GREEN BAY, Wis. – In Green Bay on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump wore an orange vest and tried to highlight an event by riding in a garbage truck. The gaffe was made by President Joe Biden just the day before.
About 160 miles away in Madison, Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage in front of thousands of screaming students and promised to forge a new path forward.
The split screen played out in this primary swing state six days before the election, as both campaigns raced through the battlegrounds to rally their voters in a race won by the margins.
Each side says it couldn’t be closer — a state Biden won by just 20,600 votes in 2020. Wisconsin is among the few states that will decide on the election — an important part of the “blue wall.” Critical to Harris’ path to the White House. Trump is attempting a repeat of 2016, when he swept every one of the blue wall states, including Wisconsin, to deny Democrat Hillary Clinton a victory.
Both Harris and Trump will return here on Friday with dueling rallies in the state’s largest city, Milwaukee.
Trump’s campaign had a trash-themed day on Wednesday, as Harris’ team specifically targeted young voters from the University of Wisconsin.
It was moved to capitalize comments Biden made on Tuesday It referred to Trump supporters as “garbage.” Amid the immediate backlash, both Biden and the White House sought to clarify his comments, saying they were referring to “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico” used by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally over the weekend. Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The White House, trying to show what Biden meant, added an apostrophe to “supporters” and released a transcript: “The only garbage I see floating around is that his supporter — his — demonization of Latinos is dishonest and it’s un-America.”
But the political damage was done.
Trump didn’t just pay attention to Biden’s comments rally in North Carolina Wednesday afternoon; when he arrived for the evening rally, he sat in a garbage truck at the Green Bay airport.
“Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself if he knows what he’s doing,” Trump said from the garbage truck.
The message also became a key theme at a rally in Green Bay, where Trump appeared on stage wearing a fluorescent vest similar to the one worn by a garbage truck driver. Several speakers brought up the issue, including legendary former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
“I can assure you, we’re not all trash,” Favre said. who is being ininvestigated for alleged welfare fraud in his home state of Mississippi. “How dare you say that?”
In his speech, Trump emphasized that he wanted to close the southern border, and sometimes played news clips about undocumented immigrants who committed crimes while in the United States illegally. He praised tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has become one of his biggest financial backers, and said that women will protect him whether they want it or not.
“I want to protect the women of our country. … I am the president, I want to protect the women of our country,” said Trump. “Whether women like it or not, I’m going to do it.”
Harris’ campaign was focused on getting voters to the polls on Wednesday. From Governor Tony Evers to Senator Tammy Baldwin to singer Gracie Abrams, many speakers urged the arena to go to the polls.
Before Harris arrived, Abrams was among the musical acts with Mumford & Sons to wow a crowd of more than 13,000, according to the campaign.
With a banner reading “Badgers for Harris-Walz” in the background, Harris portrayed Trump as a grievance-prone and power-seeker. He took a moment to address the students in the arena.
“I see the promise of America and all the young leaders who are voting for the first time. I love your generation. “I just love you,” he said and smiled. “Now you know less rights than your mothers and grandmothers [and] we stand for freedom, and what I know about you is that these issues are not theoretical. This is not political for you. This is your experience and I see you and I see your strength. I see your strength and I am proud of you.”
The roaring crowd waved red and white signs reading “Vote,” and in one section of the audience, a group of people displayed a “Freedom” banner that Harris had embraced early in his campaign. There were two short breaks by the demonstrators who wanted to end the Israel-Gaza war.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., joined the rally after stopping on the trail with Baldwin. Schiff told NBC News in a brief interview that Harris crystallized the path ahead Speech on the Ellipse Tuesday night in Washington. He dodged a question about Biden’s remarks Tuesday and Trump’s garbage truck gag response, saying he was not focused on the issue.
A poll from Marquette University Law School on Wednesday showed Harris leading Trump 50% to 49%, which was within the poll’s margin of error. That’s down slightly for Harris, who trailed Trump 48% to 52% in the same poll in September.
“It’s so close that even the slightest change in the last six days could change the race, whether we’re talking about seven swing states, most of which are on a knife’s edge, or Wisconsin,” said Charles Franklin, the poll’s director. “This is really a race that could go either way, and we shouldn’t be particularly surprised.”
Trump’s dress-up game is the second time he has staged an event for the cameras in recent weeks wowe McDonald’s uniform and served his followers on the way.
Whether these moves will resonate remains to be seen.
But to Harris supporters, Trump’s anger at Biden’s comments rang hollow.
Linda Gator, who lives in the Sheboygan area, scoffed when asked about it.
“Give me a break,” she said. “You have a man who is constantly spreading hate and Biden is wrong and we all know the man has a stuttering problem. We all know we all say the wrong thing sometimes, but the one time he says the wrong thing, is he honestly getting blasted by your peers?
Father-of-three Cyrus Obut, who attended the rally with his two daughters, said he believes Trump won’t gain any influence with his trash talk. He pointed to the Madison Square Garden incident, saying the comments there were “racist” and full of “bigotry.”
“At least he apologized for Biden, he said he was wrong. But on the other hand, he? No,” Obut said.
Matt Dixon reported from Green Bay and Natasha Korecki and Madison’s Shaquil Brewster.