Former President Donald Trump’s campaign spent the final Sunday of the 2024 election on all-too-familiar turf: backlash to the candidate.
Speaking at a rally near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Trump drew attention to the bulletproof glass his security team has used to protect him since he was shot in the ear in the western part of the state this year.
“I need someone to get me shoot through the fake news,” he said. “And I don’t mind it that much.”
Trump, who has criticized the media in previous statements, caused an immediate backlash for his violent rhetoric. His spokesman, Steven Cheung, immediately suspended a statement insisting that Trump claimed the media should be protected and that he “cares more about their well-being than his own!”
Once again in the race an NBC News poll on Sunday Heading into Tuesday’s election, Trump has mastered his message, which has defined the stretch of his campaign. A few hours ago, Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, was very traditional and politically safe. An appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Harris’s mirror-like dialogue with Maya Rudolph, who plays her on the show, is more about the plays written in her name than high-strung politics – “pajama-las”, “Rom-Com-ala” and so on. was spinning around. The choice to briefly sidestep the swing situation — but not the tight scripts and friendly audiences — reflects Harris’s cautious approach when comparing himself to a competitor he says is “solid.”
In any case, this clash of styles became more pronounced at the end of the campaign. Harris is little different from his stump speech at rallies. Many of his long-term interactions with the media have been with friendly interviewers.
“We’re doing everything we need to do,” said an aide to Harris, who noted that he regularly speaks to “gaggles” — groups of reporters — on the campaign trail and does one or two interviews a day. “We’re doing everything we can to reach voters.”
Trump campaign aides did not respond to a request for comment.
Rob Godfrey, a Republican strategist from South Carolina, said Trump was giving gifts to Harris by playing into his strategy.
“The vice president’s campaign has benefited from two things lately — and they’ve given him the luxury of being a little more selective about where he appears and under what circumstances,” Godfrey said. “It’s a less disciplined competitor, reminding people of some of the things they remember less about him, and an all-star group of surrogates who get his message across in some cases better than he does.”
Trump has long argued that “defence prevention” is a losing strategy, and he’s going on the offensive as he wraps up what will be his final campaign — offending many Americans in the process.
In less than a week, Trump spoke through the media about people shooting, said he would protect women “inevitably” and appeared at a rally with one of the warm-up acts called Puerto Rico “trash.”
“Trump has never had a credible audience in mind throughout this campaign,” said Faiz Shakir, who managed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 Democratic primary campaign. “He’s focused on the hard work and those who are likely to be inclined. For anyone who didn’t like the behavior and management of his last presidency, he didn’t give them anything.”
“The closure confirms all of that,” Shakir added.
Last week, Democrats had to do cleanup duty for a surrogate who wasn’t involved in the campaign: President Joe Biden appeared to say Trump’s supporters are “garbage”. (The White House said it was specifically referring to a comic that said the same thing about Puerto Rico.)
Aside from an “SNL” appearance and a trip to Washington Talk about an ellipsis At the foot of the White House last week, Harris clung to seven swing states that both campaigns had long viewed as key to an Electoral College victory.
Trump visited last week New Mexico and Virginia – states outside the main battlefield – trying to place them in their column. It remains to be seen whether this is a sign of confidence in his position on the battlefield or a missed opportunity to reach the most targeted voters.
Millions of voters have cast early ballots, and while the battleground airwaves are filled with ads focused more on policy contrasts than campaign styles, there are signs that undecided voters in swing states are weighing all the information they get about the candidates.
Deshaun Hall, a 38-year-old self-described “African-American” poet from Pennsylvania, told NBC News that he is considering supporting either Trump, who he thinks will help him more financially, or Harris, who he thinks will be better for others economically. . He listens to how Harris and Trump package themselves.
“I never heard him say anything on TV that sounded crazy,” Hall said. “But the side effect of that is you don’t feel like you know who he is.”
Godfrey said the battle for the last vote could come down to how those who are worried about Harris or those who fit Trump’s platform better than his personality make their choices.
“The open questions in this context are whether people will give him a chance even if he moves a little more than the former president, and whether the political capital of his surrogates can be transferred to him,” he said. . “We’ll know those answers soon.”