Vice President Kamala Harris turned to the star on the campaign trail on Saturday, as she hosted events with musicians Lizzo and Usher in Michigan and Georgia, while former President Donald Trump rallied in the crucial state of Pennsylvania.
At a rally in Atlanta, Harris said Trump was “cruel” for the way he spoke about the grieving family of a Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat her complications from an abortion pill. while imposing restrictions on combat. reproductive care at the center of her pitch to voters.
Harris blamed it The death of Amber Thurman about Georgia’s abortion restrictions that took effect after the Supreme Court, with three justices appointed by Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. It comes as Harris looks to the issue to build support for Democrats, who have pledged to restore the nation’s right to abortion if they win the White House and enough seats in Congress.
“Donald Trump continues to refuse to take responsibility, any responsibility, for the pain and suffering he has caused,” Harris said.
Thurman’s story is the focus of one of Harris’ closing campaign ads, and her family attended her rally in Atlanta, with her mother holding a photo of her daughter from the audience. Harris showed a clip of Trump saying during a recent Fox News Channel town hall, when asked if the Thurman family had participated in a separate media call, “We’ll get better ratings, I promise.”
There is also early voting in Georgia. More than 1.2 million ballots have been cast in person or by mail. Democrats hope an extensive organizing effort will give Harris a boost against Trump in the final weeks of the campaign. Harris recently referenced former President Jimmy Carter voted by mail days after his centenary.
“If Jimmy Carter can vote early, so can you,” Harris said.
Harris was joined at the event by the hometown music icon Guardonce again tapping into star power as she tries to lure voters to the polls. Earlier Saturday she appeared with Lizzo in the singer’s hometown of Detroit, marking the beginning of in-person voting and showering the city with praise after Trump recently discredited it.
“The best things are made in Detroit. Coney Dogs, Faygo and Lizzo,” the singer joked to the audience, pointing to herself after listing the hot dogs and sodas the city is famous for.
After Trump, there was a lot of praise for the Motor City insulted it during a recent campaign stop. And Harris continued the theme, saying of her campaign, “Like the people of Detroit, we have courage, we have excellence, we have history.”
More than 1 million Michigan residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 5 election, and Harris predicted that turnout in Detroit for early voting would be strong.
She labeled Trump unstable: “Someone just has to watch his rallies when you’re not really sure how to vote.”
“We will not get these 17 days back. On Election Day, we don’t want to have any regrets,” the vice president said.
Lizzo also told the crowd, “Madam Commander in Chief has a nice ring to it.”
“This is the swing state of all swing states, so every last vote here counts,” the singer said. Then Lizzo added, referencing her song of the same name, “If you ask me if America is ready for its first female president, I have only one thing to say: ‘About damn time!’
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign had suggested he would begin previewing his closing arguments on Saturday evening, with Election Day barely two weeks away. But the former president began his meeting with a detailed story about Arnold Palmer, at one point even praising the late, legendary golfer’s genitals.
Trump was campaigning in Latrobe, Pawhere Palmer was born in 1929 and learned to play golf from his father, who suffered from polio and was the head pro and greenskeeper at the local country club.
Politicians greeting Palmer in his hometown are nothing new. But Trump spent a full 12 minutes doing so at the start of his speech, even suggesting how much more fun the evening would be if Palmer, who died in 2016, could join him on stage.
“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that with all due respect to women,” Trump said. “This is a man who was all man.”
Then he went even further.
“When he was in the shower with other professionals, they came from there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable,’” Trump said, laughing. ‘I had to say. We have women here who are very educated, but they always saw Arnold as a man.”
Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters before the speech that Trump planned to prepare his closing argument against Harris and “start diving into that framework.”
Trump ultimately touched on many of his favorite campaign themes, but didn’t offer much in the way of a new framework for the race or why he should win it. Instead, he boasted that he had created strong tax policies and a strong military during his first term.
He called Harris “crazy” and added profanity.
“You need to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, you just can’t take it anymore, we can’t stand you anymore, you’re like a vice president,” Trump said to the roar of the crowd. ‘The worst. You’re the worst vice president. Kamala, you’re fired. Get out of here.’
He also criticized Harris for suggesting during her failed 2020 bid for president that she would support a ban on hydraulic fracking, which is important to Pennsylvania’s economy and a position the campaign said Harris no longer supports.
Trump invited to the stage members of a local steelworkers union that supported him. He put on a construction hat with his name on it.
He also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouted him during Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
“He said, ‘It’s unbelievable what happened,’” Trump said of Netanyahu’s call before moving on to criticize President Joe Biden, saying the Israeli prime minister “didn’t want to listen to Biden.”
