President Donald Trump and the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spent the frenetic final day of the 2020 campaign with rallies in key battleground states.
As nearly 100 million early votes have been cast, Trump also used rallies to air grievances against Democrats, Twitter and the Supreme Court as Biden called for an end to "the chaos, the tweets, the anger, the hate."
"Go out and vote — unless you are going to vote for somebody other than me, in which case, sit it out. Do you ever hear these politicians get out and say you have the power to vote and it makes no difference if you vote for me or my opponent. They are such liars. They are such liars," Trump told a crowd of thousands on an airport tarmac in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
He also warned the crowd, "Biden will turn America into a prison state." They chanted "Lock him up!" It was the first of five rallies Trump held in three separate states.
Biden, at a drive-in rally in Cleveland, called Election Day "an opportunity to put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation."
"My message is simple: the power to change the country is in your hands," the former vice president said, prompting the blaring of car horns. "The president doesn’t determine who gets to vote, the voters determine who gets to be the president," he said, calling Trump "a disgrace."
"It’s time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home," Biden said. He had three other campaign events scheduled for later in the day in Pennsylvania, where polling shows him with a slim lead.
At his chilly North Carolina event — his second in two days — the president focused more on his frustrations over the past four years than his vision for the next four. He complained about polling from Fox News that showed him trailing Biden, and went on rants about the Russia investigation, his impeachment and his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, whom the crowd also still wants to be locked up.
He also complained that unverified allegations about Biden's son Hunter hadn't been picked up by the mainstream media. "Outside of what I say, it’s fading away," he said, adding, "You can’t have a scandal if nobody writes about it."
The president also continued to insist that every vote be counted on Election Day, baselessly claiming that "cheating can happen like you’ve never seen" if not, especially in places like Philadelphia, which he said is "known" for cheating.
While Trump had used recent rallies to tout his Supreme Court appointees, he complained Monday the court hadn't voted his way yet on several election issues. "They’re hurting our country very badly," he said.
At his next rally outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Trump did tout the addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, asking to cheers, "You happy with Amy?" He also added some new complaint targets, including the NBA and NFL — "you've got to stand for our flag," he said — and singled out basketball superstar LeBron James.
He also complained about Biden backers Beyoncé, whose name he pronounced "Beyoncee," Jon Bon Jovi ("Every time I see him he kisses my ass") and Lady Gaga ("I could tell you stories about Lady Gaga"). The "Rain on Me" singer is scheduled to perform at Biden's final event of the day in Pittsburgh.
Trump had a special guest himself at his third rally of the day in Traverse City, Michigan — he was introduced by Vice President Mike Pence, who campaigned in Pennsylvania earlier in the day.
Pence revved up the crowd, promising Michigan that the president will continue to protect manufacturing and energy jobs in the state and across the Midwest. Trump urged the crowd to vote and suggested that this election is more important than 2016.
"This is a big, important place. If we, if we win Michigan. It's over. It's over. We win the whole thing. Four more years and then we can finish the job we started so well," he said.
Trump held off on fresh attacks against Dr. Anthony Fauci and doctors who he said have inflated coronavirus death tolls in his first three rallies Monday but did tell the crowd in Michigan that the country is "rounding the corner" despite rising cases in the state and across the country.
At Trump’s fourth rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city that was in a state of unrest after the shooting of a Black man by police there over the summer, Trump continued to stress how important the state is to his victory and vowed to rescue the country from the pandemic, despite widespread criticism of his administration's handling of it.
"We're gonna have a red wave," he said. "It's going to be a beautiful sight."
Biden attacked the president for going after Fauci, however, when campaigning in Ohio on Monday.
"Elect me and I'm gonna hire Dr. Fauci and we're gonna fire Donald Trump," Biden said, homing in on Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Look, the first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump," he said.
He also vowed that if he wins, "Trump's gonna start paying some taxes."
At his second stop in Monaca, a small town northwest of Pittsburgh and bordering Ohio’s eastern state line, Biden talked about trade, reiterated that he wouldn’t ban fracking if elected and talked about the 2020 election being an “inflection point.”
“This is going to be more than just who governs the next four years. What happens now, what happens tomorrow is going to determine what this country looks like for a couple generations,” he said. “And that's not to joke. I really genuinely believe that, there's so damn much at stake.”
At his third rally in Pittsburgh, where he kicked off his presidential run last year, Biden appealed directly to voters there, particularly Black voters, promising to rescue the economy, heal racial divides and follow the science on Covid-19.
“Now he wants us to believe so much he's done for Black Americans. You might've seen the debate I had with him, I was standing next to Abraham Lincoln,” Biden joked, referring to Trump's claim he's done more for African Americans than Lincoln. “Pittsburgh, honk if you think it's a bunch of malarkey!”
Biden then began listing examples of how Trump hasn’t helped the community, reminding the many African Americans in the crowd that Trump started the so-called birtherism movement against President Barack Obama, who campaigned Monday for Biden in Florida. He also reminded them that Trump called his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, a “monster” when he announced her as his vice presidential pick.
"We're done with the chaos, we're done with the racism, we're done with the tweets, the anger," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna act on day one ... to get COVID under control."
Capping off his campaigning in Pittsburgh, Biden offered some closing remarks to supporters, promising to unite the country, and said he is the leader the country needs to recover from the pandemic.
"Millions of Americans have already voted, close to 100 million. And millions more will vote tomorrow," Biden said. "My message to you is simple: The power to change this country is in your hands...When America votes, America will be heard."
