Tale of two rallies: Candidates’ final tours feature a flustered Harris, and a joyful Trump

With the election just days away, both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in the final stretch of their campaign tours, but the tones of each couldn’t contrast more, with Trump on offense and on message and Harris playing defense against the political far-left at her own rallies.

Though Harris initially attempted to portray her campaign as one of “joy”, Trump has taken on an almost jovial tone as polling and betting odds increasingly paint him as the favorite. His recent Madison Square Garden rally, moreover, was an offensive play in the heart of Democratic territory and saw tens of thousands of people gather in the Big Apple for what he later deemed a “love fest.”

Polling data shows a tight contest, with Trump holding a 0.3% lead in the RealClearPolitics average. That outlet currently projects Trump to win 287 electoral votes to Harris’s 251. Polymarket betting odds also favor Trump to win with a 61.1% chance to Harris’s 39.0%.

Though the race remains in tossup territory, the Trump campaign is quite optimistic. Campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio, this week, released a memo highlighting the difference in polling between this election and 2020. The key point was that, in every swing state, Trump is polling better than in 2020 by a significant margin.

“I point this out NOT to stoke overconfidence or complacency, but to illustrate just how close this election is and that victory is within our reach,” he wrote. “It is crucial we do not get distracted by the media noise and remain focused on our closing message, persuading the few remaining undecided voters and turning out our base.”

The Trump campaign appears to have taken his words to heart.

Trump’s final week

Kicking off the week with his blowout rally at Madison Square Garden, Trump proceeded to hold event after event all across all the key battlegrounds, often doing two rallies per day. Election weekend will see him go beyond that and hold three rallies each on Saturday and Sunday, with four more scheduled for Monday.

While two are set for North Carolina, Trump plans to appear in Salem, Va., as the Old Dominion appears competitive. His Saturday events come off of Friday rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.  His Sunday will feature rallies in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia while his Monday will see him hold four more, two in Pennsylvania and one each in North Carolina and Michigan.

Trump opened his Michigan rally, by applauding the crowd sizes and positive energy of his events, including stunts such as driving a garbage truck after President Biden called his supporters "garbage."

“They'll never be anything like what we've done,” he said of Democratic rallies. “We've done something that's unprecedented, and we've had fun, but now we have to get, hopefully, to work.”

The final sprint comes as the Trump campaign has carefully crafted its closing argument of “Kamala broke it, but Trump will fix it.” That line has increasingly become prominent among Trump’s surrogates and at his rallies, functioning as a de facto second slogan.

"Trump is talking about solving problems for Americans while Kamala Harris is focused exclusively on attacking him," one campaign official said. He is "asking people to vote for something, while she is asking for people to vote against something."

Harris faces protesters and stumbles

The vice president, for her part, has faced continued interruptions and protests throughout her final week, with pro-Palestinian demonstrators often interrupting her remarks. Harris has struggled to respond in many of those situations, often chastising them for interrupting her or acknowledging the importance of their concerns.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were present outside her “closing argument” speech on Tuesday evening when she spoke on the Ellipse, outside the White House.

Her Thursday evening rally in Reno, Nevada, moreover, saw protesters chanting “free, free Palestine” ejected from the event. Harris herself appeared flustered by the occurrence and began to speak incoherently in response, looking around for an aide or teleprompter. Instead she produced her now-famous "word salad."

“You know what? Let me say something about this,” she said as chanting became increasingly loud. “We're here because we're fighting for a democracy, fighting for a democracy. And understand the difference here...Understand the difference here, moving forward, moving forward, understand the difference here. What we are looking at is a difference in this election,” she said. “Let's move forward and see where we are.”

The developments serve as something of a microcosm for a campaign that has struggled to placate its most left-leaning supporters and to articulate its positions on key issues.

Her Saturday will feature rallies in Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C., and East Lansing, Mich., according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. She will conclude her campaign in Pennsylvania with multiple rallies on Monday.

Voters go to the polls on Tuesday.