discuss concerns or how they can improve.
Boeing has drastically slowed production. The Federal Aviation Administration caps Boeing at 38 planes per month, but Boeing is only producing roughly 20 737s per month until they are confident the factory can handle more.
The factory visited by ABC has an unusually high number of new employees because so many longtime employees left during the COVID pandemic, Boeing reps explained. Many new and senior employees are being retrained, and all new hires get at least two additional weeks of training than they would have had pre-Jan. 5.
Production manuals are being simplified so instructions are easier to digest and easier for those who speak English as a second language, Boeing reps said.
