US Election Diary: When a president becomes a lame duck

US Correspondent Logan Church with the latest from the election campaign which will decide if Kamala Harris or Donald Trump becomes the next US president.

Hello all, welcome to a slightly sidetracked election diary - as the political scene here has been dominated by the United Nations General Assembly leaders' week.

Everyone who lives in New York can’t wait for it to be over. The traffic is horrendous, and the NYPD are particularly grumpy, making everyone else quite miserable. Oh, and it’s rained for the first time in what seems like forever.

Before we start though, a quick thanks to everyone who wrote in after last week’s edition. Keep it coming to logan.church@tvnz.co.nz - we’re all on this wild rollercoaster together.

For a man who has been on the domestic and international stage for more than half a century, it was almost sad hearing Biden delivering what would almost certainly be his last ever address at the United Nations.

It’s quite something to think that even a couple of months ago he was chasing re-election hard. Now he’s a global leader about to step off stage right.

He used the opportunity to speak about how he believed the world is at an “inflection point”, with the ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He also reflected on when he first become a US senator in 1972.

"The world was divided by the Cold War; the Middle East was headed toward war, America was at war in Vietnam at that point - the longest war in America’s history," he said.

"Our country was divided and angry, and there were questions about our staying power and our future. But even then, I entered public life not out of despair, but out of optimism."

Of the situation the world currently faces, he said: "Will we stand behind the principles that unite us? We stand firm against aggression. We - will we end the conflicts that are raging today? Will we take on global challenges like climate change, hunger, and disease?"

Whether the rest of the world shares his optimism remains to be seen. One thing is for certain - it will be hard for Biden to fix many of the ongoing global problems in the few months he has left in his presidency. The term “lame duck” has been used more than once this week here.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a central focus of these assemblies in recent years, as his country continues to fight against Russia’s invasion.

However, Zelensky can only continue this fight with the ongoing support of the United States - and its weapons. Unfortunately for Ukraine, that might be under threat as the ongoing support of Ukraine has become a hot political topic here.

On Friday (NZ time), Zelensky met with Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Washington DC.

“History reminds us, and history is so clear in reminding us, the United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world," she said at a press conference standing beside Zelensky. "Isolation is not insulation – so, then the United States supports Ukraine, not out of charity, but because it is in our strategic interest."

The Ukrainian president’s biggest challenge however has been Donald Trump, who has insinuated he might force Ukraine to end the war by coming to terms with Russia. The “tap” of weapons may also be turned off.

Zelensky was planning to meet with Trump today – a political minefield for Ukraine’s president.

Remember how after the last election, Trump and his supporters claimed widespread election fraud? Those claims were echoed by conservative media here. And that’s resulted in large lawsuits from the companies who were involved in helping to carry out the election - fairly.

Today, Newsmax, one such media organisation, reached an eleventh-hour settlement with voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic. The deal was reached just hours before a defamation trial against Newsmax was about to get underway.

Smartmatic accused the network and its hosts of falsely claiming their machines contributed to voter fraud though there was no sound evidence of that happening.

Newsmax argued it was only reporting on newsworthy allegations made by former President Trump.

The settlement terms haven’t been released but are believed to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

And not at all election related, but one can’t help but smile as Winston Peters told off the UN Security Council in New York, as some in the audience appeared to be talking while the Foreign Minister was giving his address.

He was speaking about principles he said countries needed to uphold to ensure peace before adding: “Or maybe a third principle, when somebody is addressing you, the rest of the people in the room keep quiet.”

I don’t know about you, but I got traumatic high school flashbacks.

Happy weekend everyone.

P.S. I’m going to be hitting the road soon ahead of the US election – let me know if you have any burning US election related questions you want answers to, I’ll do my best to answer them.