Donald Trump, who recently lost his presidential re-election campaign to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, could soon find himself facing divorce proceedings, it has emerged.
British tabloid Daily Mail quoted a former aide to the first lady of the United States (US), Omarosa Manigault Newman, as saying that the 15-year marriage of Trump and Melania Trump is over and the latter is “counting the minutes until he is out of the office and she can divorce him”.
“If she [Melania] were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation and leave while he’s in office, he would find a way to punish her,” he said when asked as to why did Melania not divorce Trump earlier.
The report quoted another former aide, Stephanie Wolkoff Senior, who was the advisor to the first lady, as saying that Trump and Melania had separate bedrooms in the White House and a “transactional marriage”.
Back in 2016, Melania had burst into tears when Trump won the presidential election as, one friend said, “she never expected him to win”. However, Melania waited five months before moving to Washington from New York allegedly because their son, Barron, had to finish school.
However, Wolkoff said Melania was negotiating an agreement so that Barron could have an equal share of Trump’s fortune. “Now, four years later, she is going forth with her plan.”
Reports also say that Trump’s inner circle, including his wife Melania, wants the 45th US president to accept his loss and concede defeat to President-elect Biden and exit the office “gracefully”.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has won an extremely close US election battle against outgoing president Donald Trump. The election results were finally called on Saturday. Biden will become the 46th US president and leaders around the world have started sending congratulatory messages to the president-elect. Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect, has made history. She will be the first woman, the first black person and the first person of South Asian descent to become VP. Yesterday, she said, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
This US election was different in many ways. From an election held during a pandemic to one of the most polarised election in recent history, it was indeed a nail-biter. The two rivals were neck and neck in a few key battleground states before the final results were announced. According to NBC News, at least 159.8 million Americans voted. The number of votes has been the highest in US presidential election in history while the voter turnout has been the highest in over a century.
Trump’s term has made politics extremely divisive in the US where racism is on the rise. Due to Trump’s policy on climate change, the US became the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Trump also gravely mishandled the COVID-19 situation in the US. More than 200,000 people died due to coronavirus before the presidential election.
On the day of the election when millions of ballots were left to count, Trump decided to claim victory. In the same breath, he suggested “major fraud on the nation” without offering any evidence and said he would take the election results to the US Supreme Court. Trump has been crying rigging, an all too familiar word in our part of the world, even before the election. Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in some states as Trump has also been crying foul on Twitter, where most of his tweets are being flagged by the social network. Biden, on the other hand, was conciliatory in a speech after the election where he called for healing and unity in the wake of the brutal election. “We are not enemies… to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies… we are campaigning as Democrats, but I will govern as an American president.”
We hope that with the end of the four tumultuous years of Trump’s presidency, while the Democrats heal their own country, they do not end up hurting the rest of the world. For all his faults, Trump was not seen as a war-president. We hope that the US will not restart its interventionist policies under Biden.
From “will you shut up, man?” to “elections have consequences”, following are some of the quotes making news after Tuesday’s United States (US) 2020 presidential debate between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The polling is scheduled for November 3.
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION:
Trump, asked by moderator Chris Wallace about whether U.S. appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett should be nominated to the Supreme Court before the election: “We won the (2016) election. Elections have consequences.
“We have the Senate and we have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee respected by all.
“ […] I think that she (Barrett) will be outstanding. She will be as good as anybody who has ever served on that court. We won the election and therefore we had the right to choose her.”
Biden: “We should wait, we should wait and see what the outcome of this election is.”
Trump: “As far as a say is concerned, the American people have already had their say. … I’m not elected for (just) 3-1/2 years.”
Responded Biden: “He’s elected until the next election. […] The election’s already started.”
HEALTHCARE:
Biden, told by Trump he had adopted former Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders’ “socialised medicine” proposals, said of the president: “Everybody here knows he’s a liar. […] You picked the wrong guy on the wrong night at the wrong time.”
“[…] Folks, do you have any idea what this clown’s doing? I tell you what, he is not for anybody needing healthcare.”
After Trump explained his healthcare proposal, Biden said: “He has no plan for healthcare. … The fact is this man has no idea what he’s talking about.”
DEALING WITH THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:
Biden to Trump: “You should get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap and … the golf course and go in the Oval Office and (put) together Democrats and Republicans, and fund what needs to be done now to save lives.”
Trump to Biden: “You didn’t think we should’ve closed our country (to China) because you thought it was terrible.”
“… We’ve done a great job. But I tell you, Joe, you could never have done the job we’ve done. You don’t have it in your blood.”
Biden on Trump’s leadership on the pandemic: “He panicked or he looked at the stock market. … A lot of people died, and a lot more (are) going to die unless he gets a lot smarter a lot quicker.”
Responded Trump: “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
RACE RELATIONS:
Biden on Trump: “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division.”
Trump to Biden, citing the then-senator’s support for the 1994 crime bill: “You’ve treated the Black community about as bad as anybody in this country.”
Biden: “Yes, there’s a systemic injustice in this country in education and work and in law enforcement and the way in which it is enforced.”
LAW ENFORCEMENT AND URBAN UNREST:
Trump: “The top 10 cities and just about the top 40 cities are run by Democrats in many cases, radical left, and they’ve got you wrapped around their finger, Joe, to a point where you don’t want to say anything about law and order. And I’ll tell you what the people of this country want and demand law and order, and you’re afraid to even say it.”
Biden said Trump had done nothing to calm the protests. “He just pours gasoline on the fire.”
Responding to Trump attacking him on the suburbs, Biden said: “He wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. I know suburbs.”
WHITE SUPREMACISTS:
Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence or the number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
Trump: “I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not from the right. … I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”
Wallace: “Then do it, sir.”
Biden: “Do it, do it. Say it.”
Trump: “You want to call them. What do you want to call them? Give me a name.”
Biden, referring to a right-wing group: “Proud Boys.”
Trump: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
Trump: “I believe that we have to do everything we can to have immaculate air, immaculate water, and do whatever else we can that’s good.”
Biden: “The first thing I will do, I will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.”
ELECTION INTEGRITY:
Biden encouraged mail-in voting by saying Trump does it, too. “He sits behind the Resolute Desk (in the White House) and sends his ballot to Florida.”
Biden: “He cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of that election. … If I win, that will be accepted. If I lose, that will be accepted.
“If we get the votes, he’s going to go. He can’t stay in power.”
Trump: “Don’t tell me about a free transition. This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen. This is not going to end well.”
Biden: “You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote. If you’re able to vote early in your state, vote early. If you’re able to vote in person, vote in person – whatever way is the best way for you. Because he cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election.”
Asked by Wallace if he would urge his supporters to stay calm and pledge not to declare victory until the election is certified, Trump said: “I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully.”
Trump: “If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with it. They cheat.”
Biden: “The fact is I will accept it and he will too. You know why? Because once the winner is declared after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted. That’ll be the end of it.”
INTERRUPTIONS:
At one point when Trump was interrupting him, Biden said: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”
Wallace to Trump: “I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”
Trump, referring to Biden, responded: “And him, too.”
Wallace: “Well, frankly you’ve been doing more interrupting.”