Global News Podcast - Harris kicks off presidential campaign with attacks on Trump

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of taking the US backwards. She promised more gun control and protection for reproductive rights. In his first public comments since pulling out of the race, Joe Biden urged Democrats to embrace Ms Harris. Also: an oxygen discovery has defied knowledge of the deep ocean, and with life expectancy increasing, China will raise its official retirement age.

Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Thank you. Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Tuesday the 23rd of July these are our main stories. Kamala Harris has told supporters the Democrats will win the US election

as the party appears to be consolidating around her to become the next president. In his first comments since dropping out of the race, Joe Biden told the same event that Democrats should embrace Ms Harris. The head of the US Secret Service has told Congress that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was its most significant failure in decades. Also in this podcast. It's a theme park, a holiday theme park, and we don't want it. It's impossible to live here in this situation. Anti-tourist feelings intensify in Spain. After President Biden announced he was abandoning his bid for

re-election, his Vice President Kamala Harris appears solidly on track to take his place. In the past few hours, she's been addressing supporters in Mr Biden's hometown, Wilmington in Delaware, in what was her first campaign speech for president. Before she spoke, Democratic Party activists heard a familiar voice on the telephone. If I didn't have COVID, I'd be sitting there with you, standing there with you. I'm so proud of what you've all done. But this COVID hasn't been keeping me out of people's hair for the next three or four days. But I'm going to be on the road.

I'm not going anywhere. It's kept me away a little bit. But, you know, I want people to remember that what we have done has been incredible. And we get so much more we're going to get done. And so I want to say hello to Kamala. She can hear me. I know she's going to be speaking shortly. And I want to say to the team, embrace her.

She's the best. I want to call today to thank everybody, everybody in this effort. I know yesterday's news is surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. I know it's hard because you poured your heart and soul into me to help us win this thing, help me get this nomination, help me win the nomination, and then go on to win the presidency. But, you know, you're an amazing team, but we've got a great, great, I think we made the right decision. Following that endorsement for president, Kamala Harris addressed her supporters. You know, as many of you know, before I was elected as vice president, Kamala Harris addressed her supporters. You know, as many of you know, before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected

as United States senator, I was the elected attorney general, as I've mentioned, of California. Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. predators who abused women fraudsters who ripped off consumers cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain so hear me when i say, I know Donald Trump's type. And in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his. As a young prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Donald Trump was found liable by a jury for committing sexual abuse. But make no mistake, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. Our campaign

has always been about two different visions, one focused on the future, the other on the past. Donald Trump wants to take our country backward to a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights. But we believe in a brighter future, in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty. Where every person can buy a home, start a family, and build wealth. And where every person has access to paid family leave and affordable child care. That's the future we see.

Together we fight to build a nation where every person has affordable healthcare, where every worker is paid fairly and where every senior can retire with dignity. Kamala Harris addressing her supporters earlier. Speaking to Steve Lai, the BBC's Sumi Sumaskanda in Washington told us more about Ms. Harris's speech. If you look at the video and the rapturous applause that Kamala Harris received at the campaign headquarters, it felt like something of a homecoming. Of course, Delaware is not Kamala Harris's home. That is where Joe Biden, of course, has his beach home, where he has been the last few days, where he made this momentous decision to bow out of the race and to endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris. But you could sense the warmth in that room. And we saw

the second gentleman, Kamala Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, there as well. And this really has been the moment, I believe, that has now set forth the coming days. Kamala Harris saying very clearly as she was speaking, the baton is in our hands. We have the obligation, rather, to move forward with what our forefathers have fought for, which is the right to vote, the right of bodily autonomy. She talked a lot about abortion rights as well. And she talked about the right to vote, the right of bodily autonomy. She talked a lot about abortion rights as well. And she talked about the need to unify the party, of course, unify the Democrats, because as you know, Steve, in the weeks leading up to this, there was a crisis in the party over President Biden staying in the race. She's now talking about the need to bring Democrats, both

voters and party delegates together, and also unify the country after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. It is a message I believe that we will hear from Kamala Harris again as she goes out onto the campaign trail. But it gives us a sense of the mood which she is taking out onto the trail. And Joe Biden featured heavily in her speech. We also heard from him before she came out to talk as well. It seems like the two of them are so unified going forward. What happens to Joe Biden now? He's been getting glowing praises from Democrats across the board for making this decision that some say was too long in the coming. Indeed. And we know right now President Biden is still recovering from COVID at

his beach home in Delaware. So that is why we haven't actually seen him address the public. He said he will address the nation. We anticipate that that will happen at some time this week at some point. And we'll see him also try to drum up as much support as possible for Kamala Harris. We heard that in that call just as he was calling into headquarters, didn't we, saying, you know, this is our candidate. And I anticipate that Joe Biden's team will do as much as they can to bring the delegates, bring the party and bring voters around Kamala Harris as they try in this little time that is left, 106 days, to beat Donald Trump. It's a full steam ahead. It really is. Of course, Kamala Harris does still have to be

cemented as the nominee. That would happen at the convention, which starts on August 19th and on August 22nd. And that very week, that is when we expect Kamala Harris, should she again cement that nomination, to deliver a speech and officially accept the nomination. But from there, you know, we really are hitting the ground running. As you know, Steve, you were saying very little time for Kamala Harris to move this campaign forward. And we're already seeing Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, attacking Kamala Harris on a number of issues, chiefly immigration. This was her portfolio in the Biden administration. And they are saying that she is just as responsible for what they call the failures of the Biden administration as Joe Biden was.

Sumi Samaskanda. So how would any election campaign between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump play out? Is the US ready to elect Kamala Harris? Here's a taste of the former president talking rudely about her to Tucker Carlson on his show on ex-formerly Twitter last summer, comparing Ms Harris to President Biden. She has some bad moments. Her moments are almost as bad as his. I think his are worse, actually. Yeah. She seems pretty senile, too. She speaks in rhyme. It's weird. It's weird. But she has bad moments. In rhyme? Well, the way she talks, the bus will go here and then the bus will go there because that's what buses do.

It's weird. The whole thing is weird. This is not a president of the United States future. And this at his last rally. From the moment we take back the White House from crooked Joe Biden and Kamala, I call her laughing Kamala. You ever watch her laugh? She's crazy. You know, you can tell a lot by her laugh. No, she's crazy. She's nuts. She's not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy.

Sidney Blumenthal is a writer and journalist and formerly a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Has his mood changed since the announcement that Joe Biden wouldn't be pursuing re-election and that he was endorsing Ms Harris. The cloud has lifted. It came like a lightning bolt. Two days ago, the Democratic Party was in a state of shambles, disorder and dividing further. And it looked that there would be a process of disintegration going on for weeks to the convention. And all of that ended in a flash. And Joe Biden is now acclaimed as a second George Washington, as a Cincinnatus who is now returning to the plow after having served his country and a great patriot.

Now, what has been surprising is the speed at which she seems to be locked in as the Democrat candidate in November. And is that a done deal? And should that be a done deal? It is a done deal. All the party chairs from the states have endorsed her and she has garnered universal support. The party wants no more of division and wants to go forward against the clear and present danger of Donald Trump. I think she understands the enormous menace that Trump poses. She's ready for that. Right. Let's look ahead to the election campaign.

You've heard a little of where Trump, where his attack lines are against her, that she giggles a lot. He mocks her. He mocks lots of people. Are you fearful? He's already started a misogynist campaign trying to demean and ridicule her as a woman. She's laughing. She has a funny voice. She doesn't look like a president. He does this continually to women. And we all know his record of sexual harassment and how he's an adjudicated rapist. His handlers are going to have a terrible time trying to control that in him, as well as the racist undertone that's coming. And let me say, naming his vice president, J.D. Vance, the senator from Ohio, who is married to a South Asian, a good part already of Trump's white supremacist supporters

have begun on the Internet vicious racist attacks on J.D. Vance's wife. We are still in a situation where Kamala Harris maybe looks a little bit better placed in the polls than Joe Biden would have, but doesn't have a margin over Donald Trump in the polls. And a Democrat needs to be ahead in order to women. As far as women are concerned, since the Supreme Court overturning of abortion rights and the Dobbs decision, the Democrats have not lost a by-election. We're in a very different situation than we were when Hillary Clinton was running for president. And Kamala Harris has taken up this issue. She has enormous appeal to those swing suburban women on the question of women's rights and women's reproductive freedom. She will be carrying that banner against Donald Trump, who put three justices on the Supreme Court to overturn abortion rights. And it will be a direct conflict. And Trump appointed as his vice president, his running mate, J.D. Vance, whose previous position on abortion was against abortion, even in the cases

of rape, incest and the health of the mother. As we heard there, Sidney Blumenthal, talking to Evan Davis, is one of those who believes that Kamala Harris's appeal to women could turn the election in her favor. Our correspondent Emma Vardy has been sounding out women voters in Phoenix, Arizona, nearly 300 kilometers from the border with Mexico, and one of the key swing states that will decide the election. After months of the same old candidates singing the same tunes, suddenly the record's changing for voters. This diner is a microcosm of the state,

with Democrats, Republicans and Independents all eating their breakfast and drinking coffee next to each other. Many people's political views are already firmly fixed, and they don't think Vice President Harris changes the contest. Alex works as a server at the diner. I still think Trump's going to win. I just, I truly think that Trump is a better choice, just with the economy. Does Kamala have a better chance of beating Trump?

Just intellectually, just listening to her speak and listening to Trump speak is like night and day. What do you think of Kamala when it comes to the border? Well, she hasn't done anything. Our children are here and criminals are coming across the border and we need to close it. For Democrat supporters, there's some uncertainty about whether Kamala Harris becoming the party's candidate

without a contest should be a done deal. Here's Linda, a Democratic voter. Our process is like turning upside down. It's just very scary and disheartening. There's a lot of people that don't like Trump. They don't trust him. Could Kamala do better against Trump than Joe Biden? I don't think so.

What has she done? What experience has she had politically? Should there be more of a contest for who should take on Trump? Yes, I think so, yes, for the Democratic Party. Yes, definitely. What was clear is that a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was deeply unpopular. Biden pulling out is the latest twist in this historic race, and there's still plenty of time for more surprises to come. Emma Vardy. Nine days after Donald Trump was almost killed, the director of the US Secret

Service, who's meant to protect the former president's life, gave a frank admission to Congress. The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13th is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades. And I am keeping him and his family in my thoughts. Kimberly Cheetle was giving evidence on Monday to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee made up of Republicans and Democrats. Some members, though, weren't satisfied with her admission, among them the Republican Nancy Mace. Was this a colossal failure? It was a failure. Yes or no? Was it a colossal failure? It was a failure.

Yes or no? Was it a colossal failure is the question. Yes or no? I have admitted this is a terrible... This is a yes or no series of questions. Was this a colossal failure? Yes or no? Yes. Was this tragedy preventable?

Yes or no? Yes. Our U.S. correspondent Erin Delmore watched the testy exchanges. By no means has this been an easy day for her. She's testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee. And the commentary, the questions and the criticism that's coming in from Congress members, both Republicans and Democrats is really difficult, very sharp pointed criticism and a high level of frustration. It has been more than a week. It's been nine, very sharp, pointed criticism and a high level of frustration. It has been more than a week.

It's been nine days since this assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. And repeatedly, we hear the Secret Service directors say that she doesn't have answers to the questions that are being asked. There are investigations ongoing. She is waiting for reports to be filed. And hours into this hearing, you can feel that frustration and tension building. I mean, you're right. She kept saying investigations are still underway. How did the committee, the Republicans and Democrats respond to that? With frustration and impatience, you could also say, you know, we heard that exchange that you just featured between

Representative Mace and the Secret Service director. And that's that's pretty spot on for the tenor of this conversation so far. I'll also point out there was a very difficult exchange between Mace and the director with involves some cursing, a lot of really pointed language. And we also heard from Mike Turner, a congressman from Ohio, who just said bluntly that, you know, because President Donald Trump is alive, and thank God he is, you look incompetent. He said if Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable. They are not holding back here at all. And many calls from both sides of the aisle for her to resign. Do you think Kimberly Cheetle can survive after this? She will buy herself an amount of time today. And that is certain. Now, just to draw her history into the microscope here, she has spent more than two decades with the Secret Service and then moved into an operational security role for a company.

So she is a tested hand. You know, she's someone who talked at the beginning of her statement today about her time spent protecting other presidents, a long lineage of leaders in the United States here. But this is being seen by not just the criticism of the lawmakers, but her own admission as a security failure, even going so far as to say she called it herself the most significant operational failure by the Secret Service in decades. Erin Delmore. Still to come. These nodules are actually acting as geobatteries. There's current being generated on their surface,

helping to oxygenate the deep ocean. Oxygen produced on the deep ocean floor by metal nodules. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening I'm going to bed. plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that at least 70 Palestinians were killed in Han Yunis by Israeli shelling and airstrikes on Monday, and nearly 200 more were injured. The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders, causing thousands of civilians to leave temporary shelters

looking for somewhere safe to take refuge. Nine months after the massacre of around 1,200 Israelis, there is little sign the war in Gaza will end soon. Our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams sent this report from Jerusalem. Fleeing doesn't get any easier, even when you've done it many times before. There were scenes of panic as the Israeli army announced that it was about to enter Khan Yunis for the second time. Civilians, including children and the elderly, some running, carrying handfuls of belongings amid rumours that Israeli tanks were approaching and reports that dozens of people had already been killed.

The number of Palestinians who have died since October, civilians and gunmen, is now approaching 40,000. Israel has told Palestinians to evacuate parts of its self-proclaimed humanitarian zone, which stretches from the western edge of Han Yunis to the sea. It says Hamas fighters are once again operating in the area. Israel says there's no need to leave hospitals, but the realisation that an area previously regarded as relatively safe may soon be invaded has added to the sense of impending danger. As the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, left for Washington,

the army confirmed the deaths of two more hostages. Their bodies are still being held by Hamas, but reports in the Israeli media say it's highly likely at least one of them was killed by Israeli fire several months ago. Paul Adams. Scientists say they've discovered a source of oxygen deep in the Pacific Ocean that they never knew existed. Until now, we had thought that plants on land and in the sea used sunlight to produce oxygen, and that's where it comes from in nature.

But the new discovery is of sun-free oxygen. And that's where it comes from in nature. But the new discovery is of sun-free oxygen. Jeff Marlow from Boston University co-authored the study, which is published in Nature Geoscience. He told us what happened when they dropped sensors to measure signals of oxygen on the dark ocean bed. They're meant to measure how much oxygen is being consumed because animals consume oxygen. So the more the oxygen goes down, the more animal life there is. When we started looking through the data, the oxygen was going up and this was very unexpected. We were very confused.

We spent many days and weeks trying to figure out what was happening. We tried a bunch of different variants on these experiments and were forced to conclude really that it was a real signal. It was a roller coaster for sure. Our science correspondent Victoria Gill has more. Scientists now realise that for years they've been detecting and ignoring the production of dark oxygen. It's a discovery that reveals there's much more to the very deep ocean environment than previously thought. The researchers say the oxygen is produced by lumps or nodules of metal that form naturally on the seabed in some parts of the ocean. Millions of these metal lumps generate electric currents, and that splits molecules of seawater, H2O, into hydrogen and oxygen, the H and the O.

Here's Professor Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science. If you put a battery into seawater, it starts fizzing because the electric current is actually splitting the seawater into oxygen and hydrogen. And what we think is happening is that these nodules in their natural state are actually acting as geobatteries. There's current being generated on their surface and that is splitting the seawater and basically helping to oxygenate the deep ocean. The discovery calls into question plans to mine these nodules. They contain metals that are vital to build batteries for low-carbon technologies such as electric cars. In the site where this research was carried out, a small section of the vast area of seafloor between Hawaii and Mexico known as the

Clarion-Clipperton zone, several seabed mining companies are already exploring and developing technology to bring the nodules to the surface. Even before this dark oxygen revelation though, many marine scientists had warned that seabed mining activity risks destroying deep sea ecosystems that we still barely understand. Victoria Gill. It's a worldwide phenomenon. With more of us living to a significantly older age, the funds set aside for retirement pots are coming under even greater strain. No more so than in China.

Their life expectancy in 1949 was 36. Today, it's 78. Now, China has acknowledged that its economy can no longer withstand this pressure and announced that it will gradually raise the date when people can officially retire. Our Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton told me what exactly would change. Beijing for some time has been signaling that it wants to raise the statutory retirement age. That's because it really is facing a bit of a population crisis. We have a declining birth rate in China. For seven years now, it's been declining. So we have an aging society, a declining birth rate.

And that means that there are huge state pension costs. You know, 28 million people are retiring in China this year alone. And so the government's been thinking for some time how it's going to address this issue. And it wants to raise the retirement age partly because, as well, the retirement age in China is actually quite low compared to other major economies. At the moment, it's the age 60 for all men. For white-collar women, so women working the moment, it's the age 60 for all men, for white-collar women, so women working in offices, it's 55. And for women working in factories doing manual work,

it's age 50. So contrast that with Japan, where it's 10 years higher. That's why China really has been thinking of this for some time, and it now seems it's going ahead with that plan. If that's the case, though, why do you think it's taken so long to raise the age, given that it's an economical time bomb? It's taken a long time because it's not a very popular policy with Chinese people. You know, many people in China have lived through quite tumultuous years of Chinese history. Chinese jobs can be very taxing. And so many people are really counting on their retirement at age 50, 55 or 60. They don't want to be told they have to work longer in order to get a state pension. There's also a lot of

anger among young people in China who actually want older people to retire so they can open up some jobs, but they are worried that the state pension pot is going to start to disappear. And so there's a lot of unease around the retirement age. And so we can see this kind of worry reflected in what the Chinese government is saying today. They are saying that they want to move towards making the retirement age voluntary or flexible. So I think at first you might see workers encouraged to stay beyond their retirement age at first. Maybe they'll be given some extra bonuses for doing so before they actually raise the actual statutory retirement age. Celia Hatton.

Spain's tourism minister condemned protesters who used water pistols against visitors to Barcelona, saying what they did is not in keeping with the country's culture of hospitality. But there have been more protests about tourists in Spain, this time on the island of Mallorca, with hundreds of islanders taking to the streets at the weekend. Our Europe correspondent Nick Beek was there. Well, at this sort of time, on a normal Sunday evening here in Palma's old town, you would see waves of tourists strolling through. But for the locals, these aren't normal times. And tonight,

they're the ones gathering en masse to protest against the soaring number of visitors. Organisers of this rally are now calling for a limit, arguing that the 14.5 million foreigners and 3.5 million Spaniards who came here last year are just too many for the available resources, space and housing. Thousands of people have gathered now in the main square and there are flags, banners, placards as far as the eye can see. One placard says, take back your drunks, give back our homes. We've just met Alicia, who's an English teacher, and she's absolutely furious about what she says is the overrunning of her island with tourists.

It's a theme park, a holiday theme park, and we don't want it. It's impossible to live here in this situation. We meet 31-year-old local resident Sonia, playing in the sand with her four-year-old son Luca. Their landlord is throwing them out. And she says many flats on the island are being bought up and rented out to foreign tourists at prices she just can't afford. It's hard to get up every morning and start looking for a flat. The prices are higher every day.

I see me and my son homeless soon because there is absolutely nothing. Down the coast at Magaluf, the beach is absolutely packed. This remains a favourite spot for British tourists who, together with Germans, make up more than half of all visitors to this Balearic island. As hotel after hotel has sprung up along the coastline, the debate has raged as to whether visitors bring more problems than they do benefits. We meet 25-year-old Pero Joan Femenia.

He's part of a movement that translates as less tourism, more life. I put it to him that tourism is powering national growth in Spain. He rejects that argument. Tourism is not creating benefits for people. So we know that we have to put a limit. Tourism has bounced back after COVID, but record levels are provoking what feels like an unprecedented backlash. Spain's tourist board is among the leading voices warning against undermining a sector which has been propelling the national economy. A stiflingly hot summer seems set for more strife. Nick Beek reporting.

And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later Nick Beek reporting. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producer was Alison Davies. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads?

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