Trump's Campaign Rhetoric, Wisconsin Senate Race, Hezbollah Drone Attack
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Weeks before Election Day, former President Trump talks of opponents not as fellow citizens, but as enemies of the country. We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. How Trump is appealing to extreme right voters. I'm Steve Inskeep, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News.

A Democratic senator contends that she stands up for the people of Wisconsin. I've taken their fight to Washington and I produce results. But will those results be enough for the incumbent to win against her Republican opponent? The answer may decide control of the Senate. Plus, we have the latest from the Middle East, where Hezbollah has attacked a military base in Israel and the U.S. is sending a missile defense system to Israel along with the troops needed to run it. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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With a little more than three weeks until Election Day, the two major party presidential candidates are using very different language to appeal to voters. Vice President Harris has been appealing to Republicans, people who may not agree with the Democrat on some issues but do agree about Donald Trump.

And as she tries to broaden her support, former President Trump goes narrow. In an interview that aired on Fox News yesterday, Trump cast his ideological opponents as threats to the country. He talked of using the National Guard or the regular military to, as he put it, quote, handle violent threats after the election. Here to talk about this campaign rhetoric is NPR political correspondent Daniel Kurtzleben. Good morning, Daniel. Hey, Michelle. So let's start with that interview on Fox News Business. What did Trump say?

Well, Trump spoke with Maria Bartiromo, and it was overall a very friendly interview that she gave him. And at one point she asked him this question that itself portrayed undocumented immigrants as dangerous, which is not true. But then she took a turn and she asked Trump if Election Day would be peaceful. And Trump responded by saying this. I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics.

And I think they're the and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or if really necessary, by the military. And then later he did it again and specifically named California Democratic Senate candidate Adam Schiff, also a member of the House, as one of those enemies from within.

And he also called Schiff a sleazebag. Now, you know, Trump has always been known throughout his political career for demonizing people he doesn't agree with and calling them names. But I take it that this really is kind of next level.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. For his entire political career, Trump has used authoritarian language, nativistic language. He praises authoritarians. So, yes, that's the baseline we're working with here. But he has been ratcheting things up in recent weeks continually. At one rally, he said police violence could curb crime.

At a rally this weekend, he said that he'd used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to detain or deport people. And now he's threatening to use the military on his political or ideological opponents and ratcheting up insults recently as well. He's been calling Kamala Harris mentally disabled.

and just continually insulting her intelligence. Now, I want to add here, by the way, I asked the campaign for clarification on what he meant about using the National Guard or military against his opponents and have not heard back. Let's talk about Vice President Harris then. How does this language compare with what she is saying to voters?

The differences simply could not be more stark. And they were already stark before any of this. Now, she has said, for example, that she wants a Republican in her cabinet. And when I was out with her in Arizona last week, she spoke to a group of Republicans for Harris there.

And she announced that she wants a bipartisan council to advise her on policy as president. In fact, she's reached across the aisle so much that some in her base, progressives, are annoyed. Now, Trump, on the other hand, he's saying there's an invasion of dangerous immigrants. And not only that, but his political opponents are even more dangerous and may have to be dealt with by force. And I want to be clear here. I'm not just talking about electoral strategy. Trump's

Trump is using this rhetoric at a time that we know people are very willing to commit political violence, whether it's January 6th or would-be assassins. Amid all of that, he's turning up the temperature. That is NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben on the campaign trail. Danielle, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Both Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump are focused on Wisconsin. That's a swing state where Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin is locked in a tight race for re-election that could determine whether Democrats maintain their majority in the Senate. Baldwin says she has won in the past thanks in part to what she calls Trump-Tammy voters who voted for the Republican presidential candidate but also for her. They see that I've showed up, I've listened, that I've taken their fight to Washington and I've produced results.

The question is whether she can rely on them in 2024. Joining us now to talk about these dynamics is Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya von Wagtendonk. Anya, thank you so much for joining us. Good morning. So let me set the table here. Baldwin won her last race in 2018 by 11 points, and things look very different this time around. Why so different?

Yeah, that outcome was really an unheard of landslide by Wisconsin standards. Part of the change since then just has to do with sort of nitty gritty politics. So previous Republican challengers had nasty primary fights. This time around, her opponent, Eric Hovde, avoided that. And so he started with a pretty close

clean slate. But then part of it is also just the realities of partisan politics. Those have gotten more entrenched everywhere in the country. And so in Wisconsin, which is about as 50-50 as it gets, you're seeing people just go into their camps. Baldwin has always run as a different kind of Democrat, really a workhorse who just knows Wisconsin. And she's done really well with independents and even in counties that also support Trump as a result of

But this time around, Hubdy is closely aligned with Trump. And that plus that ever-growing polarization means Baldwin is expecting many fewer Trump-Tammy voters. Can you just tell us a bit more about those Trump-Baldwin counties? What are you seeing there?

Yeah, I spent a day out on the trail with Baldwin, including a stop in Richland County, which is an example of this. It's a rural county that went for Trump in his past two elections and for Baldwin in her last two elections. Other Democrats, including Kamala Harris, are focused just on losing those kinds of rural areas by less than

But Baldwin has this record she can point to that's really focused on things like manufacturing and the dairy industry, and that makes her stand out out there. I think we're seeing some of that shared strategy across the blue wall states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan not writing off those areas. And when I was out there, so was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. I asked him what he made of all the pro-Trump yard signs nearby. Senator Baldwin and I show up in communities like this.

And we treat voters with respect, no matter what signs might be on a neighbor's lawn or what past election results have shown. OK, finally, tell us the kinds of messages you're seeing in the final few weeks of this campaign. Yeah, the Baldwin campaign has really sought to paint Hovde as a wealthy outsider. He's from Wisconsin, but he also has a home in California and he manages a bank that's based in Utah. So they're really focused on drawing that contrast. And then Hovde is trying to tie Baldwin to the Biden White House and its economic dynamics.

policies. Recently, too, we've been seeing a lot more ads that are kind of based in the culture wars, so attacking her approach to transgender issues, for example. And both parties are also just focused on the national stakes of this election and, of course, control of Congress. That is Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya von Wagtendonk. Anya, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

A drone attack launched by Hezbollah on an Israeli army training base killed four Israeli soldiers and injured several more. It's one of the more serious acts of retaliation after Israel's attacks on the armed group, which is based in Lebanon.

The Pentagon says it's sending an advanced anti-missile system to Israel, along with about 100 U.S. troops to operate it, all to help bolster the country's defenses against Iran. NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has been following these developments, and she's with us now from Tel Aviv. Good morning, Jackie. Morning, Michelle. First of all, just tell us what we know about this drone attack.

Well, as you said, it was against an army base in a place called Binyamina in central Israel, about 40 miles from the Lebanon border. And it's one of the deadliest Hezbollah attacks in this past year. Israel's military said the drone hit the roof of a dining hall full of soldiers and that, in fact, there were two drones launched. One was shot down, but this one hit the base. And the military is looking into why the drone wasn't intercepted and why no warning sirens were

were activated, as is usually the case. Hezbollah said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Beirut last week, which killed more than 20 people. And, you know, Israel has been pushing deeper into southern Lebanon and Beirut, killing militants and destroying their arsenal. But as this attack shows, Iranian-backed Hezbollah still has firepower to reach Israel.

And Michelle, of course, the war in Gaza continues. And just this morning, an Israeli strike targeted a large hospital there, killing four people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. And then there was another deadly Israeli strike that hit a Gaza school. So the Pentagon announced Sunday that it is sending a missile defense system to Israel to help with its defense. What can you tell us about this?

It's an advanced mobile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Battery. It's usually referred to simply as THAAD, and it's designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.

As you mentioned earlier, it'll be operated by U.S. troops. And this is the first time since the war in Gaza started just over a year ago that the U.S. has sent a significant number of troops to Israel, which means greater involvement by the U.S. in defending Israel, but also means there are concerns about the conflict broadening throughout this region. And the decision to deploy that comes as Israel's planning a strike against Iran and

That's in retaliation for Iran's ballistic missile attack. In early October, they launched 200 missiles towards Israel. Most were intercepted. But there's concern if Iran launches another attack, it could be far more deadly for Israel. And as this fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, there are also UN peacekeepers getting caught up in the conflict. At least four soldiers have been wounded in the past few days in Lebanon. Has the UN said anything about that?

Yeah, there's this growing rift between Israel and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. It's known as UNIFIL, and it's an international force that's been there since 1978, and it helps secure the Lebanon-Israel border. But yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a direct appeal to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to evacuate UNIFIL troops from

from southern Lebanon claiming that Hezbollah is using peacekeepers as human shields. Guterres doesn't have the authority to do that, by the way. But later in the day, UNIFIL said two Israeli tanks forcibly entered one of its posts and some shells were exploded and released smoke that sickened some peacekeepers. Israeli military disputes that version of events saying Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles and, you know, the tanks, the Israeli tanks were just trying to get their troops out of the area.

It's hard to say how this situation is going to, you know, between UNIFIL and Israel is going to play out. As Israel continues its increasingly aggressive campaign into Lebanon, you know, to root out Hezbollah militants. That is NPR's Jackie Northam. Jackie, thank you. Thanks very much.

And that's up first for Monday, October 14th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Steve Inskeep. For your next listen, consider, consider this from NPR News. One-fifth of the salmon Americans eat comes from Norway, where the salmon industry is considered a model of modern aquaculture, but is it sustainable, really?

Listen to Consider This from NPR. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Kalamur, Hannah Block, Lisa Thompson, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Paige Waterhouse, Christopher Thomas, and Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Andy Huther, and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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