It was Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s last chance to speak directly to the American people who have not yet decided who they will vote for today.
And their final pitches were poles apart.
While Trump spent much of his nearly two-hour speech in Michigan’s Grand Rapids hurling insults and profanities at his “enemies,” Harris pledged a hopeful message that “we are not going back” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
And in a move that will surely bruise Trump’s ego, Harris did not mention his name once. At his rallies, Trump has often played a video compilation of the vice president saying his name. By comparison, he mentioned “Kamala” several times.
At the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Trump launched into a familiar rant about former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and, in one particularly shocking moment, mouthed that she was a “b****.”
“She’s an evil, sick, crazy…” he said, going on to begin to say the word “b****” before stopping.
“Oh no. It starts with a B, but I won’t say it. I want to say it,” Trump said, riling up the crowd who chanted: “Say it, say it, say it.”
The former president, who was nearly two hours late for his final speech of the 2024 campaign, also insulted his former officials who have since come out against him.
“When our stupid generals, our terrible generals, the guys up top like Milley, like Kelly, real losers,” Trump said. “Kelly was dumb as a rock. I’ll never do that again, I said give me your letter of resignation.”
Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff during his first administration, said the former president met “the general definition of a fascist” two weeks ago, while Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Trump was “fascist to the core.”
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator or wannabe dictator,” Milley said, infuriating Trump.
Trump also laid into the physical appearance of Democrat Adam Schiff, who was the lead prosecutor in his first impeachment trial. “Adam Shifty shift, I call him ‘Pencil Neck’,” Trump said. “He’s got the smallest neck I’ve ever seen and he’s got the biggest head… I don’t know how the neck can hold the head. He’s an unattractive guy both inside and out.”
Once again, he compared his crowd sizes to Harris’s. “They have no enthusiasm,” he said of her supporters. “She had a rally today. She couldn’t have had more than a hundred people there. I had all four stadiums full.”
In reality, footage from his Michigan address shows empty seats, while footage of Harris’s shows a large crowd in front of Philadelphia’s Museum of Art following performances from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and an address from Oprah Winfrey.
It was nearly 2am by the time Trump finished his closing remarks.
“Together we will fight, fight, fight and we will win, win, win,” he said. “November 5, today, will be the most important day in the history of our country.”
Meanwhile, speaking from the “Rocky” steps in Philadelphia, Harris kept her speech short and the tone positive.
“Philly you know what I’m about to say,” Harris said.
“We are not going back,” she said, as the crowd chanted her campaign slogan.
“America is ready for a fresh start,” Harris said. “Ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow American, not as an enemy, but as a neighbor.”
She ticked off key messages on women’s reproductive rights, the climate crisis, and called for “unity” over division.
“The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And we are all in this together.”
