President Biden's comments about Trump supporters -- or his Madison Square Garden comedian -- has taken a bit of the air out of Kamala Harris' "closing argument" Tuesday evening at the Ellipse, site of Donald J. Trump's January 6, 2021, speech to a mob that attacked the Capitol. Scroll down for Harris speech analysis.
THURSDAY 10/31/24
Sanitation in Green Bay – Donald J. Trump was driven to his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Wednesday in a garbage truck with his name emblazoned on the side, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, as he parried the brouhaha over his Madison Square Garden comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Puerto Rico and an island of garbage. This won the campaign day for Trump, Politicosays, as Kamala Harris had to deal with President Biden’s counter-remark about MAGA supporters and garbage.
Biden’s comments stepped on Harris’ own “closing arguments” speech at the Ellipse with the White House in the background, Tuesday evening.
“You know the thing is, they treated our whole country like garbage, intended or not,” Trump told the Wisconsin crowd.
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Democratic Angst – Meanwhile, finger-pointing has begun among Democrats over “a string of factors” that have hobbled Kamala Harris’ campaign “from the outset,” The Hill reports. Whether Harris wins or loses the election next Tuesday, Democrats are disappointed with her messaging, especially on the economy, and with President Biden’s late withdrawal from the race.
“People are nervous and they’re trying to cover their ass and get a little ahead of election day,” an unnamed Democratic strategist told The Hill. “It’s based on anxiety, stakes, and the unique nature of the cycle.”
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Anti-Vaxxer for HHS? – Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a key player in the Trump campaign, has told his supporters Donald J. Trump has promised him “control” over the Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture, CQ Roll Call reports.
“I’m going to let him go wild on health,” Trump said. “I’m going to let him go wild on food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines.”
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Harris at the Ellipse – For voters still undecided or, at least, unmotivated to go to the polls in the next six days, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris tried once again to define herself largely by defining Republican candidate Donald J. Trump. She is a conventional politician; one who seeks to work both sides of the aisle and for all voters. Trump, she reiterated, is in it only for himself.
“Look, we all know who Donald Trump is,” she said from the Ellipse, with the White House in the background. “He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election he knew he lost.”
“He was told by the staff that the mob wanted to kill his vice president, and he responded with two words: ‘So what?’ And that’s who Donald Trump is.”
The one thing Harris’ “closing argument” had in common with Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday is that they each got out to the other’s voters in some measure. Fox News regulars who watched Harris’ speech live may have learned, or maybe re-learned, some facts from Trump’s January 6th speech at the Ellipse in 2021 that have been lost in the pro-MAGA rhetoric about “tourists” holding a love-in that day, while Trump’s rally, especially his guest speakers have certainly got out to anyone who follows mainstream media in the last few days.
“He has an Enemies List of people he intends to prosecute,” Harris continued. “He says one of his highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers on January 6th.”
The vice president elaborated on some of her policy proposals, including a federal ban on price gouging in groceries, affordable housing for first-time home buyers, and of course legislation making abortions legal nationwide. Harris said she will “work with Democrats and Republicans to sign into law the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.”
On foreign policy, Harris said she will “Not surrender America’s global leadership. And I will stand with our friends,” she said, without specifically naming Ukraine or Israel. “Because I know that our alliances keep the American people safe and make America stronger and more secure. World leaders think that Donald Trump is an easy mark. Easy to manipulate with flattery and favor. And you can believe that autocrats like Putin or Kim Jong Un are rooting for him in this election.”
The Harris campaign estimates about 75,000 people attended her closing argument at the Ellipse, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prior to the speech, the National Park Service doubled its estimate of attendees expected to 40,000.
Madison Square Garden has a concert capacity of 20,000, and some news reports say Trump’s crowd there started to thin out as the event stretched to about five hours Sunday. The Trump campaign says a large overflow of supporters who were not able to get in were on the streets outside the Garden that night.
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‘Deplorables’ Redux – President Biden sucked some of the air out of Vice President Kamala Harris’ “closing argument” at the Ellipse in Washington, Tuesday, when he addressed Latino supporters by video: “Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said, referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s stand-up routine at Donald J. Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday evening.
Puerto Ricans are “good, decent, honorable people,” Biden continued. “The only garbage I see out there is his supporters and his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
The White House later released a transcript to show that Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe as the “garbage” Trump supporter, The New York Times reports. It’s unclear whether the president’s video to Latino supporters was recorded or released “live.” But if the former – even the latter – it shows Biden’s communication staff had slipped on the job to draw criticism from the Trump/Vance camp that detracted from Harris’ important speech at the Ellipse.
“This is disgusting,” Trump running mate JD Vance said. “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country.”
(Earlier in the week, Vance defended the Garden rally language Biden was attacking, saying; “We have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America.”)
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Trump Responds – Donald J. Trump’s own response to the backlash over comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Puerto Rico at the Sunday evening rally came at a Tuesday campaign rally in heavily Hispanic-Latino Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“I’m so proud that we’re getting support from Latinos like never before. We’re setting every record,” Trump said (per the Pennsylvania Capital Star). “Hispanics, Latinos, nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do. Nobody.”
Trump claimed “no one” has done more for Puerto Rico than him – eliciting memories of his paper towel-roll toss to victims of Hurricane Maria in 2018 – and he promised to deliver “the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans.”
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa