Trump rails against the ‘crooked’ country and ‘demonic’ Democrats on final Sunday of presidential race
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail for the final Sunday in one of the closest US presidential races in recent memory.
The former president was attending events in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, three closely fought swing states that could well determine the result in the coming days.
During a two-hour address on his first stop of the day, Trump gave a profane and conspiracy-laden speech in which he mused about reporters being shot and labeled Democrats as “demonic.”
Noting the ballistic glass placed in front of him at events after a gunman nearly assassinated him at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump talked about places where he saw openings.
“I have this piece of glass here,” he said. “But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.”
His campaign later sought to clarify his meaning.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.”
Trump also referred to John Bolton, his former national security adviser and now a strident critic, as a “dumb son of a b****.” And he repeated familiar and debunked theories about voter fraud, alleging that Democrats could only win by cheating.
“It’s a crooked country,” Trump said. “And we’re going to make it straight. We’re going to make it straight.”
Harris made her closing pitch for the US presidency at a historically Black church in another battleground state, Michigan.
“In just two days we have the power to decide the fate of our nation for generations to come,” Harris told parishioners at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit. “We must act. It’s not enough to only pray; not enough to just talk. We must act on the plans He has in store for us, and we must make them real through our works, in our daily choices, in services to our communities, in our democracy.”
Her campaign received a boost in Iowa on Saturday when a respected poll for the Des Moines Register newspaper put the Democrat three points ahead in a state Trump has won twice, although another poll put the Republican ten points ahead.
Overall opinion polls continue to show the pair locked in a tight race, with Harris, 60, bolstered by strong support among women voters while former Trump, 78, gains ground with Hispanic voters, particularly men.
Voters overall view both candidates unfavorably, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, but that so far has not dissuaded them from casting ballots.