![AI-generated child sexual abuse images are spreading. Law enforcement is racing to stop them [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_327418_0_ap2671e2dd3f1e1djpg.jpg)
A child psychiatrist who altered a first-day-of-school photo he saw on Facebook to make a group of girls appear nude. A U.S. Army soldier accused of creating images depicting children he knew being sexually abused. A software engineer charged with generating hyper-realistic sexually explicit images of children.Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are cracking down on a troubling spread of child sexual abuse imagery created through artificial intelligence technology from manipulated photos of real children to graphic depictions of computer-generated kids. Justice Department officials say they’re aggressively going after offenders who exploit AI tools, while states are racing to ensure people generating “deepfakes” and other harmful imagery of kids can be prosecuted under their laws.”We’ve got to signal early and often that it is a crime, that it will be investigated and prosecuted when the evidence supports it,” Steven Grocki, who leads the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And if you’re sitting there thinking otherwise, you fundamentally are wrong. And it’s only a matter of time before somebody holds you accountable.”The Justice Department says existing federal laws clearly apply to such content, and recently brought what’s believed to be the first federal case involving purely AI-generated imagery meaning the children depicted are not real but virtual. In another case, federal authorities in August arrested a U.S. soldier stationed in Alaska accused of running innocent pictures of real children he knew through an AI chatbot to make the images sexually explicit.Trying to catch up to technologyThe prosecutions come as child advocates are urgently working to curb the misuse of technology to prevent a flood of disturbing images officials fear could make it harder to rescue real victims. Law enforcement officials worry investigators will waste time and resources trying to identify and track down exploited children who don’t really exist.Lawmakers, meanwhile, are passing a flurry of legislation to ensure local prosecutors can bring charges under state laws for AI-generated “deepfakes” and other sexually explicit images of kids. Governors in more than a dozen states have signed laws this year cracking down on digitally created or altered child sexual abuse imagery, according to a review by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.”We’re playing catch-up as law enforcement to a technology that, frankly, is moving far faster than we are,” said Ventura County, California District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.Nasarenko pushed legislation signed last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom which makes clear that AI-generated child sexual abuse material is illegal under California law. Nasarenko said his office could not prosecute eight cases involving AI-generated content between last December and mid-September because California’s law had required prosecutors to prove the imagery depicted a real child.AI-generated child sexual abuse images can be used to groom children, law enforcement officials say. And even if they aren’t physically abused, kids can be deeply impacted when their image is morphed to appear sexually explicit.”I felt like a part of me had been taken away. Even though I was not physically violated,” said 17-year-old Kaylin Hayman, who starred on the Disney Channel show “Just Roll with It” and helped push the California bill after she became a victim of “deepfake” imagery.Hayman testified last year at the federal trial of the man who digitally superimposed her face and those of other child actors onto bodies performing sex acts. He was sentenced in May to more than 14 years in prison.Open-source AI-models that users can download on their computers are known to be favored by offenders, who can further train or modify the tools to churn out explicit depictions of children, experts say. Abusers trade tips in dark web communities about how to manipulate AI tools to create such content, officials say.A report last year by the Stanford Internet Observatory found that a research dataset that was the source for leading AI image-makers such as Stable Diffusion contained links to sexually explicit images of kids, contributing to the ease with which some tools have been able to produce harmful imagery. The dataset was taken down, and researchers later said they deleted more than 2,000 weblinks to suspected child sexual abuse imagery from it.Top technology companies, including Google, OpenAI and Stability AI, have agreed to work with anti-child sexual abuse organization Thorn to combat the spread of child sexual abuse images.But experts say more should have been done at the outset to prevent misuse before the technology became widely available. And steps companies are taking now to make it harder to abuse future versions of AI tools “will do little to prevent” offenders from running older versions of models on their computer “without detection,” a Justice Department prosecutor noted in recent court papers.”Time was not spent on making the products safe, as opposed to efficient, and it’s very hard to do after the fact as we’ve seen,” said David Thiel, the Stanford Internet Observatory’s chief technologist.AI images get more realisticThe National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline last year received about 4,700 reports of content involving AI technology a small fraction of the more than 36 million total reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. By October of this year, the group was fielding about 450 reports per month of AI-involved content, said Yiota Souras, the group’s chief legal officer.Those numbers may be an undercount, however, as the images are so realistic it’s often difficult to tell whether they were AI-generated, experts say.”Investigators are spending hours just trying to determine if an image actually depicts a real minor or if it’s AI-generated,” said Rikole Kelly, deputy Ventura County district attorney, who helped write the California bill. “It used to be that there were some really clear indicators … with the advances in AI technology, that’s just not the case anymore.”Justice Department officials say they already have the tools under federal law to go after offenders for such imagery.The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 struck down a federal ban on virtual child sexual abuse material. But a federal law signed the following year bans the production of visual depictions, including drawings, of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct that are deemed “obscene.” That law, which the Justice Department says has been used in the past to charge cartoon imagery of child sexual abuse, specifically notes there’s no requirement “that the minor depicted actually exist.”The Justice Department brought that charge in May against a Wisconsin software engineer accused of using AI tool Stable Diffusion to create photorealistic images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and was caught after he sent some to a 15-year-old boy through a direct message on Instagram, authorities say. The man’s lawyer, who is pushing to dismiss the charges on First Amendment grounds, declined further comment on the allegations in an email to the AP.A spokesperson for Stability AI said that man is accused of using an earlier version of the tool that was released by another company, Runway ML. Stability AI says that it has “invested in proactive features to prevent the misuse of AI for the production of harmful content” since taking over the exclusive development of the models. A spokesperson for Runway ML didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP.In cases involving “deepfakes,” when a real child’s photo has been digitally altered to make them sexually explicit, the Justice Department is bringing charges under the federal “child pornography” law. In one case, a North Carolina child psychiatrist who used an AI application to digitally “undress” girls posing on the first day of school in a decades-old photo shared on Facebook was convicted of federal charges last year.”These laws exist. They will be used. We have the will. We have the resources,” Grocki said. “This is not going to be a low priority that we ignore because there’s not an actual child involved.”
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![Teen becomes youngest person to summit worlds highest peaks [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_327412_0_cnnl19jb21wb25lbnrzl2ltywdll2luc3rhbmnlcy9jbtjsagt4emwwmdi5m2i2bwn2znhvz3rxl19jb21wb25lbnrzl2fydgljbguvaw5zdgfuy2vzl2ntmmxoy2izztawnxyynm52zmm1ajb0bdyjpgjpg671dabf00b6e5jpg.jpg)
Nima Rinji Sherpas ears are still tinged black from wind chill, an occupational hazard of climbing to heights where humans struggle to breathe and where the weather can turn deadly in an instant.Video above: Breast cancer survivor climbs Vermont’s highest peak while raising awareness for a cureThis month, Nima became the youngest person to summit all 14 of the worlds highest peaks, but the 18-year-old Nepalese mountaineer is already getting ready for his next big feat.Speaking to CNN via video call from the Nepali capital Kathmandu last week, Nima said hes taking a couple of weeks to rest before preparing to climb the worlds eighth-highest mountain, Manaslu, with Italian mountaineer Simone Moro, in winter, alpine-style.That means were climbing an 8,000-meter mountain in winter Theres no fixed ropes for us, theres no (supplemental) oxygen for us, there is no support for us. So, its like pure human endurance, Nima said. It has never been done in the history of mountaineering.After that, Ill take some rest, Nima said.On Oct. 9, Nima reached the top of the 8,027-meter (26,335-foot) Shishapangma along with his partner, Pasang Nurbu Sherpa. For Nima, it was the final of the eight-thousanders, the 14 peaks recognized by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation as standing more than 8,000 meters above sea level.Describing the moment of summiting the final peak as pure joy, Nima said his motivation comes from his family, many of whom are renowned mountaineers.His father, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, has climbed Everest nine times and, at age 19, became the youngest person to summit without bottled oxygen. His uncle, Mingma Sherpa, became the first South Asian climber to summit the 14 peaks in 2011.My uncles and my father, they are way more successful than I would ever be because they came from a very small village. To even dream about being this successful, for them it was really hard, Nima said. I have the privilege that they didnt have.Not just support staffNepals ethnic Sherpas have lived in the high altitudes of the Himalayas for generations and have long served as guides and porters, whose local expertise has been invaluable for foreigners attempting climbs in the area.Their name has become synonymous with mountaineering. Sherpas are more often than not the backbone of international mountaineering expeditions, hauling heavy gear and supplies up mountains and guiding people to high-altitude summits in dangerous conditions.But they often dont receive the same recognition or financial rewards as their Western counterparts.Despite his record-breaking achievement, Nima’s climbs did not attract big-name sponsors, and he relied on his fathers 14 Peaks Expedition company for funds and logistical support.Everybody talks about Sherpas being superhuman, but how many Sherpas (do) we see being the face of a brand or being a sponsored athlete? None, Nima said.Nima said he hopes he can inspire other young Sherpa climbers to realize their potential as athletes and professional mountaineers and to not be seen solely as support staff.Hopefully, I become the face of a big brand. And then the younger generation of Sherpas, they dont see this as like a dead job, you know, like a risky job. They see this as an athletic feat as well.He hopes to use his recent achievement to open a door for other Nepali climbers.Because sometimes in life, you find a moment when you think the community is bigger than you, and thats what I am aiming for; thats what I hope for, he said.The death zoneNima started his epic journey in September 2022 when he first climbed Nepals 8,163-meter Manaslu. Over the next two years, he summited all of the eight-thousanders, including Everest, the worlds highest mountain at 8,849 meters, and the notoriously dangerous K2 at 8,611 meters.He summited Everest and Lhotse, standing at 8,516 meters, on the same day just 10 hours apart and climbed five of the peaks in under five weeks.When I climbed Everest it was night, so there was no view from the mountain. Because we had to climb the next mountain, it was so quick. I took some photos but in my mind, I was thinking of the next mountain that Im going to climb, he said.His favorite climb was Annapurna, at 8,091 meters, which he did without bottled oxygen.For a teenager of 17 years to do something without using oxygen, you know, normally its not recommended, he said. Annapurna was where I felt really strong It was really one of the best, my most beautiful mountain for me.He said the final 200 meters were the most difficult because I was spending 20 hours without oxygen in my brain.Till then, I was just feeling unstoppable, you know, just walking faster than everybody else, he said.But Nima said the mountains always find a reason to keep you humble.Regardless of the beauty of the mountains, the success of the summit, its always going to be a dangerous sport, he said.Nima and his climbing partner Pasang got caught in a couple of avalanches on Annapurna. He hurt his arm before climbing Shishapangma and didnt drink enough water, leaving him with cramps. And, while climbing the last 700 meters of Nanga Parbat, 8,126 meters, without fixed ropes, Nima slipped on an icy rock.My first word from my mouth was my climbing partners name. I knew he would somehow save me, so I just called him, Nima said. We were together, connected on the same rope. So, when I fell, he also fell, and he just threw an ice ax, and we just stopped together.Spending prolonged time above 8,000 meters known as the death zone your body starts to shut down. The thin air starves brains and lungs of oxygen, which can develop into the deadly condition hypoxia.Nima describes life above 8,000 meters as about who can suffer the most given the circumstances.When temperatures fall below minus 16 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and the wind races at 100 kilometers per hour, Nima said thats when a climbers physical ability stops and their mental strength takes over.Maybe I like suffering, he said.Leaving a better legacyNepal is at the sharp end of the climate crisis, as rising temperatures are rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers and worsening devastating flooding, impacting millions of people.Increasing tourism to Nepal is bringing needed dollars but also tons of garbage that threatens the fragile ecosystem of the mountains.Nima says he hopes his generation can leave a more sustainable legacy for the next.You can see a lot of problems Hopefully, the younger generation like me and others we will try to mobilize this industry and make it more sustainable for the upcoming generations, he said.His dream is to start an organization to fund training and technical facilities to help young Nepalis get into climbing and guiding safely as a profession.This year, Nepali climbers have broken many records in the Himalayas. Dawa Yangzum Sherpa became the youngest Nepalese woman to climb the 14 peaks. Mingma G. Sherpa became the first Nepali climber to summit all 14 without bottled oxygen. And Phunjo Jhangmu Lama climbed Everest in a record-breaking 14.5 hours.Nima said he dreams of Nepali climbers getting the same attention as professional Western climbers, and he already sees the younger generation making it their own.The generation before us, they are the pioneers; were climbing the route that they established, he said.But Im just so happy that Im living in this moment right now. So much is happening in the world of mountaineering. And as a younger generation, well always try to do something better.
![Lewiston commemoration event honors shooting victims, survivors [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_327265_0_lewistoncommemorationevent10252024671c017e91fb4jpg.jpg)
A memorial event was held at The Colise inn Lewiston, Maine, on Friday to commemorate one year since the mass shooting that left 18 people dead on Oct. 25, 2023.The commemoration honored those affected by last year’s tragic events at Just-In-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar & Grille, as well as those who responded and continue to support Lewiston and other Maine communities.New England Sports Network broadcaster Tom Caron, a Lewiston native, served as the master of ceremonies for the commemoration.The honor guard that presented the nation’s colors was made up of police officers and firefighters from Lewiston and Auburn. The Maine State Police Pipe and Drum Unit then performed “Amazing Grace” before the national anthem was performed by the Lewiston High School Choir.The song “Save You a Seat” by Alex Warren was played before the names of the 18 victims killed in the mass shooting were read aloud as their photos were shown in a slideshow.Liz Seal, the wife of shooting victim Joshua Seal, spoke about how the connections that have been made following the tragedy, comparing them to strands in a spider web.”These connections have formed a spider web of a beautiful community that will forever be ‘Lewiston Strong’ and I am proud to be a part of it,” Liz Seal said. “I love you all.”The crowd gathered at The Colise then heard from Joanna Stokinger, the lead advocate at the Maine Resiliency Center, and Tony-nominated actress Lauren Ridloff, who played Marvel’s first deaf superhero in “Eternals” and is also known for her role on “The Walking Dead.”Two moments of silence were then held. The first was for the eight people who were shot and killed at Just-In-Time Recreation: Tricia Asselin, Thomas Conrad, Michael Deslauriers, Bob Violette, Lucy Violette, Jason Walker, Aaron Young and William Young.The second moment of silence was held for the 10 people who were shot and killed at Schemengees Bar & Grille: Billy Brackett, Peyton Brewer-Ross, Maxx Hathaway, Bryan MacFarlane, Keith Macneir, Ron Morin, Joshua Seal, Arthur Strout, Stephen Vozella and Joe Walker.Information about the development of a permanent memorial was also shared during the event.”There will be a memorial and it will not be for a few, but for all of us, and we understand how crucial it is to engage those most impacted,” said Shanna Cox, president and chief executive officer of the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. “Your voices. Your experiences. Your memories. These are what will shape the memorial and the journey to create it is as important as the memorial itself.”Community members can visit OneLewiston.org to sign up for updates on the planning process and contribute their thoughts.”Your input will help us create something that truly honors our shared journey and ensures this memorial reflects the strength of compassion and unity that has carried us through,” Cox said.People who attended the commemoration were invited to bring small items, messages or keepsakes, which will be preserved and catalogued as part of the Maine MILL Memorial Collection. Some items may become part of the permanent memorial or displayed in future museum exhibits.Maine Resiliency Center consultant Regina Schulman, who led the moments of silence, then delivered remarks about resilience.Thomas Minch, a deaf advocate and project director for Disability Rights Maine, then spoke about the community’s shared journey before the Rev. Sarah Gillespie addressed the crowd.The event closed with the playing of the song “I Am Not Okay” by Jelly Roll.The commemoration was hosted by the One Lewiston Resilience Fund Committee in partnership with the city of Lewiston, Chamber of Commerce and Maine Resiliency Center.
![Global environmental finance takes center stage at COP16 [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_327119_0_97e0c96fa34a410aad8401353320347b1280jpeg.jpg)
Some of the worlds most pressing environmental issues are under discussion this week at COP16, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, in Cali, Colombia. Among these issues is financing. Michelle Begue reports from Cali.For more, check out our exclusive
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Watch Study shows crime having a major impact on B.C. small businesses Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca
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Hurricane Helene has made this foliage season different than any other for our state. See the latest maps.
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Learn about managing inflation in retail and e-commerce businesses and pricing strategies to maximize revenue without losing customers.
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One of the sharpest differences between the two major candidates for New Hampshire governor is their differing stances on marijuana legalization: Republican Kelly Ayotte, who has a narrow lead in the polls, says she would oppose the policy change, while Democrat Joyce Craig has pledged to support it.
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(CNN) Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they write big checks.
![Trump targets hardcore partisans, Harris goes after moderates: Inside the campaign’s final sprint [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_326279_0_gettyimages2170583836671918e4cd9e7jpg.jpg)
In battleground Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris warned that democracy and reproductive rights were at stake as she campaigned alongside a former Republican congresswoman.Going to the same state the day before, Donald Trump served French fries at a closed McDonald’s.As the 2024 presidential contest speeds to its conclusion on Nov. 5, Harris and Trump are embracing wildly different strategies to energize the coalitions they need to win. Both are making bets that will prove prescient or ill-advised.Trump’s team has largely abandoned traditional efforts to broaden his message to target moderate voters, focusing instead on energizing his base of fiery partisans and turning out low-propensity voters especially young men of all races with tough talk and events aimed at getting attention online.Harris is leaning into a more traditional all-of-the-above playbook targeting the narrow slice of undecided voters that remain, especially moderates, college-educated suburbanites, and women of all races and education. More than Trump, she is going after Republican women who may have supported rival Nikki Haley in this year’s GOP primary and are dissatisfied with the former president.”It’s all pieces of a very complex puzzle,” Harris senior campaign adviser David Plouffe said this week. “This would all be a simpler exercise if you can focus just on one voter cohort. You can’t. And you got to make sure you know you’re doing well enough with all of them so that when you put all that together it adds up to 50%.”Trump’s team sees it as a much simpler equation.His aides insist that efforts to maximize turnout from Trump’s hardcore base do not mean he’s ignoring swing voters, even if he’s not tailoring a different message to reach them.”I just think that there’s a misunderstanding on what’s motivating those people,” Trump political director James Blair said. “I mean, the fact is the economy’s motivating those people. Those people overwhelmingly think that they’re worse off than they were four years ago … So then the question becomes: Who’s better equipped to fix it?”The divergent strategies underscore the stark differences between the candidates themselves, in personality and policy.Harris, a former California senator who would be the first female president, has promised to include a Republican in her Cabinet, while prioritizing efforts to protect democracy, reproductive rights and the middle class. Trump, a former president, has vowed to fight for the working class as well. He also has promised a campaign of retribution against his political enemies with an administration packed with loyalists.One point on which both camps agree: The election will be decided by voters in just seven swing states, a political map that has not shifted significantly or narrowed as Election Day speeds into view. They are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.One Harris adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, described the situation as “still terrifyingly close in all seven.”Trump rejects the traditional pivot to the middleTrump is speaking largely to his loyal Republican base at the expense of moderate voters, especially suburban women. He peppers his rallies with profanity, personal insults against Harris and ominous talk of “enemies within.”He has said repeatedly over the last week that Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., represent a more serious threat to the United States than China and Russia do.Trump has also rejected recent opportunities to speak to more traditional audiences, turning down an interview with CBS’ popular “60 Minutes” and refusing to debate Harris for a second time unless it was moderated by Fox News, home to several of his favorite conservative hosts.Instead, his campaign is scheduling appearances on podcasts and online shows geared towards young men especially working-class Hispanic and Black men, who typically vote less frequently and tend to favor Democrats.He’s attended sporting events including mixed-martial arts fights and football games, putting him in front of audiences who don’t typically engage with traditional media outlets.Josh Rouse, a 28-year-old Black man and registered Republican, said he’s only recently been drawn to politics. He didn’t vote in 2016, but voted for Trump in 2020.”If anything, I think it’s important to remember we’re all people, regardless of whether you’re white or Black,” said Rouse, who works in roofing and attended Trump’s rally in Greenville, North Carolina, this week. “It doesn’t matter who you are. He speaks to all of us.”Trump’s team has also created viral moments in non-political settings like his trip to McDonald’s on Sunday, part of an extended campaign to cast doubt on Harris’ work history at the fast-food franchise. Trump also went to Coachella, California, and will host a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday both in heavily Democratic states but where the related media attention and online content would surely reach swing-state voters.Trump has kept an aggressive schedule. He is set to visit every battleground state this week save Wisconsin.Harris makes Republicans part of her persuasion playbookBacked by an avalanche of campaign cash, Harris is holding in-person events but also launching a sprawling door-knocking operation, hyper-targeted online ads and a carefully designed media strategy to reach specific voting blocs.Harris’ team believes that roughly 10% of voters in the battleground states are still persuadable, either because they are truly undecided or because their support for Trump is soft. The campaign vows to keep trying to persuade such voters until the final minutes of in-person voting.Her team sees the possibility of significant growth among Republican, college-educated, suburban women alienated by Trump’s extreme rhetoric. Even small shifts in swing states could have massive electoral implications.The Harris campaign quickly produced digital ads last week highlighting Trump’s description of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as “a day of love.” And Harris spent most of Monday campaigning in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin alongside Liz Cheney, a Republican House leader during Trump’s presidency who swung sharply against him after Jan. 6.Harris is scheduled to visit Houston for an event Friday with women who have been affected by the state’s ban on all abortions, which took effect after the Supreme Court, including three justices nominated by Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. She’ll be going there after spending time in Georgia, which banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.Nicolette Milholin, 45, of Mont Clare, Pennsylvania, said she considered herself a political independent until Trump was elected in 2016.”To me, democracy is at stake,” Milholin said at a Harris event this week in Chester County, Pennsylvania. “We have a party that was built for a family and a dynasty. And then we have a party here represented by Kamala Harris, that was built for our country.”___Peoples reported from New York. Colvin reported from Palm Beach, Florida. AP writers Colleen Long in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and Gary Robertson in Greenville, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
![Trump targets hardcore partisans, Harris goes after moderates: Inside the campaign’s final sprint [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_326139_0_gettyimages2170583836671918e4cd9e7jpg.jpg)
In battleground Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris warned that democracy and reproductive rights were at stake as she campaigned alongside a former Republican congresswoman.Going to the same state the day before, Donald Trump served French fries at a closed McDonald’s.As the 2024 presidential contest speeds to its conclusion on Nov. 5, Harris and Trump are embracing wildly different strategies to energize the coalitions they need to win. Both are making bets that will prove prescient or ill-advised.Trump’s team has largely abandoned traditional efforts to broaden his message to target moderate voters, focusing instead on energizing his base of fiery partisans and turning out low-propensity voters especially young men of all races with tough talk and events aimed at getting attention online.Harris is leaning into a more traditional all-of-the-above playbook targeting the narrow slice of undecided voters that remain, especially moderates, college-educated suburbanites, and women of all races and education. More than Trump, she is going after Republican women who may have supported rival Nikki Haley in this year’s GOP primary and are dissatisfied with the former president.”It’s all pieces of a very complex puzzle,” Harris senior campaign adviser David Plouffe said this week. “This would all be a simpler exercise if you can focus just on one voter cohort. You can’t. And you got to make sure you know you’re doing well enough with all of them so that when you put all that together it adds up to 50%.”Trump’s team sees it as a much simpler equation.His aides insist that efforts to maximize turnout from Trump’s hardcore base do not mean he’s ignoring swing voters, even if he’s not tailoring a different message to reach them.”I just think that there’s a misunderstanding on what’s motivating those people,” Trump political director James Blair said. “I mean, the fact is the economy’s motivating those people. Those people overwhelmingly think that they’re worse off than they were four years ago … So then the question becomes: Who’s better equipped to fix it?”The divergent strategies underscore the stark differences between the candidates themselves, in personality and policy.Harris, a former California senator who would be the first female president, has promised to include a Republican in her Cabinet, while prioritizing efforts to protect democracy, reproductive rights and the middle class. Trump, a former president, has vowed to fight for the working class as well. He also has promised a campaign of retribution against his political enemies with an administration packed with loyalists.One point on which both camps agree: The election will be decided by voters in just seven swing states, a political map that has not shifted significantly or narrowed as Election Day speeds into view. They are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.One Harris adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, described the situation as “still terrifyingly close in all seven.”Trump rejects the traditional pivot to the middleTrump is speaking largely to his loyal Republican base at the expense of moderate voters, especially suburban women. He peppers his rallies with profanity, personal insults against Harris and ominous talk of “enemies within.”He has said repeatedly over the last week that Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., represent a more serious threat to the United States than China and Russia do.Trump has also rejected recent opportunities to speak to more traditional audiences, turning down an interview with CBS’ popular “60 Minutes” and refusing to debate Harris for a second time unless it was moderated by Fox News, home to several of his favorite conservative hosts.Instead, his campaign is scheduling appearances on podcasts and online shows geared towards young men especially working-class Hispanic and Black men, who typically vote less frequently and tend to favor Democrats.He’s attended sporting events including mixed-martial arts fights and football games, putting him in front of audiences who don’t typically engage with traditional media outlets.Josh Rouse, a 28-year-old Black man and registered Republican, said he’s only recently been drawn to politics. He didn’t vote in 2016, but voted for Trump in 2020.”If anything, I think it’s important to remember we’re all people, regardless of whether you’re white or Black,” said Rouse, who works in roofing and attended Trump’s rally in Greenville, North Carolina, this week. “It doesn’t matter who you are. He speaks to all of us.”Trump’s team has also created viral moments in non-political settings like his trip to McDonald’s on Sunday, part of an extended campaign to cast doubt on Harris’ work history at the fast-food franchise. Trump also went to Coachella, California, and will host a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday both in heavily Democratic states but where the related media attention and online content would surely reach swing-state voters.Trump has kept an aggressive schedule. He is set to visit every battleground state this week save Wisconsin.Harris makes Republicans part of her persuasion playbookBacked by an avalanche of campaign cash, Harris is holding in-person events but also launching a sprawling door-knocking operation, hyper-targeted online ads and a carefully designed media strategy to reach specific voting blocs.Harris’ team believes that roughly 10% of voters in the battleground states are still persuadable, either because they are truly undecided or because their support for Trump is soft. The campaign vows to keep trying to persuade such voters until the final minutes of in-person voting.Her team sees the possibility of significant growth among Republican, college-educated, suburban women alienated by Trump’s extreme rhetoric. Even small shifts in swing states could have massive electoral implications.The Harris campaign quickly produced digital ads last week highlighting Trump’s description of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as “a day of love.” And Harris spent most of Monday campaigning in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin alongside Liz Cheney, a Republican House leader during Trump’s presidency who swung sharply against him after Jan. 6.Harris is scheduled to visit Houston for an event Friday with women who have been affected by the state’s ban on all abortions, which took effect after the Supreme Court, including three justices nominated by Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. She’ll be going there after spending time in Georgia, which banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.Nicolette Milholin, 45, of Mont Clare, Pennsylvania, said she considered herself a political independent until Trump was elected in 2016.”To me, democracy is at stake,” Milholin said at a Harris event this week in Chester County, Pennsylvania. “We have a party that was built for a family and a dynasty. And then we have a party here represented by Kamala Harris, that was built for our country.”___Peoples reported from New York. Colvin reported from Palm Beach, Florida. AP writers Colleen Long in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and Gary Robertson in Greenville, North Carolina, contributed to this report.