Watch Kamala Harris speak live in Michigan:
Key events
My colleague George Chidi is reporting from Trump’s rally in Atlanta, Georgia:
Watch Kamala Harris speak live in Michigan:
Gaza protesters briefly interrupt Harris speech
Chris Stein
More than a dozen Gaza solidarity protesters, mostly young people, were escorted from the rally by Harris campaign staff after disrupting the vice-president’s speech.
“Stop the genocide!” one yelled. Another was carrying a sign reading “Abandon Harris”. Harris has repeatedly been interrupted on the campaign trail by protesters opposed to the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Harris used the disruption by a small group of Gaza solidarity protesters to quickly state her position on the conflict.
“And listen, hey, on the subject of Gaza, hey guys, I hear you on the subject of Gaza. We all want this war to end as soon as possible and get the hostages out, and I will do everything in my power to make it so,” drawing cheers from the crowd. That policy is about the same as what Joe Biden is proposing.
Trump: ‘The US is now an occupied country’
“The United States is now an occupied country,” Trump tells supporters in Georgia, once again comparing migrants to an invading army.
“November 5, 2024 will be liberation day in America. On day one I will launch the largest deportation program in American history. We are going to get these criminals out.”
“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered. These towns have been conquered….can you imagine, just as though a foreign enemy was invading, a military was invading, and probably just as vicious or more vicious. And we will put these bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of this country. Get them the hell out of here. “
“I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,” Trump says.
If you’re listening to several rallies simultaneously, here in the last full week of the 2024 election, there’s a lot of contrasting tones:
Donald Trump is talking in Atlanta, Georgia about migrants raping and killing American women and girls and about claims about Venezuelan gang members in Colorado. Kamala Harris is talking about unity in Ann, Arbor Michigan: “We’re not about the enemy within. We know we’re all in this together,” she says.
Bruce Springsteen, holding a guitar, is speaking about the value of building a “middle class economy” at a rally for Harris in Pennsylvania, and calling Trump “an American tyrant.” He just started playing the guitar.
Kamala Harris has taken the stage in Ann Arbor, Michigan
“We will win,” Harris tells the crowd.
“We are all in this together … the vast majority of us have far more in common than what separates us.”
Chris Stein
Tim Walz used to be a high school football coach, a job that he clearly enjoyed. He has used football metaphors extensively on the campaign trail, and tonight in Ann Arbor is no exception.
“This is where I’ve gotta do it, huddling up a little bit here. Time for a little bit of a pep talk. Look, we gotta admit it, this game is tied. Two minutes left on the clock. We got the ball. We’re driving down the field. We’re doing the blocking and everything we need to do. And I know you got a saying around here … the team, the team, the team. And boy, do we have the right team. So all gas, no breaks for the next eight days.”
The crowd chanted “the team” alongside Walz.
Chris Stein
Taking the stage as Kamala Harris‘s warm-up act in Ann Arbor, Tim Walz offered advice to those nervous about next week’s presidential election.
“Eight days till the election, and our team is running like everything’s on the line because everything’s on the line. But here’s the good news: if you’re feeling any of that anxiety, any of that nervousness, any of that worry, we’ve got the solution for you – get out there and vote for Kamala Harris. I know – I did it last Wednesday with my son, who voted the first time. And it works.”
“The jails all over the world are being emptied into our country,” Trump claims, specifically mentioning the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Middle East and Central America. “We’re a dumping ground.”
“Kamala is importing savage criminals who assault, rape, murder, our women and our girls. I’m sorry to say that, but that’s what’s happening,” Trump says.
Trump is now getting into the pre-announced theme of this rally, protecting women.
“I’m going to protect the women in this country … I’m going to protect them from migrants coming into our country that kill seven people … I’m going to protect them from having people come into our country and do damage to the woman or the family of a woman or anybody,” he says.
“I think it’s fine to say I will protect the women of this country and the men of this country and I will protect everyone,” he says.
“They said, ‘Please sir, don’t say that!’”
If you’re confused about why Trump is riffing about Georgia congresswoman and his own ally Marjorie Taylor Greene driving an exploding hydrogen car, here is some context from the Washington Post:
Trump is riffing again on his admiration for Elon Musk, calling him “a real patriot” and saying the tech billionaire, the richest man in the world, would be put in charge of cutting costs within government if Trump is elected.
“You know what he’s doing now? … He’s been campaigning in Pennsylvania.”
My colleague Blake Montgomery had a good overview of what the billionaire might expect to receive from his all-in donations and personal campaigning for Trump:
“You’re going to have a 1929-style depression,” if Harris wins, Trump tells his audience in Georgia.
“She’s a fascist, OK, she’s a fascist,” Trump says of Kamala Harris, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hearkening back to the backlash against Hillary Clinton calling Trump supporters “deplorables” during the 2016 election, Trump tells his supporters that Harris is labeling them fascists.
Cellphone lights glowed and the crowd waved signs reading “VOTE” as Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers serenaded the crowd in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In between songs, she told the crowd that she was performing at the campaign rally because there was too much at stake in this election to stay silent.
“I can’t ignore the headlines that I’ve been seeing on my phone any longer. I have to face the reality of what’s happening in the next eight days. And, to tell you the complete truth, it’s terrifying,” she said.
“Voting is the key to the future. It’s the key to a candidate who believes in reproductive freedom for all people, it’s the key to a candidate who believes in climate change and has a plan to fight against it. It’s the key to a candidate who believes in upholding the basic human dignity of all people, and who embodies the values that I want to see, not just for myself and for my friends, but for my grandchildren and for your grandchildren … In these next eight days, you can fight back against the fear of Donald Trump and everything that he creates. You can take action against his darkness. You can choose the light.”