Trump attacks Obamacare premium hike and looks forward to fighting Joe Biden

Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.

Donald Trump and vice president Joe Biden are going back-and-forth like middle schoolers. After Biden said he would like to, “take him [Trump] behind the gym” Trump responded.

“He wants to bring me to the back of the barn. Ohhhhhh," Trump said with mock fear, botching Biden's quote. "Some things in life you can really love doing.”

Trump received a gift after it was announced that Obamacare premiums would rise in 38 states, and he wasted no time capitalizing on the news while campaigning in Florida.

“This election is going to be about Obamacare—it’s going to be about jobs; it’s going to be about a lot of things,” Trump said. “But Obamacare is just blowing up, and even the White House, our president, announced 25 or 26 percent [increase]. That number is so wrong. That is such a phony number. You’re talking about 60,70, 80 percent in increases, not 25 percent.”

Hillary Clinton’s campaign was quick to respond.

“What we shouldn’t do is what Donald Trump would do, which is to throw away the gains that we have made in terms of 20 million people having access to coverage and also the protections that the Affordable Care Act provides in terms of limits on lifetime costs and covering pre-existing conditions, things like 26-year-olds [having coverage on their parents plans],” said Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri.

Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail in North Carolina on Tuesday, and he wasted no time attacking Donald Trump.

“I’m a white southerner – I know what ‘Make America Great Again’ means, and all of you of a certain age know exactly what it means,” Clinton said to a mostly African-American crowd in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. “I didn’t fall off this truck yesterday, I’ve heard this song a long time. It means first, I’ll give you the economy you had 50 years ago, and second, I’ll give you the society you had 50 years ago: I’ll move you up and move somebody else down.”

Even though his tone was forceful, Clinton urged the crowd to treat Trump supporters with understanding.

“Do not treat them with the anger they often display toward us – love them to death,” he said.

Clinton received the endorsement of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, another high-profile Republican to break ranks with the party’s nominee.

Trump has touted the Brexit vote from earlier this summer as a harbinger of what’s to come on November 8th, but he needs to close a big gap in the polls to make that possibility.

The polls open nationally in 12 days. Let’s get started.

Obamacare becomes a Trump campaign rallying cry

News of Obamacare premiums drastically increasing isn’t good for low-income Americans who rely on the service, but it could be good news for Trump.

An increase of sick patients combined with insurers are dropping out of the program resulted in the price increase, which will average 25 percent across all states who are part of Obamacare.

“The numbers came out in Texas where it’s 60 percent increases, and other places, other states,” Trump said. “One state is going to be 92 percent I understand. So I think that they wanted to put out—pretty sad when you put out a 25 or 26 percent increase, and that’s supposed to be to keep it down.”

Trump spent Tuesday campaigning in Florida, where he received the support of Cuban veterans and held an event at his namesake golf course near Miami with employees who support his candidacy.

Clinton has attached herself to Obama’s signature legislation, and the new announcement isn’t good news for her campaign less than two weeks before Election Day.

Colin Powell endorses Clinton

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell isn’t new to crossing party lines as he endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but his announcement that he will vote for Clinton signifies another Republican who doesn’t support the party’s nominee.

Hacked emails in September revealed that Powell called Trump a “national disgrace and an international pariah.”

Powell continues to insist that he is a Republican despite not supporting the party’s presidential nominee since 2004.

“I'm still a Republican because I believe in a strong defense, because I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit that is so typical of the Republican Party in the past,” Powell said in 2015.

The Brexit vote only matters for Trump if the polls get closer

This summer’s Brexit vote was considered an upset and signified the power of disaffected working class voters in the United Kingdom after they voted to leave the European Union.

Donald Trump continues to tout the Brexit vote as evidence that his campaign will resonate with the American people and Brexit advocate Nigel Farage has stumped for Trump on the campaign trail.

But Trump will need to close the gap significantly if he wants to emulate Brexit’s success on November 8. The final polls in the UK showed less than a one percentage point gap between the two sides and Trump currently trails by much more than that in most national polls.

Links of note

‘Voter error’ flipped GOP ballot to Democrat in Texas (McClatchy)

Clinton leads Trump in Kentucky with fundraising (McClatchy)

Rigging an election? It’s not so easy (NPR)

As election looms, some bad news for Democrats (McClatchy)

Trump up two points in new Florida poll (McClatchy)

Have a question about the candidates, the campaign, the process, the election itself? Ask us here.

• Map: How America votes
• Quiz: Pick a side
• Register to vote
• Deadlines by state
• Find your state’s election office
• Sample ballots by ZIP code

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Trump attacks Obamacare premium hike and looks forward to fighting Joe Biden."