The Countdown: AOC on Twitch, Lesley Stahl and Obama's inspiration
- Published
Thirteen days left and hundreds of thousands of people watched AOC as a small pink alien live on Twitch. What else happened?
US President Donald Trump lashed out at TV host Lesley Stahl after she interviewed him, and as Wisconsin votes early (encouraged by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver) the spotlight is on the most segregated city in America.
The news in four sentences
1. US President Donald Trump has a bank account in China, reports the New York Times, external, which was used to pay local taxes between 2013 and 2015 - before he became president and sparked a trade war with Beijing.
2. At the White House, US President Donald Trump abruptly ended the filming of an interview with the influential TV show 60 Minutes then sent a series of tweets criticising host Lesley Stahl, external for not wearing a mask among other things, and threatened to post a copy of the interview before it aired.
3. What happens to extra money for jobs, benefits and the economy hit by coronavirus is still unclear as reports suggest Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is telling senators he does not want to agree a stimulus deal with the Democrats before the election.
4. There may not have been much to inspire you about 2020 but for former President Barack Obama, external "one of the most inspiring things about this year has been to see so many young Americans... fighting for change" - and he will make his first appearance for the Biden campaign in Philadelphia later today.
A rally-sized crowd watched AOC on Twitch
A punishing day in politics and then you go online to kill imposters - watched by hundreds of thousands of fellow gamers.
As a pink alien, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played Among Us on streaming platform Twitch with some of the world's best-known gamers to encourage people to vote.
"Today I was killed by @AOC in Among Us in about the first five minutes," one player tweeted. , external
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About 700,000 people tuned in to watch for hours - if you count the 400,000-odd who tuned into her stream, external as well as those who watched streamers like HasanAbi and Pokimane.
As an election stunt for a socially distanced Covid-era where crowds are frowned upon, those numbers hold their own with any election rally.
Politico journalist Zach Montellaro points out this, external "is probably going to be the single-largest event to reach young voters".
The battle for America's most segregated city
Early voting began in Wisconsin yesterday, and the queues looked long.
In 2016, low turnout among African-Americans in the state's biggest city, Milwaukee, helped Donald Trump win the state by a slim majority.
It's America's most segregated city, says a 2018 think tank report, external, and Joe Biden will need black voters there if he's to win the state back.
This year there are fears that the black vote, particularly in the Midwest, is being targeted to discourage people from voting. Fake calls warning African-Americans that voting by mail could mean their personal information gets shared is one disinformation strategy as this piece in the MIT Technology review sets out. , external
Yesterday, musician Justin Vernon of Bon Iver joined a drive to encourage people in the state to vote, and got the vocal support of Biden-backer Taylor Swift, external, for it - though how much of a draw Bon Iver and Taylor Swift are to non-white voters remains to be seen.
- Published20 October 2020
- Published20 October 2020
- Published19 October 2020
