WASHINGHTON: Joe Biden tries on a Donald Trump hat, Trump gets roasted for dogs and cats jibes, and a Republican governor leaps to the rescue in a lobster eating-contest gone wrong.

It's been another weird week on the US election trail. Here are some of the highlights:

PUT IT ON!

At a gathering of mostly pro-Trump supporters in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, a grizzled man in suspenders and red "TRUMP" hat handed Biden a baseball cap and asked him to sign it. The president obliged, as he and the man exchanged light-hearted banter about their advancing age.

The 81-year-old president then looked at the "TRUMP" hat on the man's head and said, "I need that." When the man handed it to him, people in the crowd shouted, "Put it on! Put it on!"

Biden replied, "I ain't going that far!" - but then he did briefly don it. "I'm proud of you now," the voter shouted as the crowd roared in laughter.

A White House spokesman later said Biden put the Trump hat on as a sign of national unity as Americans were commemorating the terror attacks of 2001.

EATING DOGS AND CATS?

A bizarre moment in Tuesday's televised debate between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris came when the Republican former president, railing against immigrants, mentioned a fabricated story about Haitians in an Ohio town eating people's pets.

"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs..., eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there," Trump said, as a clearly bemused Harris looked on.

An ABC moderator jumped in to say the network had contacted Springfield's city manager, who said the report was baseless.

Trump's comment prompted a glut of gleeful mockery on the internet, including Olympian Gabby Thomas dancing to "Eating the dog, eating the cat" in one TikTok video.

But in a darker reflection of the political strategy behind Trump's comment, there has been a spate of threats against Haitians and local schools and government buildings in Springfield.

LOOK UP! DON'T LOOK UP!

Nothing like a captive audience.

Football fans at stadiums in several of this election year's battleground states could hardly help but notice when planes flew overhead bearing anti-Trump banners.

Most of the banners included the words "Beat Trump", with some mentioning Project 2025, a report suggesting a conservative Trump agenda which Democrats blast as extreme and the candidate has distanced himself from.

A banner flown over the University of Michigan stadium included the words "JD Vance (hearts) Ohio State" - a trolling allusion to the fact that Trump's running mate is a graduate of Michigan's most bitter rival.

ON A (LOBSTER) ROLL

Republican Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire happened to be at a lobster-eating contest in the town of Hampton when he noticed one contestant struggling.

"He's choking, he's choking," Sununu shouted last Sunday.

When no one responded, the governor stepped behind the hefty contestant and gave him several Heimlich-manoeuvre bear hugs.

The lobster popped out.

What did the man do?

"He went right back to the contest," a clearly boggled Sununu said on YouTube.

"He ate another seven lobster rolls!"

  - AFP