The presidential candidates respond after former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says former President Donald Trump fits the "definition of fascist." And the Boeing strike is not over just yet. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
Presidential candidates respond after Kelly calls Trump a fascist
With just 12 days to go until Election Day, a major topic of discussion between the two presidential candidates is the comments made by retired four-star Gen. John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff in the Trump administration.
In an interview with The New York Times published this week, Kelly, who has been outspoken in the past about his former boss, was asked if he believes former President Donald Trump is a fascist.
“He’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that,” Kelly said. “So, he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Along with that statement, Kelly also confirmed reports that Trump at times would speak positively about Adolf Hitler.
Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris seized on Kelly’s comments, speaking to reporters Wednesday, Oct. 23, outside the vice president’s residence in Washington. She once again warned voters against another Trump presidency.
“All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is,” Harris said. “This a window of who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best. Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions.”
The statements made by Kelly came up again later Wednesday during a CNN town hall with Harris near Philadelphia. Host Anderson Cooper asked Harris point-blank, “Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
She doubled down on her earlier comments, saying, “Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.”
Harris added Kelly likely chose now to speak out to put out a “911 call to the American people.”
The former president responded to Kelly’s comments through a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, saying of Kelly, “This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together. He was tough and dumb…even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH. John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad general, whose advice in the white house I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON!”
Trump later also took to Truth Social to react to Harris, saying it is the vice president who is a threat.
“She is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind,” he posted. “She is a threat to democracy, and not fit to be President of the United States.”
Trump himself took part in a rally in Georgia Wednesday, joined by country music singer Jason Aldean, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The former president urged Georgians to get out and vote.
“This election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence, failure and disaster, or whether we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” he said. “After all the catastrophe she has caused, Kamala Harris can't say one thing that she would do differently. You saw that. 'What would you do differently? I can't think of anything.'"
Next Tuesday, Oct. 29, Vice President Harris will deliver her “closing argument” speech at the ellipse outside the White House — the same site where former President Trump spoke before the Jan. 6, 2021 riots on the Capitol.
Thursday, Oct. 24, Harris will be campaigning in Georgia while Trump heads west to the swing state of Nevada.
PA to allow provisional voting if mail ballots are rejected; GA elections official fend off cyberattack
In Pennsylvania, the state's supreme court said voters should be able to cast provisional ballots in-person at their polling locations if their mail-in ballots are rejected. Provisional voting happens when questions are raised over a person’s eligibility to vote, which, in this case, would be triggered by a person's mail ballot being rejected over defects.
While this ruling opens the door to potentially give thousands of Pennsylvanians the chance to still vote even if their mail-in ballots are flawed, it's not clear if the ruling will have that impact. That's because only about two-thirds of Pennsylvania counties notify mail voters ahead of Election Day if there's an error.
A separate case before the state’s supreme court seeks to make that a statewide standard.
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, Pennsylvania election officials announced more than 1 million people had already cast their ballot by mail.
In Georgia, the secretary of state's office said it fended off a cyberattack aimed at crashing the state's absentee voting website. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Wednesday his office noticed a spike in attempts to access the site early last week.
He said there were more than 420,000 attempts made from around the world. Georgia elections officials say it was an unsuccessful coordinated attempt to make the website crash — possibly a foreign country trying to interfere with the election.
One Atlanta news station reported last week more than 200,000 Georgians had requested absentee ballots for this election.
Boeing machinists reject labor contract, extend strike
Thousands of Boeing employees will continue to strike after union members rejected the new labor deal offered by the company Wednesday. Members of the International Association of Machinists voted 64% against the deal.
That deal would have seen wages go up by 35% over four years, with an immediate 12 % raise.
Before Wednesday's vote, Boeing warned it would continue to burn cash through 2025 and reported a $6 billion quarterly loss — its largest since 2020. The strike, which began on Sept. 13, is costing the company about $1 billion a month.
The biggest sticking point for union members is the lack of a traditional pension plan.
In 2014, union members narrowly voted to give up the pension after the company threatened to build the 737 Max and 777X planes at non-union facilities. It's a move many members still resent a decade later.
"Well, they get their pension, don't they? CEOs get $100 million with the stock options when they retire,” said Boeing employee Charles Fromong. “It's costing them billions a month. It's costing me thousands. How do you like it? You've been costing me thousands for ten years. No wage increases, 1% COLAS, one cent, you know, and then working two weekends, three weekends straight. No life balance. I feel sorry for the young people. I've spent my life here and I'm getting ready to go. But they deserve a pension, and I deserve an increase."
Boeing's new CEO Kelly Ortberg has said reaching a deal with machinists is a priority to get the company back on track after years of safety and quality problems. Earlier this month, he announced Boeing will cut 10% of its global workforce, which is about 17,000 jobs.
At least 5 killed, 22 injured in terror attack on Turkish aerospace company
We're learning more about a deadly attack on a Turkish aerospace company Wednesday. At least five people were killed and nearly two dozen hurt in what's being called a terror attack.
Turkey's interior minister said the two attackers, a man and a woman, were killed in the ambush on the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters near the capitol of Ankara.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. However, when asked, Turkey's defense minister said the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, could be behind it.
The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.
Flooding kills at least 26 people in the Philippines
At least 26 people are dead after a tropical storm unleashed torrential rain onto the Philippines. leading to widespread flooding and landslides. Officials said most of the deaths were due to drowning.
The storm made landfall on the northeastern coast, forcing more than 150,000 people to evacuate. The government also ordered schools and businesses to close.
Along with the heavy rainfall, the storm also brought strong winds and a dangerous storm surge to the region.
Astronauts returning home after extended stay on space station
Three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut have departed the International Space Station after an extended 235-day mission.
The Crew 8 team arrived on the ISS in March and was originally scheduled to return to Earth in September. Their return was delayed due to the issues concerning the Boeing Starliner capsule and making sure those astronauts had a way back home.
Once a new vehicle arrived on the space station, the Crew 8 members then had to wait out hurricanes impacting Florida before getting the go ahead to leave.
After around 34 hours, the four-person team is expected to splash down Friday afternoon off Florida’s coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
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