Biden quips, Kamala sips: The lighter side of US politics

Washington: Joe Biden upended the White House race - again - but just for a millisecond, Kamala Harris sipped a cold one on late night TV, and two of her supporters unveiled politically themed nail polish. Here's a look at the lighter side of American politics over the past week.

'I'm back in'

At a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, President Joe Biden dropped a bombshell by suggesting he was again running for another term - only to erase it with a smile. He was joking.

"Hey folks, my name is Joe Biden," the president said as he stepped to the lectern to talk about a string of successes, like a strong jobs report.

He looked so buoyant a reporter asked if he wanted to reconsider dropping out of the race, as he did to make Kamala Harris the Democratic candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.

"I'm back in," Biden quipped, then grinned broadly and waved as he got a laugh from the press corps.

'Cheers!'

Biden and Trump are teetotalers so if Kamala Harris wins the White House, the US brewing industry might pop a cork.

She revealed - and demonstrated - during a late-night TV interview with Stephen Colbert that she likes a cold one now and then.

"Cheers!" Harris said as she cracked open a can of Miller High Life, which the venerable US brewer bills as "the champagne of beers."

'Colours for Kamala'

Two Harris supporters have unveiled politically themed nail polish based on viral moments from the presidential campaign.

Amy Rosenthal and partner Kate Friedman came up with one line called "Neutralizing Name-Calling."

Neutral shades called "Bitch," "Nasty," and "Have You Heard Her Laugh" are designed to poke fun at the ways Trump has derided the vice president.

"The Prosecutor" is a tone of orange that recalls US prison uniforms and Harris's former career as a prosecutor in California.

Also for sale is classic red "Cat Lady" - a term used by Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance to describe childless women.

Just not the jet fighters

Citing an attempted assassination and a second plot that was foiled, Trump is requesting military vehicles and aircraft for his campaign trips, The Washington Post reported.

The unprecedented request by a candidate to travel with military escorts drew a wry response from Biden, saying the one thing the Republican wouldn't get is fighter jets.

"As long as he doesn't ask for F-15s. I've told the department to give him every single thing he needs... as he were a sitting president," Biden said.

Wind in the hair

At an event in US auto industry capital Detroit, Trump got unusually nostalgic, reminiscing about what he said was the car of his youth, growing up as the scion of a New York real estate fortune.

"The Pontiac GTO. I had two of them, actually. I had that GTO, oh I thought I was the hottest guy around," he said of the classic muscle car.

"I'd put that top down. See, in those days, I didn't mind when the hair waved. I'd go fast and that hair would be waving, that blond hair," Trump said.

But the 78-year-old acknowledged about his trademark locks: "Today I'm a little more careful."