Harris rips Trump for his criticism of storm response

Vice-President Kamala Harris and the White House have criticised Donald Trump for his attacks on the federal response to hurricanes Helene and Milton and suggested he was wrongly trying to turn the deadly storms to his political advantage.

Attending a town hall sponsored by Univision in Las Vegas on Thursday, Harris was asked about complaints that federal officials have bungled disaster-recovery efforts.

She responded: "In this crisis - like in so many issues that affect the people of our country - I think it so important that leadership recognises the dignity" to which people are entitled.

"I have to stress that this is not a time for people to play politics," Harris said.

Those comments came after the former president spoke at the Detroit Economic Club, offering sympathy to people affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton, the latter of which came ashore in Florida Wednesday night.

But Trump, who trails Harris according to recent Reuters/Ipsos polling, also suggested the Biden administration's response had been lacking, particularly North Carolina following Helene.

"They've let those people suffer unjustly," said Trump, who has for several days promoted falsehoods about the federal response in the state, where Trump faces a tight battle against the vice-president.

Harris virtually attended a briefing, held in the White House Situation Room with President Joe Biden, on emergency efforts in Milton's wake.

In subsequent comments to reporters, Biden slammed Trump and his supporters for spreading misinformation about federal assistance available to victims.

"They're being so damn un-American with the way they're talking about this stuff," Biden said, then adding directly to Trump: "Get a life, man. Help these people."

Despite the storm, Trump and Harris are visiting key swing states strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close.

In Michigan, where he's looking to appeal primarily to blue-collar voters, Trump took a swipe at the city he happened to be campaigning in, suggesting that Detroit was "a mess".

"Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president," he said of Harris. "You're going to have a mess on your hands."

Harris responded that Trump "yet again has trashed another great American city when he was in Detroit, which is just a further piece of evidence on a very long list of why he is unfit to be president of the United States".

Trump's economic speech featured multiple errors.

The former president used his appearance at the Detroit Economic Club to echo core themes from his 2016 campaign, saying some other countries, especially China, were ripping the US off and taking manufacturing business away.

Trump said powerful companies had "raped" the United States.

"They've been screwing us for so many years that we're allowed to get some of that back," Trump said about charging tariffs from countries.

Economists warn Trump's proposed tariffs would drive up consumer costs.

Trump has also claimed he can use tariffs to reduce the US budget deficit and pay for an expansion of childcare funding, even as he proposes other ideas without saying how he would replace the lost funding.

But the former president seemed to not understand the difference between the budget deficit and trade imbalances, treating the two economic measures as essentially the same thing.

He also claimed "we had the highest job numbers in my administration", but that is not true any longer.

The unemployment rate fell slightly lower under Biden - to 3.4 per cent in early 2023, below 3.5 per cent before the pandemic under Trump.

Harris held a rally near Phoenix, Arizona, after taking part in the town hall for the Spanish-language network Univision.

She is looking to increase support among Hispanic voters, especially men.

At the town hall, when Harris was asked to explain how she replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket, she responded: "President Biden made a decision that I think history will show was probably one of the most courageous a president could make."

She said Biden "put country before personal interest" and "urged me to run".