US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday night.
Rally at Madison Square Garden
Trump told the crowd:
You’ve destroyed our country. We’re not going to take it anymore, Kamala, you’re fired. Get out. Get out. You’re fired.
He also called Harris a “very low IQ individual.” Trump added:
This election is a choice between whether we’ll have four more years of gross incompetence and failure, or whether we’ll begin the greatest years in the history of our country.
The Republican nominee was introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, whose appearance was a surprise as she was hardly involved in his campaign.
What did Trump promise?
In his speech, which lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, Trump mostly repeated promises he made during the campaign, such as curbing illegal immigration.
He repeatedly linked gang violence to illegal immigration, promising that if he wins the November 5 election, he will stop “the invasion of criminals coming into our country.” He has also called for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer.
The Republican candidate also announced a new policy that would provide tax credits for families caring for children. He said:
If I win, we will quickly build the greatest economy in the history of the world. Which is what we had in our last term.
He promised to “teach children to always respect our great American flag” and said that burning the American flag would be punishable by a year in prison. Commenting on the situation around Ukraine, Donald Trump mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin twice, saying he “gets along well with him.”
Trump allies’ incendiary remarks
Madison Square Garden was packed hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were crowded with his supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats.
Hours before Trump’s speech, some of the opening speakers at the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden arena drew applause with their barbs about Harris, Puerto Rico and Latinos in the closing stages of one of the closest races for the White House in America.
Trump’s childhood friend David Rem called Harris, who is bidding to become the first woman elected president, “the anti-Christ” and “the devil.”
Harris is “on the side of the terrorists”
Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and Trump’s former personal attorney, said Harris is “on the side of the terrorists” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wants to bring Palestinians to the United States.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe used crude language, joking that Latinos “like to make babies” and called the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”. Hinchcliffe’s comments were immediately criticised by Harris’ campaign and Puerto Rican star Ricky Martin, who was one of the first to endorse Harris when she ran for president in July. Harris said in a video posted on social media along with Hinchcliffe’s comments:
Puerto Ricans deserve a president who sees and invests in (their) strength.
The neighborhood where the former White House host held his rally took steps to increase security. A strict security check was organised at the entrance to Madison Square Garden, and snipers were on the roof of the high-rise across from the arena. In addition, a drone was flying over the queue of associates of the US presidential candidate from the Democrats, which monitored the situation.
Harris is planning her own closing argument – for a symbolic spot on Tuesday
Early voting explains why Harris will make his final argument a full week before Election Day, holding a rally Tuesday night at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. The symbolism will be highly relevant as it is the site of Trump’s infamous gathering on January 6, 2021, when he told his crowd to “fight like hell” or they wouldn’t have a country, before his crowd stormed the US Capitol to try and disrupt the assurance of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Harris’ rally will be a glaring exclamation point for an increasingly important theme of her campaign – that Trump is an existential threat to American democracy.
That thesis was at the centre of Biden’s campaign until he curtailed his re-election campaign in July. Harris did not initially prioritise the topic, but she is now leaning more and more towards it. But some Democrats fear Americans are more interested in how she can quickly improve their economic situation.
“How effective is attacking Trump for being a fascist? This topic is not as persuasive as contrast messages featuring Harris’s economic plans, and her promise to protect reproductive rights,” read an October 25 email from Future Forward, the top super PAC supporting the Harris campaign, sent to Democrats that was first reported by The New York Times and obtained by CNN on Sunday.
In recent days, Trump has played along with Democrats’ and his ex-chief of staff John Kelly’s assertions that he is seeking authoritarianism.
As a result, the GOP vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has sought to piece together and restate the former president’s remarks and accused the media of reporting exactly what his boss said. Vance insisted in a fiery interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s “State of the Union” programme that the former president was not referring to political opponents when he spoke openly about directing the Army and National Guard at “the enemy from within.”
However, Trump previously clarified that he was talking about people like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California lawmaker Adam Schiff. Vance said:
He said that he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rioting, and … he also called them ‘the enemy within.’ He separately, in a totally different context, in a totally different conversation, said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were threats to this country.
Harris wants to get black male voters on her side
Both Trump and Harris have been targeting strategic sectors of their core constituency in recent days. Harris, for example, on Sunday made a renewed effort to get black male voters on her side, some of whom appear to be crossing over to Trump’s side.
At a barbershop in West Philadelphia – an area where she needs a big turnout to counter Trump’s advantage in rural Pennsylvania – the vice president took part in a discussion with black men about providing better opportunities. She emphasised the vital nature of the commonwealth and its 19 electoral votes, which could block her path to the White House if they go to Trump, as they did during his 2016 election triumph. Harris said:
We’re going to do it – winning goes through Philadelphia and through Pennsylvania.
The vice president is also targeting another constituency that could help her get to the White House – women voters – as she tries to use an already large gender gap in her favour. On Saturday, she travelled to Michigan with Michelle Obama, a reluctant political figure who is nonetheless hugely popular among Democrats.
In a powerful speech, the former first lady addressed not only women but also “the men who love us,” warning that Trump’s history of creating a conservative Supreme Court that overturned the federal right to abortion would have serious consequences for women’s health. Obama noted:
Please, please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us. Because a vote for him is a vote against us, against our health, against our worth.
Michigan pulled ahead in early voting: 145,000 ballots cast
This is the first year of early in-person voting in Michigan, and Saturday’s single-day numbers surpassed the results of voting during the primaries.
More than 145,000 Michigan voters cast their ballots on Saturday, the first day that early voting was available everywhere in the state. Republicans and Democrats alike resorted to the increasingly popular method of voting, which is being used across the country this year. In addition, more than 1.4 million voters in the state voted by mail.
The final figures came in after voting ended at 7 p.m. in Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan vs. Michigan State football game will be played Saturday.
Although this is the first year of in-person early voting in Michigan, Saturday’s single-day figures surpassed the voting results during the presidential primaries earlier this year, when a total of 79,000 Michiganders voted in nine days of early voting.
All Michigan state governments were required to provide in-person voting starting Saturday and hold it for nine days, ending the Sunday before Election Day.
Cities and counties also had the option to start voting earlier, but only Detroit, East Lansing and Canton Township chose that option. About 13,000 early votes had been cast through Saturday,according to the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s (D) website.
A spokeswoman for the office said it was difficult to determine the makeup of the electorate because Michigan does not maintain party-based voter registration. She said she was aware of an hour-long line at one polling place in one Upper Peninsula county, Menominee.
Crucial state
Michigan is a crucial state for both parties. Both former President Donald Trump, and Vice President Kamala Harris held rallies in the state Saturday in support of early voting.
Other states broke records for early voting this year, notably North Carolina and Georgia. All of them also showed higher Republican participation, but it’s too early to tell whether that turnout reflects Trump’s advantage.
According to data compiled by multiple analysts, the majority of voters who have voted for both parties so far are high propensity voters who have already voted in the last few presidential elections, meaning that many are voting in a different way and their votes do not necessarily reflect increased enthusiasm.
The elections of the head of state will be held in the US on November 5, 2024. The candidate for them from the Republican Party is nominated Donald Trump. His rival will be the current Vice President of the country Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party.
