Podcaster Andrew Schulz couldn’t keep a straight face in his recent interview with Donald Trump.
Although Schulz has previously said that he thinks the GOP presidential nominee seems “enticing” when compared with Democrats, the comedian couldn’t take him seriously during one moment in their 90-minute discussion, which was released Wednesday.
That moment? Well, it was when Trump claimed that he’s “basically a truthful person.”
Trump’s no-way-it-would-survive-a-fact-check statement came while he was insisting that Democrat Kamala Harris has lied about him and about previously working at McDonald’s.
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“She lied about McDonald’s,” Trump said, without citing evidence. “She lied about many things, and she’s a liar.”
He added that “there should be some kind of a rule, when they know it’s a lie, you can’t do a commercial on it” — nodding to a Harris ad that says she once worked at the fast-food chain.
Trump then said, “They can say what they want — I have a hard time doing it to them, because I’m basically a truthful person.”
At that point, Schulz started laughing hard, appearing to ask, “What does that mean?” But Trump ignored his amusement and doubled down on his Harris harangue.
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“She’s given me so much ammunition. I don’t really have to,” Trump said. “She’s a radical-left lunatic who will destroy our nation.”
Not surprisingly, Harris’ presidential campaign shared a video of the exchange online.
And, yes, social media users found the “truthful person” claim by Trump — widely known for his lies on varioustopics — to be quite absurd.
By Truthful Trump means he only lies three quarters of the time.
Imagine a convicted felon,convicted convicted man, adjudicated rapist and facing a rife of other felony charges having the balls to say I’m a truthful person.
HURRICANE Milton has made landfall in Florida – with locals braced for devastating storm surges of up to 15 feet.
The catastrophic storm brought winds of 120mph with officials warning the danger is not over.
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Hurricane Milton before hitting Florida
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A satellite view of Hurricane Milton across the Gulf of MexicoCredit: Alamy
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A tornado ripped the roof from a house
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Broken utility poles downed by strong winds
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A tornado forming in southeast Florida hours before Hurricane Milton’s landfallCredit: National Weather Service Miami-South Florida
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Police block off a bridge leading to the barrier island of St. Pete Beach, FloridaCredit: AP:Associated Press
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‘Pray for Orlando’ is written on some wood used to board up the windows at a Home DepotCredit: Reuters
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Members of the Florida Army National Guard check for any remaining residents in nearly-deserted Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, FloridaCredit: AP:Associated Press
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The Florida Division of Emergency Management said: “Residents should continue to shelter in place & remain vigilant.”
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The first casualties were reported in the Spanish Lakes area of Fort Pierce after tornadoes battered the state before Milton made landfall.
Shortly before the hurricane made landfall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged: “You have to shelter in place and just hunker down.”
He added: “Unfortunately there will be fatalities.
“I don’t think there’s any way around that.”
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Earlier, President Joe Biden called Milton “one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida in over a century,” adding: “It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole.”
Pop star Taylor Swift pledged $5million to help with the relief effort after the hurricane has passed.
Dramatic footage showed entire palm trees ripped from their trunks, while in a clip by the NOAA, the storm caused massive 30ft waves.
In the days leading up to the storm’s arrival, millions across west-central Florida stocked up their vehicles with essential items and personal belongings, driving north or south away from Milton’s intimidating path.
Hurricane Milton ‘to spawn tornadoes’ as locals told ‘homes are coffins’
Eerie videos circulating on social media showed dozens of abandoned communities, many of which are still in ruins from the onslaught of Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.
In Gulfport, police drove slowly through a debris-riddled neighborhood, playing a recording on the loudspeaker informing residents of a mandatory evacuation, according to a video by reporter Brian Entin on X.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for 13 counties in Florida, including Sarasota, Hillsborough, and Volusia.
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Aerial images showed Interstate 75’s northbound lane jam-packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic as hundreds of terrified residents fled their homes to seek shelter.
It comes as…
Dr. Michael Brennan, director of the US National Hurricane Centre, earlier warned that “a very dangerous situation is going to play out from west to east across the Florida peninsula.”
He added that a “life-threatening storm surge is about to play out along the Florida west coast.
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Water will also be “violently pushed onto dry land” by the hurricane, up to 10ft above ground level.
“The water is now starting to rise, winds are picking up, rainfall is occurring and your evacuation routes may be cut off.”
He continued: “Much of the central portion of the peninsula… is at risk of devastating hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts over the inland areas that can cause structural damage, tree damage and widespread power outages.”
‘SIGNIFICANT COASTAL CHANGE’
Scientists at the US Geological Survey fear that Milton could completely change Florida’s west coastline forever.
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“The significance of the coastal change forecast for Milton’s impact to the Florida west coast cannot be overstated as I believe communities are more vulnerable to this storm’s impacts due to the erosion that occurred recently from Helene,” Kara Doran, a USGS scientist, said.
“Our initial analysis looking at imagery collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after Helene shows most of the west coast experienced overwash or inundation and complete erosion of dunes, so those protective dunes are no longer in place for many locations.”
Experts predict Milton’s ferocious storm surge could cause 95% to 100% of Florida’s west coast beaches to experience erosion and overwash.
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Overwash occurs when water levels reach higher than the top of the dunes.
When a beach is overwashed, sand can be pushed and deposited inland, causing significant changes to coastal landscapes and blocking roadways, according to the USGS.
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A photo by astronaut Matthew Dominick shows Hurricane Milton from the International Space StationCredit: AP:Associated Press
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A heavy stream of evacuation traffic slowly moves southward from North-West Florida on Interstate 75Credit: EPA
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An AquaFence barrier set up outside Tampa General HospitalCredit: Reuters
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Rain begins to fall ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton in TampaCredit: AP:Associated Press
‘WHISKER SHY’ OF CATEGORY 5
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described Milton as “just a whisker shy” of Category 5.
“While there is the hope that it will weaken more before landfall, there is high confidence that this hurricane is going to pack a major, major punch and do an awful lot of damage,” DeSantis told reporters on Wednesday.
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Hours before Milton neared landfall, the storm spawned at least 10 tornados across southcentral Florida.
Florida is still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in late September, which has left over 220 people dead across the southeast United States.
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Cars drive during heavy rainfall as Hurricane Milton nears landfall in OrlandoCredit: Reuters
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Waves crashed against the Malecon promenade in HavanaCredit: AFP or licensors
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Guests weather early rainfall from Hurricane Milton at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World on WednesdayCredit: AP:Associated Press
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What is a hurricane and how do they form?
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A HURRICANE is another name for a tropical cyclone – a powerful storm that forms over warm ocean waters near the equator.
Those arising in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific are called hurricanes, while those in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean are dubbed typhoons or cyclones.
North of the equator they spin anticlockwise because of the rotation of the Earth, however, they turn the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are like giant weather engines fuelled by water vapor as it evaporates from the sea.
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Warm, moist air rises away from the surface, creating a low-pressure system that sucks in air from surrounding areas – which in turn is warmed by the ocean.
As the vapour rises it cools and condenses into swirling bands of cumulonimbus storm clouds.
The system grows and spins faster, sucking in more air and feeding off the energy in seawater that has been warmed by the sun.
At the center, a calm “eye” of the storm is created where cooled air sinks towards the ultra-low pressure zone below, surrounded by spiraling winds of warm air rising.
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The faster the wind, the lower the air pressure at the center, and the storm grows stronger and stronger.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land as they are no longer fed by evaporation from the warm sea.
But they often move far inland – dumping vast amounts of rain and causing devastating wind damage – before the “fuel” runs out and the storm peters out.
Hurricanes can also cause storm surges when the low air pressure sucks the sea level higher than normal, swamping low-lying coasts.
Two FT reports on successive days earlier this month accurately captured the essential features of India’s economic growth path: abysmal jobs growth and skyrocketing income and wealth inequality.
In the early 1980s, India’s economy moved into an unmistakably higher growth path, compared to the previous three decades after gaining independence from Britain. According to data available in the Ministry of Finance’s most recent economic survey, between 1950 and 1979 India’s real gross value added at basic prices grew at an average 3.4 per cent per year; from 1980 to 2022, it grew at an average 5.8 per cent per year.
This significant growth acceleration has disproportionately benefited the rich and wealthy because the economy has been unable to generate an adequate number of good quality jobs for India’s growing labour force.
Therefore, economic growth over the last four decades in India has largely bypassed the vast majority of working people. This pattern continues even today, as highlighted in the FT report “India jobs dearth mars Modi’s third term” (Report, October 3).
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The top sliver of India’s income and wealth distribution has of course never had it so good, as evidenced by their voracious appetite for luxury consumption, including Swiss watches (“India becomes hot ticket for Swiss watchmakers”, Special Reports, Watches & Jewellery, October 4).
Deepankar Basu Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, US
Donald Trump played a strange video at his rally Wednesday meant to criticize Kamala Harris’s plan to increase taxes for the middle class. But a closer look at the video finds that none of the clips included advocated for increasing taxes on the middle class.
“She’s the taxing queen. She’s going to raise your taxes, where you’re going to be at least paying at least three thousand dollars a year more. Take a look,” Trump said before referring to the screen behind him.
Behind him, Trump played a video that edited together different times Harris had announced her plan to “get rid of that tax bill” and “get rid of that tax cut,” referring to the corporate tax rate cuts Trump had installed during his time in office. In fact, two of the included clips are of Harris explicitly talking about corporate tax rates.
Originally, the Trump administration had claimed that the corporate tax rate cuts at the center of his 2017 tax bill would boost household income by a “very conservative” estimate of $4,000 per household, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
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In reality, workers who earned below an average of $114,000 saw no change in their earnings as a result of the corporate tax rate cut, while wealthy business owners and top executives reaped the benefits. Harris plans to increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.
The video also contained footage of Harris saying that estate taxes “are going to have to go up.” Harris has proposed a plan to lower housing costs that would be funded primarily through changes to the federal estate tax law and an increase to the corporate tax rate.
Harris has yet to publish a proposal for increasing the yield from estate taxes, whether it would mean upping the rate or lowering the exemptions. Currently, only 0.2 percent of U.S. adults are subject to the federal estate tax, according to IRS data.
The video also contained footage of Harris’s campaign co-chair, Chris Coons, defending her plan for a 25 percent tax on unrealized capital gains. It contains another clip of Bharat Ramamurti, President Joe Biden’s former National Economic Council deputy director, explaining that the plan would only affect those with a net worth of more than $100 million, or less than 1 percent of taxpayers—a fact that Trump’s video carefully elides.
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The video also contained footage of Harris advocating for a carbon tax, which would penalize big polluters. While this could potentially increase energy costs for consumers, it is not a tax on the middle class.
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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Joe Biden on Wednesday pressed Benjamin Netanyahu to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Lebanon and minimise civilian casualties in Israel’s strikes against Hizbollah, even though previous calls for restraint from the US have fallen flat.
The US president and the Israeli prime minister spoke by phone for the first time in two months after a new flare-up in tensions between the two allies compounded by miscommunication over Israel’s approach to expanding conflict in the Middle East.
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The conversation, which was described as “direct” and “productive” by the White House, came as US officials try to limit Israel’s response to last week’s Iranian missile attack on the country and rein in its ground offensive in the south of Lebanon.
However, there are widespread doubts over Biden’s influence over Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister has time and again ignored Washington’s pleas for more limited military operations and increased diplomatic engagement since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.
Those concerns have grown more acute in recent weeks, as Israel’s military has sharply increased its attacks on Hizbollah, the Iranian proxy group operating in Lebanon, directly defying Biden’s calls for a ceasefire in the region at the UN General Assembly in New York last month.
According to the White House, Biden did not call for Israel to stop all military operations in Lebanon in his conversation with Netanyahu on Wednesday.
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But he did tell the prime minister that a “diplomatic arrangement” was needed for Lebanese and Israeli civilians to return to their homes on both sides of the “blue line” — the de facto border between the countries. He also called for Israel “to minimise harm to civilians” in Lebanon, especially in the capital, Beirut.
The White House did not say whether the two leaders discussed Israel’s looming response to Iran, though the US president has warned the Israelis away from striking nuclear facilities and energy infrastructure.
But while Biden and other top US officials have repeatedly been irked and even angered by Netanyahu’s unwillingness to heed their advice, they have been unwilling to make any big changes in US policy to raise the pressure on Israel — such as an arms embargo.
“Biden has been unwilling to use his leverage over Netanyahu because of the president’s persona, policy and domestic politics, especially so close to one of the most consequential elections in modern American history,” said Aaron David Miller, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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“Biden’s margin for pressuring Netanyahu contracted, [while] Netanyahu’s margin for resisting that pressure expanded,” he added.
In recent weeks, US officials have acknowledged that Israel has made what they see as tactical gains against Hizbollah in Lebanon after it killed Hassan Nasrallah, its leader, and damaged much of the group’s capacity to strike at Israel.
But Washington has also warned Israel against overplaying its hand, insisting there should be a path back to a truce.
When Netanyahu on Tuesday warned the Lebanese people in a video address to root out Hizbollah or face similar destruction to what Israel inflicted on Gaza, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, responded: “We cannot and will not see Lebanon turn into Gaza — into another Gaza.”
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Other US officials have said Israel needs to develop a better long-term vision for its place in the Middle East.
“The challenge going forward is to turn tactical wins in battle into a strategy that secures Israel’s people and its future,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said at an event at the Israeli embassy in Washington this week.
“That takes real discipline, it takes courage, it takes foresight to match the conduct of war to a clear and sustainable set of objectives. That is never easy, but it’s imperative,” he added.
But many in Washington say US diplomacy towards Israel has floundered. “US policy has been trying to both deter and de-escalate at the same time, and realistically speaking, you can most effectively do one or the other, but trying to do both seems to have limited effects in both directions,” said Jonathan Lord, an analyst at the Center for a New American Security.
Craig Spokes is rebuilding his life in Northampton and has a new job after losing almost £20,000
A man said he felt “embarrassed and ashamed” after losing almost £20,000 of his inheritance in a rental scam and being evicted from his flat three weeks after he moved in.
Craig Spokes, 36, from Northampton, paid a year’s rent upfront for a flat in London to Samy Daim, who he believed was the landlord. Yet less than a month after moving in, Mr Spokes was told to leave and all his possessions were left on the street.
Mr Daim, 27, has since not responded to Mr Spokes or to the BBC’s requests for comment.
Action Fraud, the police reporting body for scams, said it was not recommending an investigation into the case.
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Instagram
Social media accounts of Samy Daim show pictures of him in luxurious locations around the world
In October 2023, Mr Spokes was looking to move to London after leaving a career as a cruise ship entertainer.
He said Mr Daim had told him he was the landlord of a flat in Bloomsbury, which could be secured for a £500 a month discount if a year’s rent was paid upfront.
Mr Daim was in fact a tenant himself, renting the flat from the real landlord, but he gave Mr Spokes the keys to the property and allowed him to move in.
The BBC has seen court documents that show Mr Daim owed more than £14,000 in rent to the real landlord and this had led to bailiffs being sent to the property.
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Instagram
Samy Daim’s social media profiles show him on trips to places such as Thailand, where he is pictured with elephants
The flat was listed on a letting agency website, but rather than using the company’s payment system Mr Spokes transferred £19,500 directly to Mr Daim to cover a year’s rent and deposit.
The money had come from his inheritance after his father Barry died of cancer.
Yet as he got ready for work one morning three weeks after moving, Mr Spokes was evicted by bailiffs instructed by the real landlord.
“By 08:30 everything was out on the streets,” he said. “It was a whirlwind and I was in such a state of distress. I was made to feel like a criminal.”
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‘Embarrassed and ashamed’
The experience has had a lasting impact on Mr Spokes who said he “felt so embarrassed and ashamed that I had fallen for this scam”.
He said for a period “days would go by and I couldn’t even go out”.
Mr Daim has not responded to Mr Spokes since the eviction. His social media profiles appear to show a jet-set lifestyle.
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He has not responded to BBC attempts to contact him.
instagram
Samy Daim is listed as the sole director of Cobblestone Realty Group Ltd and shown beside the beach at Key West in Florida
‘Let down’
Mr Spokes was told by the Metropolitan Police to report what had happened to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre.
Action Fraud does not have investigative powers, but assesses which cases to pass on to police forces for investigation.
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This case was not passed on and Mr Spokes said he felt “let down” by police and that it had been treated as if it was “not that serious of a crime”.
Action Fraud said reports were assessed against criteria including “the vulnerability of the victim”.
It added that it prioritised “reports most likely to present an investigative opportunity for local police forces, those where a crime is ongoing and those that present the greatest threat and harm to the victim or victims concerned”.
In 2023 Action Fraud classified 5,093 reports as rental fraud.
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‘Controls in place’
Mr Spokes said he also felt “let down” by his bank, Kroo, which said it will not repay the money.
Kroo said it has “a number of controls in place to manage financial crime and protect customer funds”.
Sam Read/BBC
Pat Coomber-Wood from Citizens Advice said people should “slow down” the process of signing a contract
‘Don’t be rushed’
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Mr Spokes said he felt like he had “double-checked” everything before transferring the money, but all the information he had been provided “was part of the scam”.
Pat Coomber-Wood, the chief executive officer of Citizens Advice West Northamptonshire and Cherwell, said anyone feeling under pressure to sign a contract should “put the brakes on – it is better to miss out than be scammed”.
She said a land registry search, which costs £3, could determine whether the person you were dealing with owned the property.
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