“It’s time we sent a message to these rich liberal hypocrites,” said Donald Trump.
Macon, United States:
President Donald Trump fought Friday to rebound from the electoral polls plunge by campaigning with a hard-line tone to the American right, stating at rallies in Florida and Georgia that his Democratic opponent Joe Biden would hand over communism and an “avalanche” of criminal immigrants.
While Trump put on a brave face, the fact that he was fighting for the two southern states he won four years ago illustrates how much ground he has to regain against Biden in the 18 days until the election.
With his polls dropping and Covid-19 infections in the United States on the rise, Trump is completely targeting his core Republican base, hoping highly-energized supporters will come forward in large numbers.
In Ocala, Florida, the coronavirus was an afterthought.
Instead, Trump threw red meat into the huge crowd cheering loudly about immigration, race, and his conspiracy theory that Biden is steeped in corruption.
Spicing up his speech with strident exaggerations, Trump claimed that “the Biden family is a criminal enterprise.”
He said Democrats “have nothing but disdain for their values” and “want to make America a communist country,” a repeat of his successful 2016 message tapping into white working-class resentment.
“It’s time we sent a message to these wealthy liberal hypocrites,” he told the cheering crowd in Macon, Georgia, Friday night.
Promise? pic.twitter.com/Wbl86i8uYo
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 17, 2020
Trump also dipped into racially charged comments about Latin American migrants, saying that Democrats will “flood their communities with illegal aliens, drugs and crime.”
And he lashed out at one of his most outspoken critics, Somali-American Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, saying she “hates our country” and “comes from a place that doesn’t even have a government.”
Trump had even more poison for journalists, whom he called “the enemy of the people.”
And he seemed to acknowledge that things might not work out in the end.
“Running against the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics puts pressure on me. Can you imagine if I lose?” Trump reflected.
“What am I going to do?” He continued. “I’m not going to feel so good. I may have to leave the country. I don’t know.”
– Biden highlights pandemic –
Meanwhile, Biden was campaigning in Michigan, where he criticized Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, the strongest theme of his campaign.
“He keeps telling us that this virus is going to disappear like a miracle,” Biden said in Southfield.
“My lord! It is not disappearing, in fact it is increasing again, it is getting worse, as predicted,” Biden said.
It also focused on another area where Trump has run into regular controversy: his often lackluster responses when asked to condemn far-right groups and white supremacists.
He said Trump’s comments were a “dog whistle” for such groups.
“Look. Everyone knows who Donald Trump is, let’s show them who we are,” Biden said at a car rally in Detroit.
“We choose hope over fear, unity over division, science over fiction, and yes, truth over lies.”
– Caution –
However, Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon made a note of caution for Democrats, saying that national polls, especially, were misleading.
“We are not ahead of double digits,” he said. “Those are inflated numbers in national public polls.”
Biden will get help from the Democratic superstar Barack Obama on Wednesday of next week when the former president, who had Biden as his vice president, campaigns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As the voting clouds darken for Trump, prominent members of his own Republican party, including Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, are sounding the alarm.
Sasse, in a phone call with voters this week obtained by The Washington Examiner, said a Trump defeat appears “likely” and that Republicans may lose the Senate as well.
Sasse also had harsh words for Trump, saying he is “obsessed with television,” “narcissistic,” and allowed his family to treat “the presidency as a business opportunity.”
But Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican ally of Trump, told AFP that voters were beginning to weigh the pros and cons of the two parties, rather than focusing on Trump’s painful personality.
“I think it’s getting better and better for us,” he said.
Trump and Biden will hold a final debate next Thursday.
One was scheduled to be held this Thursday, but Trump backed down after he switched to a virtual debate following his Covid-19 diagnosis. Instead, the candidates held events at rival town hall.
Trump, a former reality star, will not be happy with the ratings – 14.1 million tuned in to Biden’s event, while 13.5 million watched Trump, according to Nielsen ratings data.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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