Trump's closing argument veers all over the place

Source: Politico

Trump's closing argument veers all over the place

As Trump barrels toward the finish, supporters trickled out as his speech spilled over 90 minutes.

LISA KASHINSKY
11/04/2024, 10:12PM ET

PITTSBURGH — Donald Trump’s closing message of his third presidential campaign, delivered here at his penultimate rally, was supposed to focus on the economy and immigration. It sort of did.

But Trump also dissed one of his campaign's senior advisers, Susie Wiles, and appeared to preemptively blame his supporters if he loses the election. He revived talk of a migrant fighting league. He promoted anti-transgender rhetoric (later amplified by guest speaker Megyn Kelly, who was there to help sell Trump to female voters with whom he lags). And he called Jill Stein “one of my favorite politicians” and declared “love” for the Green Party as Democrats have warned third-party candidates could benefit Trump in this election.

He also attacked Democrats as “vicious” and accused them of trying to rig the race. And he more broadly sought to stoke fears about election fraud, at one point suggesting states are “agents” of the federal government while complaining how long it could take some of them to tabulate ballots.

“I think it’s too big to be rigged,” Trump said. But, he added, referring to Democrats, “they’ll try, and they are trying. You know that.”

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Read more: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/04/2024-elections-live-coverage-updates-analysis/trumps-closing-argument-00187350