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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Kamala Harris to speak at convention of historically Black sorority in Indiana

Vice President Kamala Harris attends an event on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday. She travels to Indiana for a speech on Wednesday. Photo by Ting Shen/UPI | License Photo

July 24 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Indianapolis on Wednesday to speak to the national convention of Zeta Phi Beta sorority as she continues to wrap up previously scheduled events on her now presidential campaign trail.

In a previously planned trip, Harris will address some 6,000 members of the historically Black sorority at the Indiana Convention Center during its biannual conference.

Harris is in her first full week of campaigning as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election.

"To have the honor of being visited by the sitting vice president of the United States is a great honor for our organization," Stacie Grant, international president and CEO of Zeta Phi Beta told WXIN-TV. "It is a first for us and we are thrilled."

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Harris, a graduate of HBCU Howard University in Washington, is a member of another Black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. It marks an opportunity for Harris to galvanize support among a key Democratic demographic group in Black women.

"We are so excited to have her come but I'm a little nervous," Kansas City convention attendee Daphne Caldwell told WISH-TV. "It feels like women are going to be empowered. We can't wait to hear all the policies she has for us. And not just for women but for everyone in the whole country."

Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance will also be in Indiana, but he will unlikely cross paths with Harris. Vance is scheduled to speak in Fort Wayne at a Republican fundraiser.

Harris asks for 2024 support from women of color during an address at a historically Black sorority

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she is introduced during the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to board Air Force Two at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Harris is traveling to Indianapolis to deliver the keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boul’ event. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Vice President Kamala Harris greets Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Ill., as she arrives to board Air Force Two at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Harris is traveling to Indianapolis to deliver the keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boul’ event. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to board Air Force Two at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, July 24, 2024 and is escorted by U.S. Air Force, Director of Flightline Protocol, Maj. Philippe Caraghiaur. Harris is traveling to Indianapolis to deliver the keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boul’ event. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Indianapolis International Airport, Wednesday, July 24, 2024 in Indianapolis. Harris is in Indianapolis to give a keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boul’ event. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

(Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

BY JOSH BOAK
July 24, 2024

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told members of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta on Wednesday that “we are not playing around” and asked for their help in electing her president in November.

“In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation, one focused on the future, the other focused on the past,” she said in a speech three days after after launching her bid for the White House. “And with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

Voters in Indiana haven’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 16 years. But Harris, a woman of Black and South Asian descent, was speaking to a group already excited by her historic status as the likely Democratic nominee and one that her campaign hopes can expand its coalition.

On Wednesday, she thanked the room full of women for their work electing her vice president, and Joe Biden president. “And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again,” she said.

In a memo released Wednesday, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon pointed to support among female, nonwhite and younger voters as critical to success.

“Where Vice President Harris goes, grassroots enthusiasm follows,” O’Malley Dillon wrote. “This campaign will be close, it will be hard fought, but Vice President Harris is in a position of strength — and she’s going to win.”

Still, Democrats face challenges as the country is nursing frustrations over higher prices following a spike in inflation, while Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, survived a recent assassination attempt that further energized his already loyal base. But the memo was more optimistic than the narrow path the campaign saw after the 81-year old Biden delivered a disastrous debate performance in June. He quit the race Sunday.

Harris mentioned he’d be addressing the nation later Wednesday on why he decided to step aside, and called him a “leader with a bold vision.”

“We are all deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation,” she said before turning to contrast the administration’s agenda with that of Trump’s.

“These extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back,” she said. “All across our nation we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights.”

She cited the freedom to vote, to be safe from gun violence, to love whom you want to love openly, to “learn and acknowledge our true and full history,” and the freedom “of a woman to make decisions about her body and not have her government telling her what to do.”

While the campaign will keep emphasizing what it calls its Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to get the needed 270 electoral votes, Harris hopes to be competitive in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada as well.

Trump has generally run stronger with white voters who do not hold a college degree. AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of voters and nonvoters that aims to tell the story behind election results, found that group made up 43% of all voters in 2020 and Trump won them by a margin of 62% to 37%, even though overall he lost the election.

For Democrats, Black women would probably make a fundamental difference in November, and Harris has already shown signs of galvanizing their support.

In the 2020 election, AP VoteCast found that Black women were just 7% of the electorate. But 93% of them voted for Biden, helping to give him narrow victories in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

After Harris announced her candidacy, roughly 90,000 Black women logged onto a video call Sunday night for her campaign. It was a sudden show of support for an alumni of Howard University and sister in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority who has made Beyonce’s song “Freedom” her walk-on music at events.

Harris will follow her Indiana trip by going to Houston to speak Thursday at the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed her candidacy.

In her 1st campaign rally, Harris says building middle class to be her 'defining goal'

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday for her first presidential campaign rally.

Photo by Ting Shen/UPI | License Photo

July 23 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris said building up the nation's middle class will be her focus if elected president during her first campaign event as the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee.

"Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency," Harris said. "When our middle class is strong, America is strong."

Harris appeared in Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon to deliver her first rally speech since President Joe Biden announced he would end his campaign and endorsed her.

Harris said her campaign is focused on the future.

"We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity to not just get by but to get ahead," Harris told the rally attendees.

"No child has to grow up in poverty," Harris said. "Every worker has the freedom to join a union."

She said everyone should have access to affordable health care, affordable child care and paid family medical leave.

"We believe in a future where every senior can retire in dignity," Harris added.

Harris also tried to tie former President Donald Trump to Project 2025 and claimed it is his platform.

Trump has denied having any knowledge of Project 2025 and said claims like the one Harris made Tuesday are "pure disinformation."

Trump said the Republican Party platform has nothing to do with the 2025 Project, which the Heritage Foundation created. Critics, though, point out that Trump embraced almost two-thirds of the policy recommendations made by the Heritage Foundation during his first year in the White House.

The Wisconsin visit is the ninth for Harris since becoming vice president and her fifth this year.

Since Harris announced her run for president, Wisconsin Democrats, including Gov. Tony Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Gwen Moore and Rep. Mark Pocan, have all rallied behind her.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also publicly endorsed Harris for the presidency on Tuesday.

"Democrats have built a massive coordinated campaign in Wisconsin, which is now entirely focused on electing Kamala Harris as president," Harris' campaign said in a statement.

Harris' arrival in Milwaukee also came in the wake of the city hosting the Republican National Convention last week, where Trump officially accepted the party's nomination to run for president.

"Over the next few months, I will be traveling across the country talking to Americans about everything that is on the line," Harris said in a statement Monday as she said she had secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee for the party.

"I fully intend to unite our party, unite our nation and defeat Donald Trump in November," Harris added.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Winkler said more than 90% of the state's delegates have pledged their support for Harris.

She is expected to fly back to Washington after the rally.

Harris is still awaiting a virtual roll call from the Democratic National Committee as well as its convention next month in Chicago before becoming the official nominee of the party.

In Milwaukee, Vice President Harris lays out choice between ‘compassion’ and ‘chaos’

Baylor Spears, Wisconsin Examiner
July 24, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris (Jeff Kowalsky | AFP | Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her case for the presidency to an energetic crowd in the gym of West Allis Central High School in Milwaukee on Tuesday — two days after President Joe Biden decided to step out of the 2024 presidential race.

The rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which was planned before Biden’s decision to drop out, was Harris’ first as the all-but-certain Democratic nominee, having gathered the support of enough delegates to secure the nomination on Monday. The energy at the rally was palpable with rally-goers embracing Harris’ candidacy after weeks of uncertainty that plagued Democrats following Biden’s unsteady debate performance in June.

Harris painted a stark contrast between her campaign and that of former President Donald Trump.

“Ultimately, in this election we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?” Harris said. “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?”

She pointed to her experience as the California attorney general, San Francisco district attorney and as a prosecutor, saying it prepared her to run against Trump.

“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who wrote the rules for their own game.” Harris said. “So hear me what I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.” The crowd erupted into cheers and chants of “Kamala!” “Kamala!” Kamala!”

Harris said she would “proudly” put her record up against Trump’s any day. She also emphasized, however, that the campaign is not “just about us versus Donald Trump.”

“This campaign is about who we fight for,” Harris said, adding that it would be a “people powered” campaign.

“This campaign is also about two different visions for our nation — one where we are focused on the future, the other focused on the past,” Harris said. “We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity, not just to get by, but to get ahead, a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, where every worker has the freedom to join a union, where everyone has affordable health care, child care and paid family leave…. This is to say building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”

More than 3,000 people attended the rally according to the Harris campaign — making it the largest event of the year for the Biden, now Harris, campaign.

(Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Harris was welcomed to Milwaukee by Wisconsin Democratic leaders, many of whom announced their support of Harris’ candidacy within 48 hours of Biden’s announcement. Before Harris took the stage, those leaders sought to emphasize the stakes of the election.

Gov. Tony Evers said that on his excitement scale — which goes from “holy mackerel and maxes out at heck yes” — he was “jazzed as hell” to welcome Harris to Wisconsin. He said the choice has never been clearer.

“Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s path to seizing power, destroying our democracy and taking away our freedoms runs right through the state of Wisconsin, and we are going to stop them,” Evers said.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, who kicked off the event, said that Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, want to take the country backwards. He told rally-goers to google Project 2025 — the 900-page document created by the Heritage Foundation that is meant to serve as a policy blueprint for the Trump administration.

Wikler, before taking the stage, told reporters that the biggest challenge of the campaign is “totally out the window.”

“If you’d asked me six weeks ago, what was the biggest challenge in this campaign? I would have said the biggest challenge is that a lot of voters have stopped paying attention. They’re not tuning in. They’re not paying attention to what Trump wants to do to this country,” Wikler said.

“This is now one of the most fascinating and exciting presidential elections in modern history and Vice President Harris is an unparalleled messenger for a message of freedom, of expanding democracy and hope and opportunity, of lifting up working people in every corner of this country,” Wikler said.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley told the Examiner that he is starting to see enthusiasm about Harris online, at home from his wife and daughters and in general.

“We’ve been dealing with distractions for the past couple of weeks, past couple of months — whether or not Biden was going to stay in this race and many Democrats calling for him to step aside,” Crowley said. “This gives us an opportunity again to focus on the issues that are at hand — focusing on reproductive rights, focusing on making sure that we can move this entire country forward and really unifying this country.”

The issue of reproductive rights came up repeatedly from elected officials as well as attendees of the rally and in Harris’ remarks.

“We trust women to make decisions about their own body,” Harris said.

Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski rallied the crowd by saying that Harris could help break the “glass ceiling” finally. She told the Examiner that Harris would be able to bring reproductive rights to the forefront of the campaign in part because she is a woman.

“For far too long, women have felt that reproductive rights has been treated like an afterthought, and part of that reason is because we don’t have a woman fighting at the front of that line,” Godlewski said. “[Harris] understands that it’s our body, it’s our choice and it’s not going to be this second or third tier issue. It’s going to be a top priority for her to make sure we get these reproductive rights back once and for all.”

More than 3,000 people attended the rally according to the Harris campaign — making it the largest event of the year for the Biden, now Harris, campaign.

Déysha Smith-Jenkins, a Milwaukee freelance journalist, said she was feeling “fired up” following the speech.

“I love how she emphasized ‘We.’ I didn’t hear what ‘I will do.’ It was ‘We’ — We, as a people, we, as a nation, we, as a Democratic party, in order for us to keep fighting and get this job done. … I’m sweating with excitement,” Smith-Jenkins said. “I believe in the words that she said.”

Smith-Jenkins said she was planning on attending the rally before Biden dropped out but Harris’ candidacy gave her a reason to wear her “power green suit.” She is part of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. — AKA — the same historically Black sorority that Harris joined at Howard University.

Déysha Smith-Jenkins is part of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. — AKA — the same historically Black sorority that Harris joined at Howard University. She wore her “power green” suit for the rally. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

“Now that [Kamala Harris] was already the [VPOTUS], president doesn’t seem too far, so that just goes to say there’s no dream that’s too wide, too far that can’t be reached and it’s amazing to see someone that looks like me in a position that way. And also we just happen to be in the same sorority,” Smith-Jenking said. “It’s beautiful.”

Jodi Jean Amble attended the rally with her 9-year-old daughter, Ada. She said that she wanted her daughter to see a Black woman running for president.

“[My daughter] said this morning that she didn’t know if she wanted to come, but she thought when she was an adult, she would regret it if she didn’t,” Amble said. “I think she knows that she’s seeing a big piece of history.”

Chris Ahmuty, a Milwaukee retiree who used to serve as the executive director of the Wisconsin ACLU, said Harris’ candidacy will “give us a chance to reset the election and offer some real hope.” He was at a fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is being challenged by Republican millionaire businessman Eric Hovde, when he and the other attendees learned that Biden would be dropping out.

“It’s not about [Biden’s] fitness to serve out the end of his term. He’s totally fit. He’s certainly done a good job… but my concern for quite a while has been, what about in two years? What about in three years? Are we just postponing a crisis?” Ahmuty said.

Ahmuty, who has lived in Milwaukee since 1972, said he appreciates that Harris, who is 59, is younger. He said that he hopes the “reset of the campaign” will solidify the Democratic base and bring in voters who were less enthusiastic about Biden, including young voters.

16-year-old Ava Hicks of Milwaukee said it was exciting to learn that Biden would be stepping out of the race.

“I think universally, everyone’s kind of tired of these older candidates and staying a little bit redundant, so it’s nice to see something fresh,” Hicks said.

Hicks noted that she won’t be able to vote in November, but that “it’s really important that everyone gets out.” She is a part of High School Democrats of America, and said she would be working to organize and spread awareness leading up to November.

“Women’s rights, education costs, everything is on the ballot this November,” she said.

In a similar vein, Harris told rally-goers that there is a lot of work to be done in the 105 days left until the November 5 election.

“We have doors to knock on. We have phone calls to make. Wisconsin, today I ask you, are you ready to get to work? Are we ready to fight for it? When we fight, we win,” Harris said, before walking off the stage to Beyonce’s song ‘Freedom.’

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and X.

Kamala Harris defines campaign in roaring rally: ‘People first’ vs. ‘America first’

David Badash,

The New Civil Rights Movement
July 23, 2024

live.staticflickr.com

Speaking before thousands of cheering and screaming supporters in must-win Wisconsin, Kamala Harris defined herself and her campaign for President in her first rally after President Joe Biden announced he would not continue his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president. Harris repeatedly used the term “people first,” a clear contrast to the MAGA Republican nominee’s “America First” rhetoric.

“Just look at how we are running our campaign. So Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions,” Harris said, eliciting boos from the crowd. “A couple of months ago, y’all saw that? A couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago, he literally promised big oil companies – big oil lobbyists – he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.”

The crowd again booed.

“On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign,” Harris said to cheers, “and we just had, some breaking news, we just had the best 24 hours,” Harris continued before the crowd again broke out into cheers, “of grassroots fundraising in presidential campaign history. And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people first presidency.”

Before pivoting to Donald Trump, Harris shared with her supporters her law enforcement background. She was elected as San Francisco’s District Attorney, which she described as being a “courtroom prosecutor,” and later, elected as California Attorney General.

“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” the Vice President said, “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,” Harris declared, stopping to take a long, hard stare into the camera.

Harris also told supporters she will protect the right to vote, the right to “live safe from the terror of gun violence.”

“We’ll finally pass red flag laws, universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban,” she declared to cheers.

“And we, who believe in reproductive freedom, will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies,” she said to wild cheers, “and not have their government tell them what to do,” she concluded, forced to shout above the roaring crowd.

According to the Institute for Policy Studies’s Foreign Policy in Focus, the “America First” label “began to develop a racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic tone after World War I. The Ku Klux Klan, which surged to some five million members at that time, employed it frequently for its terrorist mobilizations. Like the Klan, nativist groups took up ‘America First’ as they used racist, eugenicist claims to press, successfully, for U.S. government restrictions on immigration. Appealing to an overheated nationalism, William Randolph Hearst used his newspaper empire to campaign, successfully, against U.S. participation in the League of Nations. Soon thereafter, he became a booster of other nationalist fanatics, the rising fascist powers.”

Watch: 'Hell, she's impressive': Harris praised for energetic Wisconsin speech

Brad Reed
July 23, 2024

RAW STORY

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 21: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a speech before an enthusiastic crowd in Milwaukee on Tuesday that earned plaudits from many progressive political observers — as well as relief about the contrast she delivers between herself and both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Harris, who was endorsed by Biden on Sunday after he announced that he would be dropping out of the 2024 race, delivered a fiery address that touched on themes ranging from voting rights to reproductive freedoms to gun safety.

Writing on Twitter, many progressives took immediate note of the jolt of energy she had injected into the campaign.

"Elections are about all kinds of things, but I think a happy person talking about the future fits the moment better than an angry old man yelling about the past," argued Slate columnist Zachary Carter.

Watching Kamala Harris speaking in Wisconsin... By hell she’s impressive," wrote British broadcaster and media personality Carol Vorderman. "And she’s going to win … she’s energizing the young voters and has no fear of the fight."

RELATED: Harris leads Trump in first poll taken since Biden quit

NYU Law professor Chris Sprigman, meanwhile, praised Harris for delivering "a smiling, warm, positive affect, combined with coherent, declarative sentences in plain English."

"The election is going to be hard-fought," he added. "But God what a relief."

"So glad Harris is going with a future-focused message against Trump," commented Pod Save America host Tommy Vietor. "That's been missing to date imo. This is a Janet Jackson election: what have you done for me lately?"

Political reporters who watched the event also took notice of the new energy delivered by Harris.

"Hard to overstate how hyped the crowd is," wrote Politico Playbook's Eugene Daniels.

"Very different vibe than usual."

"The contrast between Harris's speech and the speeches we've been hearing Biden give all year was striking," wrote New York Times reporter Peter Baker. "At none of the Biden speeches I've covered lately was the case made against the other side this sharply defined and delivered nor has there been this kind of energy."

'Entirely different race': CNN panel in awe as Kamala Harris redefines the war on Trump

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
July 23, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the third meeting of the National Space Council, Dec. 20, 2023. Photo: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A panel of CNN experts sought to make sense of how the presidential race is being reshaped, as Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage in Milwaukee for a packed rally.

"This is a prosecutor making her case," said reporter Jeff Zeleny. "This is also the same vice president who has been out there really for the last three years making speeches, but not when she is at the top of the ticket, something has changed obviously. Now this is her burden. This is her case. And often when the vice president has been out there — I've been at several of her rallies, she's been talking about the Affordable Care Act, the infrastructure fund. She's been selling the administration's programs, but not in a political speech like this."

"So look, the race to define Vice President Kamala Harris is on," Zeleny continued. "She is locked in this race. Obviously, she's trying to define herself as the prosecutor and the Republicans are also trying to define her, but in this key moment here, right out of the gate, it was just striking to watch." After months of handwringing from Democrats over President Joe Biden's fitness to run, "Just judging her stamina, her energy and her acuity at taking this onto Donald Trump, we're in an entirely different race now."

Analyst Kristen Holmes concurred with this assessment — and added that this moment is critical for the Trump campaign.

"I think right now what the Trump folks are focused on is this race to define Kamala Harris," said Holmes. "Because when they look at all the polling, they obviously see the same thing that everybody else did, which was that Kamala Harris has high name identification. But when it comes to what people actually know about Harris, not just as vice president, but also as her time as a prosecutor, most people don't know a lot about her history ... you are going to see [Trump] trying to educate people or quote-unquote, 'introduce' Kamala Harris, their version of Kamala Harris, to the American public, and it's obviously going to be increasingly negative."

At the same time, she added, Trump's main pollster Tony Fabrizio has a memo out warning that there will likely be a "Harris honeymoon" that wipes out Trump's monthslong, tenuous polling lead.

"They expect over time, things will even out," she said, but "again, this is expectation setting for people who have been seeing these poll numbers with Donald Trump. Probably also expectation setting for the candidate himself."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Kamala Harris could bring shift in Gaza war policy

Washington (AFP) – Kamala Harris's outspoken stance on the Gaza war hints at a possible shift from Joe Biden's Israel policy as she eyes the Democratic presidential nomination -- as Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to find out this week.

Issued on: 23/07/2024 -

Kamala Harris made a strong call for a Gaza ceasefire in a speech to mark "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama, in March 2024

© SAUL LOEB / AFP/File

The US vice president will be conspicuously absent from the Israeli leader's address to the US Congress on Wednesday, in what analysts said was a clear signal about her concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza.

The 59-year-old has never contradicted Biden on Israel. Time and again, however, she has been the US administration official most loudly calling for a ceasefire in the conflict.

With Biden's shock exit from the White House race, Harris has a chance to make a "clean slate" on an issue where there has been a risk of alienating a swathe of Democratic voters ahead of November's election, said Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group.

"The Israel-Gaza issue is the one where there is the most daylight between Biden and Harris, and I think there's going to be people inside her camp that are going to push her to make that difference explicit," he told AFP.
'Immense suffering'

Biden has strongly supported Israel's war on Hamas since the group's October 7 attacks, and kept up military aid despite tensions with Netanyahu.

Hamas's attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

US President Joe Biden (L) has strongly supported Israel's war on Hamas and kept up military aid despite tensions with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (R) © Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,090 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

While Harris has not broken from Biden on the issue, her statements on the conflict -- which has seen swathes of Gaza reduced to rubble -- have been more nuanced.

In March, she made what were then the strongest comments to date by any US administration official when she called for a ceasefire deal to end the "immense suffering", and criticized Israel over insufficient aid deliveries to Gaza.

The message was underlined by the first Black US vice president's choice of site to deliver it: Selma, Alabama, where in 1965 a civil rights march was violently suppressed by police on what is known as "Bloody Sunday."

It followed a pattern of remarks where she pushed the envelope of what the White House was saying about the death toll and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
'Unwavering commitment'

The issue will now come to the fore when Netanyahu visits Washington this week.

Reflecting the new reality of an outgoing president and his expected replacement as Democratic contender, Biden and Harris will hold separate meetings with the Israeli premier.

Harris's camp says that a previously scheduled campaign trip to a Black sorority in Indianapolis means she cannot fulfill the usual vice presidential role of presiding over Congress during Netanyahu's visit.

Her staff moved quickly to dampen suggestions of a snub.

"Her travel to Indianapolis on July 24 should not be interpreted as a change in her position with regard to Israel," an aide told AFP, noting her "unwavering commitment" to its security.

Biden, whose tensions with Netanyahu have burst into the open in recent months despite the president's stalwart support for Israel, is also set to miss the speech.

Clarke said Harris's decision was not necessarily a "cold shoulder" but added that "clearly, if she wanted to be there, she could be... it's something of kind of signal that, hey, things are going to be different."
'Orchestrated public dispute'

The Gaza war remains very much a factor in the US presidential election.

Biden's policy incensed large numbers of Democratic voters and threatened his party's hopes of winning the swing state of Michigan, which is home to a large Arab-American population.

Former US President Donald Trump has also declared strong support for Israel in its war in Gaza © Giorgio VIERA / AFP

Harris and her family have straddled the political divide on the issue. Her husband Doug Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, has made a series of public appearances to condemn rising anti-Semitism since October 7.

The war was an area where Harris could "pick a bit of a orchestrated public dispute" with Biden, said Peter Loge, director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.

It would also help differentiate her from Trump's "all-in" support for Israel, he added.

"Harris has an opportunity to have a bit of a more nuanced position that recognizes those concerns while still supporting Israel -- to create a bit of distance to make that group (those angered by support for Israel) feel okay," Loge said.

© 2024 AFP

From Gaza to China: Where Kamala Harris stands on foreign policy issues

US Vice President Kamala Harris has supported President Joe Biden, a seasoned politician with decades of foreign policy experience, on key international issues. With the former California attorney general and senator set to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, it’s time for Harris to set her agenda on vital issues concerning the international community.

Issued on: 23/07/2024 -

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters at her presidential campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on July 22, 2024.

By:Leela JACINTO AFP

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, the US vice president – who also serves as president of the Senate – will not be in her customary seat on the rostrum, behind the visiting Israeli leader.

Kamala Harris will instead be at another event in Indianapolis, addressing a national convention of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, one of the nation’s oldest university organisations for African American female students.

Senator Benjamin Cardin, a staunchly pro-Israel senator from Maryland, will instead take the US vice president’s seat next to House Speaker Mike Johnson as Netanyahu becomes the first foreign leader to address a joint US Congressional session four times – pulling ahead of Britain's Winston Churchill, at three.

Harris’s team informed the US Senate she would not preside over Netanyahu’s speech before the dramatic developments of the weekend, when President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 White House race, endorsing his 59 year-old vice president as Democratic nominee.

Read moreBiden drops out of White House race, endorses Harris

Briefing reporters on Monday about the scheduling clash, Harris’s aides played down the import of her absence, noting that the vice president will meet Netanyahu separately during his first foreign visit since the October 7 Hamas attack.

But with Harris set to clinch the Democratic nomination, her decision to skip Netanyahu’s address has come under intense scrutiny, highlighting the divisions among US voters on the Gaza war in the lead-up to the November presidential election.

Foreign policy is not the strong suit of the woman aiming to be the 47th president of the USA. It’s also a particularly fraught issue for Washington’s allies as they warily eye US security commitments after Trump picked Senator JD Vance – who has openly touted isolationist foreign policies – as his running mate.

Read moreEuropeans wary as Trump picks Vance for running mate
On ‘terra incognita’

A law school graduate and former California attorney general, Harris has spent much of her political career focused on domestic issues.

As vice president, she bucked a longstanding trend in US politics, which has seen the country’s second-most powerful official provide foreign policy expertise to newly elected presidents.

In the 2000 race for instance, when George W. Bush picked Dick Cheney – who had served as his father’s defence secretary during the Gulf War – as a running mate, it was viewed as a counterweight to the younger Bush’s lack of foreign policy experience.

Biden’s appointment as Barack Obama’s running mate was perhaps the best example of a newcomer president seeking a counsel-in-chief on international issues.

Vice President Harris, in contrast, had little foreign policy advice to offer a president who spent 36 years in the US Senate and eight in the White House.

“We’re in terra incognita here, since we don’t know very much about her foreign policy orientation,” said Steven Ekovich, a US politics and foreign policy expert and professor emeritus at the American University of Paris.

After nearly four years in the White House, Harris should be “up to date” on foreign policy issues, Ekovich noted, since vice presidents attend US National Security Council meetings and briefings. “I would assume that at least for the immediate future, she would keep the same direction and the same team. I can't imagine her changing things right away. I think she'll probably be running on a campaign of continuity.”
‘Far greater empathy’ for Palestinians

On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, support for a two-state solution and Israel’s right to self-defence are continuity positions Harris has held since she was elected to the US Senate from California in 2017.

As vice president, Harris has been careful not to contradict Biden’s positions on the Israeli assault on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks. But she has pushed the envelope with her starkly forthright condemnations of Palestinian casualties and the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

At a March 5 event commemorating the 1965 crackdown on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, Harris blasted the inhumane conditions in Gaza, directing the bulk of her comments at the Israeli government.

“People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane and our common humanity compels us to act,” said Harris. “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses,” she added.

A month later, the US vice president once again called on Israel to “do more to protect aid workers” after an Israeli strike on a humanitarian convoy killed seven World Central Kitchen staffers, including a US national.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, said he had a phone conversation with Harris in October and that she had demonstrated “far greater empathy” for Palestinians than Biden and other White House aides.
An eye on young voters in swing states

Democrats are deeply divided over the Gaza war and dozens of left-wing lawmakers within the party are expected to boycott Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday.

These include members of “the squad”, the informal group of young, progressive lawmakers, many of whom – such as New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – have endorsed Harris’s White House bid.

With opinion polls over the past few months consistently showing younger Americans to be more pro-Palestinian than their elders, Harris’s absence at Netanyahu’s address is for “electoral purposes”, according to Ekovich.

“This is particularly true for a couple of swing states like Michigan, where there's Detroit,” he said, referring to the city’s large Arab and African American communities. “In Pennsylvania, we have Philadelphia, which has a large Black population. There is a kind of allergy to Biden’s very strong pro-Israeli position in these places.”

But while the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate has chosen to skip Netanyahu’s address, Ekovich says Harris is unlikely to radically change US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Attending summits Biden skipped

Continuity is also likely to mark Harris’s positions on the Ukraine war and US commitments to NATO, says Ekovich.

The US vice president has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at several international summits, including this year’s Munich Security Conference, where she has stood in for Biden for three consecutive years.

At her last meeting with Zelensky at the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland in June, Harris pledged $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine’s energy sector as well as $379 million in humanitarian assistance.

On China, experts say Harris shares Biden’s positions on security in the Asia-Pacific region and Taiwan. She has also vociferously denounced Beijing’s human rights record in Hong Kong as well as the Uighur-dominated Xinjiang province.

Senior Democrats note that Harris has stepped in as a surrogate for Biden at several international gatherings, including ASEAN and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, giving her valuable foreign policy experience.

“Frankly, she has been stress-tested,” said Representative Adam Smith in an interview with the Politico news site. “She has been the lead spokesperson for the administration at the Munich Security Conference making the case for our role in Ukraine and NATO and in the world, and she’s been really strong.”
Mixed record on Latin America

On Latin America though, her record has been mixed.

Early in his presidency, Biden asked Harris to try to address the root problems of migration at the southern border by focusing on countries in Central and South America.

Sticking to the White House brief, Harris repeated the “don’t come” message to migrants illegally trying to cross the southern border with Mexico, much to the chagrin of left-leaning Democrats.

But most experts concede it was an impossible mission and not just for the new vice president. “She was given the immigration file and of course, she didn't solve it because nobody has. Nobody can,” said Ekovich.

But Harris managed to weather the migrant storm by backing a bill providing more funding for US border guards and agencies. The bill was however blocked by the Republicans earlier this year.

Trump has made “illegal immigrants” a central plank of his campaign and is likely to try to corner Harris on the issue. But Ekovich says Trump's tactics could backfire. “If the Republicans, if Trump and Vance, go after her on this, she can just respond that there was a bill on it and the Republicans blocked it,” he explained.

How is Biden's retreat perceived in Africa?

HE IS YOUNG COMPARED TO AFRIKAN LEADERS

Isaac Kaledz

JULY 23,2024

Joe Biden and his US administration sought to strengthen America's ties with Africa. His decision to bow out has attracted a lot of praise, and many Africans seem excited about Kamala Harris replacing him in the race.

What can Africa learn from Biden's eventual - albeit reluctant - humility?

Image: Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS

Incumbent US President Joe Biden's announcement to withdraw from the US presidential race has been hailed as a smart move by many, though there has also been some criticism that he took the decision to exit so late into the campaign.

Biden only left the race after coming under intense pressure from within the ranks of his own party, which according to pollsters would otherwise have been struggling to retain the presidency in the upcoming November election.

Even though the US elections are literally oceans away, many Africans have also expressed a proactive interest in following the election drama in the US. But for some people in Africa, the race nevertheless is closer to home than others.

"It is obvious that his health is not a 100% and he deserves time to heal and not take on the burdens of the whole world," says Patricia Wilkins, an African-American who has been based in Ghana for the past two decades.

"I am very grateful for Joe Biden's long service to our country and his dedication to the Democratic Party."

What made Joe Biden change his mind? 04:40

Excitement for Harris' candidacy

Since Sunday's announcement, Joe Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidential nomination. Harris now looks all set to become the nominee for the Democratic Party.

For many, the prospect of a female US President with roots in Africa, the Caribbean and India, is an exciting prospect.

"I am thrilled at the prospects of Kamala Harris stepping up as a new candidate. Her experience, her resilience, her commitment to justice and equality make her an exceptional leader," says Wilkens, adding that she's been "excited for the past days because of this news."

Wilkins runs an NGO that supports less priviledged students in Ghana. Her enthusiasm for Harris is linked to her work: Some of her students got to meet the current vice president on her recent trip to Africa.

That is closer to a presidential candidate than most people get to be in their entire lifetimes..

US Democrats move to support Harris for presidential race 02:32

Africa's old men's club

The prospect of a dynamic new leader in the White House might meanwhile inspire at least some Africans to reflect about the leadership they have back home.

Africa is home to some of the world's oldest leaders. There's 91-year-old Paul Biya in Cameroon, 81-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa in Cameroon, and 78-year-old Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algeria — to name but a few.

With Biden's age seen as the chief reason for dropping out, some — especially younger generations — hope this could be a lesson for others.

"We shouldn't be seeing 80-year-old men seeking re-election and traveling around the country campaigning. Your body always has a closing time; when your body closes you have to sit at home," says Cyril Anane, a university student in Accra, Ghana's capital.

"We should be more concerned about pushing our leaders to learn from some of these things because leadership is not a birthright." he adds, emphasizing that leaders like Biden have to learn to know when to "sit back and let fresher blood come in and take over."

"I think a leader should actually recognize when it is time for them to step aside for the greater good. Clinching to power only invites riducle and it actually harms the nation as a whole," says Tom-Chris Emewulu, a Nigerian social entepreneur, adding that Biden's debate performance "was particularly of huge concern."

"The recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump further reduced his chances of winning the election," he told DW.

Partnerships with Africa

Emewulu is the founder of an initiative in Ghana called Stars From All Nations (SFAN), which tries to combat youth unemployment. For him, national partnerships are important to help young people.

Emewelu recognizes that the Biden Administration had firmly placed Africa on its agenda as a major priority — especially when compared to previous President Trump, who became known for making disparaging remarks about the continent, for which he is yet to apologize.

Still, he believes that Africa "should focus on negotiating favorable trade partnerships with whoever wins the next election."

Harris' candidacy has caused quite a buzz, even in Africa

Image: Erin Schaff via REUTERS

With Biden now out of the race, some analysts think that African issues might even move further into the forefront of US policy.

"I think the implications [of Biden's withdrawal] are huge. This means that during the campaign period for the next four months, there will be a lot of discussion about African issues based in large parts on Biden and the Biden administration's policies towards Africa," says Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, senior associate for Africa and regional director at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a US-based non-profit organization that works in global partnerships to safeguard democratic institutions and processes.

Harris: A win for Africa

Fomunyoh thinks that if Vice President Harris were to win in the November elections, African partners would only stand to benefit.

"And my sense is that if she wins in November, she will definitely want to pursue the same policy that the Biden administration has had towards the continent."

He also believes that Harris' ethnic origins give further assurances that Africa will be a priority for her, "given that she's African-American, knows the continent, and has visited the continent in the past."

Younger generations meanwhile think that Harris values align better with them. For Anane, it's about time that a woman gets to be the US' commander-in-chief.

"And of course, then the feminists will get the bragging rights as well," he told DW.

For Anane, female empowerment in the states can only echo back to after as a message of hope for everyone.

Do African leaders like Cameroon's 91-year-old President Paul Biya simply not know when it is time to say goodbye?

Image: Stephane Lemouton/abaca/picture alliance

Edited by: Sertan Sanderson

Elon Musk rebukes report that he would spend $45 million monthly on pro-Trump PAC

Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is also the owner of social media platform X, refuted a US media report that he would spend around $45 million (€41.3 million) a month on a political fund helping Donald Trump's White House campaign.

Musk said the claim is "ridiculous."

"I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the PAC are supporting meritocracy & individual freedom," Musk wrote on X.

A Wall Street Journal article published last week reported that Musk had planned to commit the large amount to America PAC, citing "people familiar with the matter." America PAC backs Trump's candidacy.

A political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt organization which collects funds and donates the money for campaigns.

Musk, the richest man in the world, endorsed Trump after the former president was targeted in an assassination attempt on July 13.

https://p.dw.com/p/4ie57

AFRIKA
Are we seeing the end of ECOWAS?

Eddy Micah | Mimi Mefo Takambou | Isaac Kaledzi

July 22, 2024

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, was originally set up to ensure the economic growth and stability of the subregion. But with some members leaving the bloc, is it slowly disintegrating?

Can ECOWAS leaders reform their way out of a regional crisis?

Image: Kola Sulaimon/AFP/Getty Images

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been facing turmoil following the recent exits of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali from the bloc. The three countries, which are all currently under military rule, formed a new security alliance last September, known as the Alliance of Sahel States, after cutting their ties with ECOWAS.

The decision of exit the bloc came in protest of ECOWAS' policy of condemning the coups that took place in those countries and imposing sanctions, including the threat of military involvement.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have said they would not be opposed to using the military strength of their new alliance to fight off any sign of external aggression.

A history of mixed messages from ECOWAS

Adib Saani, a foreign policy and security analyst at the Jatikay Center for Human Security and Peace Building in Accra, Ghana, told DW that this standoff followed the bloc's past failure to deal with autocratic regimes which had eroded its diplomatic influence over the years.

"ECOWAS has a protocol on governance, elections and security. Unfortunately for many years on, there have been [...] dictatorial tendencies exhibited by certain leaders within the subregion which ECOWAS did nothing about," he said, adding that this lack of intervention directly contributed to military regimes taking the liberty "to impose themselves on the people."

Since 2020, there have been six successful coups and two attempts in West Africa.

ECOWAS: What next after Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso quit? 01:42

Who is to blame for instability in West Africa?

Fidel Amakye Owusu, an international relations and security analyst working for Riley Risk, believes, however, that ECOWAS' structures, policies and protocols cannot be blamed for recent instabilities in the region.

"The main reason for these coups wasn't coming the side of ECOWAS. It came from insecurity, violence extremism that had taken hold in northern Mali and was spreading its tentacles in the region," he said. "ECOWAS was incapable of preventing [these] coups."

But Owusu stressed that ECOWAS did fail in its response to these developments: the bloc's protocol stipulates that it is to condemn coups and impose sanctions. However, rather than serving as a deterrent to other countries, this protocol appears to have failed in the past four years.

"[ECOWAS] didn't handle the situation very well," he said, highlighting that the threat to invade Niger after its military takeover was a a particularly "bad move."

"They knew very well that they could not prosecute, and that really rendered them as toothless bulldog," Owusu explained, stressing that this move was the final straw that triggered Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to break away from the bloc in January.

What went wrong for ECOWAS?

ECOWAS has for years been trying to push through several reforms to make the organization more viable and effective. According to Saani, however, the bloc is yet to live up to that vision, with weak national governments showing even weaker commitment to the bloc.

"It has been a challenge because of the lack of commitment from member states. ECOWAS' success rate depends on commitment demonstrated by the member states," he said. "[F]or ECOWAS to succeed would largely depend on the governments. ECOWAS has to work on harnessing trust and confidence between the entity and West Africans."

Owusu agreed on the need for good governance in West Africa, stressing that this lack of leadership is most visible when people are seen celebrating coups when they happen. "These are nostalgic feelings; people have come to feel that the military were in the past more effective than civilian leaders," he said.

Saani added that "to a large extent, ECOWAS has lost a great deal of legitimacy," with "many West Africans calling it a presidents' club rather than [a bloc] representing the interest of [...] citizens."

ECOWAS leaders have reacted to this loss in esteem, hoping to change hearts and minds. At their latest summit in Nigeria earlier this month, they agreed to seek solutions and address the sense of mistrust in leaders within the region.

They also vowed to continue talks with Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali in hopes of winning them back.

Explainer: What is the ECOWAS? 01:28

'Disastrous' consequences if ECOWAS fails

Saani believes that despite its many challenges, ECOWAS remains the most viable union to foster both economic growth and political stability in West Africa.

In addition to seeking "to unite all the countries within the West African subcontinent under one economic umbrella," ECOWAS also still holds a certain amount of "military leverage to restore some level of security within the subregion," he said.

Saani pointed out that when Sierra Leone and Liberia faced security crises over their civil wars, ECOWAS deployed troops to help tackle those situations.

"It was ECOWAS that intervened to ensure that peace was restored in these countries and many others over the years," he said.

Owusu shared the same view, emphasizing that "ECOWAS took initiative when the whole world was bowing out [...] and they solved the problem."

However, in order to ensure the future of the bloc, Owusu said ECOWAS has to undergo further reforms and produce strong leaders who are committed to the aspirations of the bloc.

Saani, meanwhile, said he fears that if ECOWAS were to disintegrate, "it would be chaotic" and "disastrous" for all of West Africa.

"Businesses would come to a halt. If ECOWAS doesn't exit, it means the borders are shut. You would need visas, and you have to go through a protracted customs procedure to get goods in and out," he warned. "I think that it is better with ECOWAS than without ECOWAS."

Edited by: Sertan Sanderson

Mimi Mefo Takambou Award-winning Cameroonian-born journalist.https://x.com/mimimefo

Isaac Kaledzi Freelance reporter based in Accra, Ghana.@isaackaledzi

Explained: Extreme cold in Argentina’s Patagonia region

Fernando Mateos Frühbeck

July 22, 2024

While scientists can explain why Patagonia had a freak freeze in July, they say it's harder to pin it on climate change, at this time, without more data.

The lucky ones: Other sheep were buried in the snow

Ministerio de Defensa de Argentina

When Patagonia was hit by a wave of unusual, extreme weather, it recorded temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit). It is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, but those temperatures were beyond normal.

Ducks froze to death in ponds, sheep were stuck in piles of snow, and military personnel transported food to affected areas for people and livestock.

"This is an unusual phenomenon," said Raúl Cordero, a climatologist at the University of Santiago de Chile. But he added it was not the first of the season and "may not be the last."

What's the origin of the extreme cold in Patagonia?

The low temperatures in Patagonia and the Southern Cone of Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil) are due to the arrival of cold air from Antarctica.

High pressure at the southern tip of the continent pulled polar air northwards. That happens when the polar vortex — a belt of strong winds that keeps cold air over the South Pole — is weak.

"The unusual weakness of the Antarctic polar vortex increases the likelihood of polar air masses escaping to inhabited areas in the southern hemisphere. In other words, the likelihood of cold waves increases," said Cordero.

The cold wave —the opposite of a heat wave — of July 2024 was the second time in three months that that had happened in the region.

What are the implications for global temperatures?

Cordero said the cold snaps in Patagonia are unlikely to affect the global climate. Rather, he said, it would be the other way around: It will be changes in the global climate that contributed to a weak Antarctic polar vortex, resulting in the cold waves in the Latin America's Southern Cone.

"While these low temperatures were recorded in populated areas of the Southern Cone, the highest temperatures ever observed were recorded in the upper Antarctic atmosphere," said Cordero.

Australia and New Zealand were also likely to be affected by extreme cold snaps, he said. And, indeed, a weather station in Queensland, Australia, recorded the coldest night in 120 years on July 18, 2024.

But the researcher said the cold wave could have a small positive impact at a more local level.

Patagonia's icefields cover more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) on the border between Chile and Argentina. They "lose on average between 10 billion and 15 billion tons of ice every year. Although recent cold spells will not change this trend, they may at least make this year's balance less negative," said Cordero.

Is climate change behind the extreme cold?

Some research focused on the Northern Hemisphere indicates that such cold waves may be due to climate change.

A 2012 study by the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts, US, suggested that accelerated Arctic warming had affected air streams that controlled the climate. That would increase the likelihood of extreme events in mid-latitudes, causing or contributing to droughts, floods, cold and heat waves.

Another study published by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2021 suggested that Arctic warming had contributed to the frequency of severe winters in the US.

The researchers found that changes in the Arctic could change the stratospheric polar vortex, causing very cold air to move southward, leading to extreme cold waves.

Cold waves and climate change: Not enough scientific proof

This evidence is a matter of debate, however, and part of the scientific community disagrees.

"I don't think Arctic warming has a big role in the cold extremes over midlatitudes. Our work has shown these are likely explained by natural variability and have occurred despite, rather than because of, global warming," said James Screen, Professor of Climatology at the University of Exeter, and contributor to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Experts agree that such winters will become less and less common on the planet if CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise.

"In most parts of the world, the warming effects of climate change will exceed any potential cooling effect from shifting weather patterns due to Arctic warming," said Screen.

Cordero agrees that "[these] cold waves will not change the warming trend in Patagonia, which is as evident as in the rest of the world."

Extreme cold does not counter global heating

Despite a scientific consensus on global heating, such cold episodes have been used by climate deniers to defend their positions.

"[They] are confusing short-term variations in weather with long-term variations in climate," said Screen. "A single cold extreme is a weather phenomenon."

But when we look at how cold extremes have changed over multiple decades, he said, they have become less frequent and less severe globally.

"Global warming is an upward trend in the average global temperature. A few cold snaps, however extreme, are not going to change this trend," said Cordero.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

Sources:

Evidence linking Arctic amplification to extreme weather in mid-latitudes; published by Jennifer A. Francis, Stephen J. Vavrus in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (March 2012) https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051000

Linking Arctic variability and change with extreme winter weather in the United States; published by Judah Cohen et al. in the journal Science (September 2021) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi9167

Fernando Mateos Frühbeck Fernando is a Spanish journalist. He's worked in radio, television, print and documentary film.