ATLANTA: With just a week to go until Election Day on November 5, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are making their final campaign pushes across swing states in what is shaping up to be one of the closest presidential races in US history.
Harris focused her efforts on Michigan on Monday, while Trump addressed supporters in Georgia following a controversial rally in New York aimed at energizing his base.
The race remains tense, with more than 41 million Americans already casting early ballots, joined by outgoing President Joe Biden, who voted Monday in Wilmington, Delaware. Polls show the contest is too close to call, and public anxieties are high over whether Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him, would accept defeat. His recent rhetoric has grown more intense, peppered with aggressive language and veiled threats.
A rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden over the weekend, held to bolster Trump’s support, sparked outrage after one of the speakers made derogatory remarks about Puerto Rico. A warm-up speaker likened the US territory to “a floating island of garbage,” prompting rare damage control from Trump’s campaign, which clarified that the statement “does not reflect the views of President Trump.”
However, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the remark, was unapologetic, defending the comment as humor, and the statement was later reposted by Trump’s son, Don Trump Jr.
In an interview with CBS News, Harris called Trump “unstable and unhinged” and challenged the 78-year-old to take a cognitive test, offering to undergo one herself. The 60-year-old Democrat is targeting swing-state voters who might tip the scales in her favor, while also seeking to rally the Democratic base.
The next week will see Harris and Trump campaigning in battleground states. On Monday, Harris held multiple events in Michigan following a stop in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Trump continued his push in Georgia, with both candidates planning near-daily events across key states until the election.
On Tuesday, Harris is expected to deliver her “closing argument” in Washington, D.C., with a speech on the National Mall. The location is symbolic, as it was where former President Trump addressed supporters on January 6, 2021, shortly before the attack on Congress, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory.
Trump, meanwhile, used Sunday’s event at Madison Square Garden as a platform for his own closing pitch. The Trump campaign framed the rally as a powerful show of force, with senior advisor Stephen Miller calling it “PURE JOY” on social media.
Democrats, however, compared the gathering to a notorious 1939 rally of American fascists held in the same venue, citing inflammatory remarks made about racial minorities and opponents.
The New York Daily News ran the headline “RACIST RALLY” after the event, referencing comments mocking Harris, Hispanics, and Black Americans. Trump’s rhetoric about the “enemy from within,” which he vaguely defined as the Democratic leadership, added to concerns over escalating tensions in the campaign’s final days.
The election has also seen endorsements that underscore the importance of the Latino vote. Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny recently backed Harris, a boost for her in swing states with significant Puerto Rican populations, such as Pennsylvania, where about 450,000 residents are eligible to vote.
A CNN poll released Monday indicated a potential post-election flashpoint: only 30 percent of Americans believe Trump would concede if he loses, compared to 73 percent who think Harris would accept defeat.
