Harris And Walz Rally, Trump Dances For The Camera As Election Day Nears: Latest Updates

As Election Day looms, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are campaigning at breakneck pace — but the tones and settings of their respective rallies look wildly different.
Harris has taken a multifaceted approach to campaigning, speaking at venues big and small, answering questions at town halls and even going toe-to-toe with conservative media during a sit-down interview with Bret Baier on Fox News. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has hosted rallies of his own and made appearances on popular podcasts and shows like ABC’s “The View.”
Abortion rights, inflation, extremism, immigration and more — the stakes have never been higher. Catch up on critical 2024 election updates here.
Trump, meanwhile, has gone off the deep end in recent weeks. He’s canceled several interviews on major news networks (except for Fox News), disparaged autoworkers, and hosted a town hall that offered very little time for questions and answers but did feature 40 minutes of Trump listening to music on stage. Over the weekend, Trump also posed as a fast-food worker for a photo op at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.
Nevertheless, polling shows Harris and Trump in a tight race.
See previous election coverage here, and read the latest updates on the 2024 race below.

Former President Donald Trump threw a slate of personal attacks at Harris on Tuesday night during an event in Miami, including calling her “lazy,” a word long used to demean Black people in racist terms.
Later in the day, he went on to call her a “stupid person” and asked: “Does she drink? Is she on drugs?”
His remarks ignored her intense campaign schedule: The vice president spent Tuesday at meetings in Washington, D.C., and recording interviews with major news networks.
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At a get-out-the-vote rally in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday, Eminem endorsed Harris for president while introducing Obama onto the stage.
“I don’t think anyone wants to America where people are worried about retribution, what people would do if you make your opinion known,” Eminem, who is from Detroit, said in a brief speech to the audience. “I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.”
Eminem then introduced Former President Barack Obama, who soon thereafter rapped the lyrics to Eminem’s popular song “Lose Yourself.”
The rapper has previously spoken out against Trump on multiple occasions and supported Biden and Harris in 2020, Variety reported.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) told a crowd gathered at Trump’s rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, that she was officially joining the Republican Party.
“You know, I was a Democrat for over 20 years,” Gabbard said, referencing her decision to leave the party in 2022. “Today’s Democrat Party is totally unrecognizable … It is because of my love for our country … that I’m proud to stand here with you today President Trump and announce that I’m joining the Republican Party.”
“I’m joining the party of the people, the party of equality,” she added. ‘It is the party of common sense and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace.”

Trump’s top advisors reportedly included the judge who tossed out the case into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents as a prospective attorney general candidate in the case that he wins the election, ABC News reported Tuesday citing multiple unnamed sources.
The judge listed, Aileen Cannon, was nominated by Trump in 2020 and dismissed the classified documents case in July. The document with Cannon’s name, titled “Transition Planning: Legal Principals,” reportedly includes other controversial names for numerous roles, including the FBI and DOJ. Some, but not all, of the people being considered are veterans of the first Trump administration.

John Kelly, the former Marine general and onetime White House chief of staff for Trump, is speaking out on the record about his former boss, telling The Atlantic that Trump praised “Hitler’s generals” for what he perceived as their loyalty (despite history telling a different story) and asked why Kelly and other military officials couldn’t be more like the “German generals.”

An aide recently installed into a top Trump campaign job excoriated the former president for his behavior during his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt, particularly his lack of concern for the death of a Capitol police officer hours after the man was assaulted by Trump’s mob.
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Former Marine general John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, made a grave warning about a second Trump presidency Tuesday, telling The New York Times that he meets the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator and understands neither the Constitution nor the concept of rule of law.
“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Kelly, who also served as Trump’s homeland security secretary until 2017, said, adding that Trump “never accepted the fact that he wasn’t the most powerful man in the world — and by power, I mean an ability to do anything he wanted, anytime he wanted.”
Kelly said he agreed to speak out against Trump on the record because of the GOP nominee’s remarks about using military force against this political opponents.

In a new interview with NBC News, Harris dismissed the possibility that Americans wouldn’t vote for her because she’s a woman.
“I don’t think of it that way,” Harris told host Hallie Jackson when asked about that concern. “My challenge is the challenge of making sure I can talk with and listen to as many voters as possible and earn their vote. And I will never assume that anyone in our country should elect a leader based on their gender or their race, instead that that leader needs to earn the vote based on substance and what they will do to address challenges and to inspire people.”
When she talks to voters, she added, it’s “clear that regardless of someone’s gender, they want to know that their president has a plan to lower costs, that their president has a plan to secure America in the context of our position around the world.”
Polling tells a slightly different story. A YouGov poll conducted in July found that only 54% of Americans say the country is ready to elect a woman president, down from 63% who said so in 2015.

With two weeks left until the election, Harris said she’s focused on beating Trump, but she’s still prepared in case he attempts to challenge the election or falsely declare victory, according to an interview Tuesday between the vice president and NBC News’ Hallie Jackson.
“We will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that,” Harris said.
Harris pointed to Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Captial Insurrection and the possibility of a similar occurrence.
“This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked, some who were killed. This is a serious matter,” she added.

Walz criticized Trump for his plan to elevate billionaire CEO Elon Musk to an influential government position, potentially having say over federal policies that affect his companies. He joked that Musk, who has been stumping for Trump and dangling $1 million checks to voters, was practically serving as Trump’s running mate.
“Elon’s on that stage, jumpin’ around, skipping like a dipshit,” Walz said. “You know it!” he added.In Walz’s words, Musk is “spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election.”

Speaking alongside Walz at in Madison, Wisc., Obama reflected on Trump’s bizarre “town hall” in Pennsylvania last week, where, instead of fielding questions, Trump listened to his favorite songs for nearly 40 minutes, at times mouthing the words and dancing along.
“There are questions about his competence,” Obama said, leading into the anecdote. “He’s out there giving two-hour speeches, it’s like Fidel Castro, just keeps on talking. Just word salad.”
Obama was baffled as he recalled Trump’s behavior onstage.
“So he’s standing there. He’s swaying to Ave Maria and YMCA. The governor from South Dakota, she’s standing there with this weird look on her face like she doesn’t really know what’s going on. It’s like a hostage video,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“Can you imagine if Tim [Walz] did that, or Kamala did that or I did that?” He asked incredulously. “Now, our playlist would be better. But you’d say to yourself, ‘This is odd behavior!’”
“My point is you’d be worried if grandpa were acting like this. Right?” Obama concluded. “But this is coming from someone who wants unchecked power! Wisconsin, we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails. America’s ready to turn the page.”

Former President Barack Obama, campaigning in Wisconsin alongside Walz on Tuesday, took a shot at Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s restaurant over the weekend.
Harris, Obama said at a rally in Madison, is “somebody who actually worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses.” He added that the vice president “didn’t just pretend like you worked at McDonald’s — when it was closed.”
Trump’s stint working at a drive-through window at a McDonald’s northeast of Philadelphia on Sunday was heavily staged, with Trump supporters picking up food from the former president while the restaurant was closed to the public.