Lititz: Republican candidate Donald Trump , Two days before Tuesday’s presidential election, gave a profanity-laden speech filled with conspiracy theories, in which he mentioned the shooting of reporters and suggested that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden .
In comments made on Sunday, which resembled his usual rally speeches, the former president repeatedly questioned the integrity of the election and revived past grievances related to his effort made to overturn the 2020 results. Trump escalated his verbal assaults on what he described as a “demonic” Democratic Party and the American media, steering his rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to the topic of violence against journalists at one point.
He noted the ballistic glass used for his protection at outdoor events following a gunman’s assassination attempt in July, pointing out the gaps between the panels.
“I have this piece of glass here,” he said. “But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.” he added.
This was the second time in past few days that Trump talked about guns being aimed at individuals he views as enemies. He implied that former Rep. Liz Cheney, a notable Republican critic, would be less supportive of foreign wars if she had “nine barrels shooting at her.”
After facing backlash for his remarks suggesting violence against the media, Trump’s campaign downplayed his comments.
“The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else,” Trump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said. Instead he claimed that Trump was highlighting that reporters were in “great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”
Trump also revisited false claims about elections, asserting that he could only lose to Democrat Kamala Harris if there’s cheating, despite polls indicating a very close contest.
“It’s a crooked country,” Trump vented to his audience on a chilly airport tarmac, revisiting the grievances that characterized the early phase of his campaign. “They’ll want to put you in jail because you want to make it straight. Think of it, think of it. They cheat in elections and you call them on it and they want to put you in jail.”
Some of his allies, particularly former chief strategist Steve Bannon, have urged Trump to announce victory on Tuesday night after polls close, even if the outcome is uncertain. This is similar what Trump did four years ago, which sparked months of denial and falsehoods that ultimately led to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
For much of this year, Trump had run a relatively disciplined campaign, emphasizing the issues his aides believe can deliver him victory, even as he clung to false theories about voter fraud and frequently went on digressions, stirring controversy. But that discipline is increasingly collapsing.
Trump in recent weeks has joked about golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia, continued using gendered or sexist language in his efforts to win over women and staged a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden with speakers who made crude and racist insults that continue to dominate the headlines.
The darker and more profane tone of his campaign has comes as the former president, who has long been a fan of the masculine pageantry of the WWE , has been entering his rallies to the ominous tolling bell music once used by the wrestler known as “The Undertaker.”
Trump had nonetheless been delivering what was a fairly consistent stump speech most days, aided by a series of videos that kept him on script, even as he veered from subject to subject in a discursive style he has labeled “the weave.” But outside the Lancaster airport, he completely abandoned his planned remarks, skipping his usual points on the economy, immigration and rote criticisms of Harris.
Trump’s remarks in Pennsylvania were not planned according to a person familiar with them, who noted Trump is known to ad-lib. While it was unclear exactly what had set Trump off, his campaign had released a memo earlier in the day criticizing new polling from The New York Times again showing the race extremely close in the seven major swing states.
Trump had spoken by phone before he took the stage with two reporters who had mentioned polling, including one who had asked him if he thought there was any way he could lose.
Trump has been frustrated that the campaign remains locked in a close fight to the finish. He thinks Harris is an unworthy opponent and he cannot understand why he isn’t dominating, said one Republican familiar with the dynamics of the campaign who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss it.
Another Republican blamed last-minute anxiety — and Trump having to trust a system that he believes is rigged against him.
Still, several Trump allies applauded his speech, saying that they were glad he was shining a light on concerns about fraud in the race’s final stretch.
Harris pushed back at Trump’s characterizations of U.S. elections, telling reporters on Sunday that Trump’s comments are “meant to distract from the fact that we have and support free and fair elections in our country.” Those “good systems” were in place in 2020, Harris said, and “he lost.”
The vice president said she trusts the upcoming vote tally and urged voters, “in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for this tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter.”
Trump, for his part, acknowledged that he was sidestepping his usual approach with his conspiratorial speech. He repeatedly talked about disregarding the advice of his aides, repeating their feedback in a mocking voice and insisting that he had to talk about election fraud despite their objections.
In his next appearance a few hours later at an airport in Kinston, North Carolina, Trump returned to much of his usual script, alternating between prepared remarks and familiar stories.
At one point, he said, “hopefully, we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon,” undercutting the Senate Republican leader who endorsed Trump earlier this year despite blaming him for the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
“Can you believe he endorsed me?” Trump added a minute later with a laugh. “That must have been a painful day in his life.”
He took the stage a third time Sunday night in Macon, Georgia, sticking more closely to his prepared remarks and focusing heavily on immigration.
Trump told his supporters that in two days, they were going to “save our country” and that they were “on the verge of the four greatest years in American history.”
“You watch. It’s going to be so good. It’s going to be so much fun. It’ll be nasty a little bit at times, and maybe at the beginning, in particular,” he said. “But it’s going to be something.”
(With AP inputs)
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