Donald Trump latest updates: Trump reposts AI Taylor Swift ‘endorsement’ while George Santos to learn his fate in court

Here’s James Liddell with more adventures in artifice from Trump, further evidence that he’s lost his knack as a poster.

This is what a non-weird presidential campaign looks like, by the way.

The Democratic ticket toured western Pennsylvania by bus on Sunday, meeting voters, giving speeches, answering policy questions from reporters, manning a phone bank and even stopping at a gas station for Doritos.

You know, like normal politicians actually interested in governing.

The disgraced former New York Republican congressman and Trump ally, ousted amid a series of scandals, is reportedly set to accept a plea deal in his federal criminal case today in order to avoid a trial.

Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.

Trump has seemingly turned to artificial intelligence to suggest Taylor Swift fans are supporters of his, as he desperately battles to win back the limelight with Kamala Harris’s Democratic National Convention kicking off in Chicago today.

On Sunday, the former president used his Truth Social platform to post a string of screenshots showing alleged Swift fans dressed in T-shirts reading: “Swifties for Trump.”

Above the images, he wrote: “I accept!”

This is just getting tragic.

That said, at least one of those people featured above is real.

Jenna Piwowarczyk has sent The Independent the following shot of herself with Trump in Racine, Wisconsin, taken as he rallied there on June 18, so there are some true “Swifties for Trump” out there.

Here’s more from Becca Monaghan.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, meanwhile made a bizarre comparison between the Democrat and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein over the weekend, a smear certain to backfire given that Trump once praised Epstein as a “terrific guy” and has been photographed in his company.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has already made light work of this ill-advised comparison from Vance, a candidate Beshear has delighted in trashing over Hillbilly Elegy.

Here’s John Bowden’s report.

Despite the best efforts of Graham, Nikki Haley, Kevin McCarthy, Kellyanne Conway, Megyn Kelly and many other influential conservatives, Trump has so far shown little appetite for a change in strategy or capacity to implement one, declaring that he was “better looking” than Kamala Harris during a rally in Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night while again insisting she has “the laugh of a crazy person”.

Harris has, so far, largely ignored these lame assaults, rather than dignify them with a response – a wise move.

At the same event, Trump also rambled on about TiVo, betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of tariffs and forgot what state he was in, none of which was a great look for a man who suddenly finds himself the oldest presidential candidate in American history.

Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.

Donald Trump has been warned by MAGA ally Lindsey Graham that he could lose November’s presidential election to Kamala Harris if he continues to indulge his “provocateur” instincts by making personal attacks on his Democratic rival, rather than offering substantive policy critiques.

The South Carolina Senator became the latest Republican to call on Trump to switch tactics when he told Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday: “Donald Trump – President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America, and if you have a policy debate for president, he wins.

“But Donald Trump, the private citizen, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.”

Here’s John Bowden’s report.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the 2024 US presidential election as Donald Trump and JD Vance take on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the race for the White House.