The different styles of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were on full display Friday evening at dueling rallies in Milwaukee, the largest city in one of the country’s most important swing states.
The two held late night rallies about six miles apart in Wisconsin’s largest city, with Harris generally sticking to script in a speech that lasted 24 minutes, while Trump gave a signature rally speech, going off script and rambling about strange topics, including his audio. equipment, covering a wide range of topics in almost 90 minutes.
Speaking to a packed Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks, Trump spent time on the main points of his stump speeches, such as immigration, as well as on non-traditional topics that had little to do with the 2024 election.
Early in his speech, Trump singled out Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was born in Greece. The Republican presidential candidate mused to the crowd whether he was more Greek than the athlete whose nickname is the “Greek Freak.”
“I would say the Greek,” the term Trump used when talking about the NBA star, “is a seriously good player. Do you agree? And tell me who has more Greek in him. The Greek, or me? I think we have about the same thing.”
Trump also addressed the themes that have come to define his rallies in recent weeks, as well as his cobbled-together closing message: He will crack down on illegal immigration and use tariffs as a weapon to punish foreign adversaries, and he has remained focused on unwarranted immigration. allegations that the 2020 election was stolen, including the idea that he won Wisconsin that year, which he did not.
“I actually won it twice,” Trump said. “But these are small details.”
Meanwhile, at the Wisconsin State Fair Park, Harris stuck to her usual underlying message, portraying herself as a leader who will work for Americans of all political stripes, versus Trump, whom she described as “increasingly unstable” and “consumed by resentment.” .
“Either he’ll walk into that office on day one, going over his list of enemies, or when I’m elected, he’ll walk in on your behalf with my to-do list,” the vice president said in her speech.
While Trump has sparked new controversy with his recent comments about former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Harris again emphasized that she would listen to people who disagreed with her.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail, I’m giving them a seat at the table,” Harris said.
She has embraced support from anti-Trump Republicans during her campaign, and Harris said she would like to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.
Harris also urged her supporters to be “intentional in building community.”
The Trump era, Harris said, was “driven by the idea that Americans should point fingers at each other,” but added that “we all know that we all have so much more in common than what divides us.”
Trump also brought up his comments about Cheney, which sparked a firestorm earlier in the day. At an event with Tucker Carlson Thursday night, he said Cheney wouldn’t be such a “war hawk” if she had guns “pointed at her face.”
Democrats criticized Trump for what they saw as threats of violence against the former Republican congresswoman, who has since become a prominent “Never Trump” voice, but Trump said he was simply making it clear that Cheney would not be as supportive of foreign conflicts if she would have done. to fight in them. He blamed the media for the misunderstanding.
Cheney has been to Wisconsin twice with Harris, appearing in counties where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s last Republican primary foe, performed better during Wisconsin’s presidential primaries. Cheney has been a key surrogate for the Harris campaign since announcing her support for the vice president in September.
The two events in the same city also offered a split screen of the race’s celebrity effect.
Trump’s opening speakers were largely elected Republican politicians and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former presidential candidate who has endorsed Trump and is likely to play a health care role in his administration if Trump returns to the White House. Attendees at Trump’s rally chanted “Bobby, Bobby” as Kennedy delivered introductory remarks.
Harris continued her appeal, with artist Cardi B at her meeting in Milwaukee. Reading most of her speech directly from her phone, the rapper said she had not planned to vote when President Joe Biden ran for re-election, but that changed when Harris was nominated in August.
“Above all, she is not delusional,” she said, making an apparent joke about Trump. She later added: “Do we really trust this man with our economy?”
Trump and his Republican allies have ridiculed and downplayed Harris’ support from big names in entertainment. His campaign did, however, tout a regional celebrity during its swing in Wisconsin, with legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre at a rally he held in Green Bay on Wednesday, while also touting Favre’s endorsement again during the stop in Milwaukee.
“He’s never done it before… as an athlete it’s hard to do it, you lose some fans, who knows,” Trump said of Favre, who is under investigation for alleged welfare fraud in his home state of Mississippi. “He could really tear that ball up.”
Both candidates have spent a lot of time in Wisconsin over the past two weeks, a testament to the state’s importance to the 2024 electoral landscape.
It is one of a handful of states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, that are likely to decide the election.
The race was generally seen as a riot in the state, and several recent public polls showed it to be within the margin of error, making Wisconsin a must-stop for both campaigns in the final days of the race.
“Glad to be back in this beautiful state,” Trump said. “We have a country that is going to hell, but we are going to turn it around very quickly.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
