Vice President Kamala Harris did something at her rally in East Lancing, Michigan, Sunday night that she has never done before – she didn’t mention Donald Trump by name.
It was a notable change considering she has spent weeks railing against Trump as an unhinged threat to democracy. She called him ‘unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power’ while speaking on the National Mall last week.
But two days before Election Day, she has changed her tune. Her team said it’s part of an effort to end her campaign on a ‘fully positive’ note.
‘The Vice President was so clear when she laid out that framing in the closing, she is going to continue to talk about turning the page on Trump and his tired playbook, and that’s exactly what she means. And she’s really out there, criss crossing the battleground states, reaching voters, and just really focused on this optimistic, hopeful future and vision she has for the country,’ a campaign official told reporters on a press call Sunday.
And part of that strategy is ignoring her opponent. Harris didn’t mention the former president’s name at one of her four stops in Michigan on Sunday.
Instead she focused on the future.
‘America is ready for a fresh start, ready for a new way forward, where we see our fellow Americans not as enemies, but as neighbors,’ Harris said at her rally in East Lansing.
The change comes after a shock poll out of Iowa showed her up three points in that state over Trump.
But most polls show the seven battleground states are virtually a tie between the two candidates.
‘We have, of course, believed that we’ve been the underdog from the beginning,’ a campaign official said, adding: ‘We do believe that we are on track to win a very close race if we keep doing the work, and so that really is a big part of what we’re stressing out there.’
Harris’ new joyous campaign included a surprise stop in New York to join Saturday Night Live, where she appeared alongside Maya Rudolph, who portrays her on the late night comedy show.
The pair joked back-and-fourth, ending the bit by saying ‘Keep Kamala and carry on-ala.’
Meanwhile Trump has let forth a spew of violent, disparaging rhetoric and given repeated warnings that he will not accept defeat if it comes.
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Trump said he ‘shouldn’t have left’ the White House after losing the 2020 election. He also indicated he wouldn’t mind if a gunman shot at the ‘fake news’ but his campaign later pushed back at that interpretation.
‘I shouldn’t have left. I mean, honestly, because we did so, we did so well,’ Trump said of the 2020 election. He and wife Melania left the White House on the morning of Joe Biden’s inauguration amid Trump’s continued false claims he won the contest.
Trump has slammed polls that show him trailing Harris. He’s blasted staff because of microphone problems at recent events.
He also raged against the media and complained about the bulletproof glass that surrounds him at his outdoor rallies.
‘I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news, right? And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news,’ Trump said. ‘And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind.’
A Trump campaign spokesman later said the former president was actually noting how the press protects him.
‘President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!’ Steven Cheung said in a statement.