Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris held dueling rallies Friday night, trading verbal blows from a distance with the election less than two weeks away.
The split-screen dynamic was the result of Trump, 78, arriving at the Traverse City, Mich., rally site more than three hours late.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan, U.S., October 25, 2024. REUTERS
“I am so sorry,” Trump said at the top of his speech. “We got so tied up, and I figured you wouldn’t mind too much because we’re trying to win.”
The Republican nominee for president had been held up in Austin, Texas, recording a nearly three-hour-long interview on comedian Joe Rogan’s hugely popular podcast.
“It was the longest interview I’ve ever done in my life,” Trump said.
“So I apologize but, you know, it’s all about winning. We got to win. And, we did some things today that will help us win,” he argued.
The former president went on to ridicule Harris, 60, for campaigning in Houston – with Beyonce’, Kelly Rowland, Willie Nelson and Jessica Alba – as Israel conducted retaliatory airstrikes against Iran.
Former President Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke in Traverse City, Michigan Friday night. AFP via Getty Images
“You know where she is tonight?” Trump said of his 2024 opponent. “She’s out partying.”
“So, Israel is attacking [Iran] – we got a war going on and she’s out partying,” the 45th president added. “At least we’re working to make America great again.”
“She’s the worst vice president in the history of our country,” Trump said of the Democratic nominee.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas on Oct. 25, 2024. CARLOS RAMIREZ/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Beyoncé endorses Kamala Harris at Houston rally. Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
WIth Harris in Houston and President Biden in Wilmington, Del., for the weekend, the ex-commander in chief argued that leadership in Washington was absent in a potentially perilous moment.
“Tonight in the Middle East – it’s like a tinderbox. It’s ready to explode,” Trump said.
“Nobody’s in charge,” he charged. “Joe Biden is asleep and Kamala is at a dance party with Beyonce.’”
Trump also took aim at Harris’ plan to hike taxes on corporations, unrealized capital gains and individuals with incomes over $400,000.
He branded the vice president as “the taxing queen.”
“All my life I’ve watched politicians – they say, ‘We will lower taxes.’ This is the only stupid politician trying to run on, ‘I will raise your taxes,’” Trump said of Harris. “She’s bragging about it.”
Trump called Kamala Harris “the taxing queen.” Getty Images
Meanwhile, more than 1,300 miles away in Houston, Harris railed against “Trump abortion bans” in a speech focused on restrictions of the procedure.
“Texas, what is happening across this state and our country is a health care crisis,” the vice president said of state-imposed limits on abortion. “And Donald Trump is the architect of it.”
“When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade,” Harris charged.
“He brags about overturning Roe v Wade,” she continued. “In his own words, quote, ‘I did it and I’m proud to have done it.’ That’s what he says.”
Harris then suggested that Trump is “proud that women are dying; proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for life for administering life saving care; proud that young women in America today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers.”
Harris criticized Trump for hand-selecting three members of the US Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade. Michael Gonzalez/Shutterstock
“How dare he,” the vice president fumed, before alleging that “Donald Trump doesn’t trust women.”
Harris also slammed Trump over his refusal to release his detailed medical records, claiming that it is hypocritical of him.
“Do you see the irony?” Harris told rally-goers.
“On the one hand, Donald Trump won’t let anyone see his medical records – I gave up mine –. and on the other hand, they want to get their hands on your medical records,” she charged.
“He will force all 50 states to track and report on women’s miscarriages and abortions,” Harris alleged, citing, “his Project 2025.”
Trump has repeatedly disavowed the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint.
“Simply put, they are out of their mind,” Harris raged.
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