US election 2020: Donald Trump v Joe Biden as America votes
Donald Trump has made a last-ditch attempt to sway voters ahead of the US election after Lady Gaga told Americans to turn out for Joe Biden.
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Donald Trump has appeared before thousands of cheering supporters in freezing temperatures in Kenosha in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
The US President was more than an hour late in taking to the stage.
“It’s been an amazing day, an amazing two days,” Mr Trump said before departing for Kenosha.
Mr Trump was joined in Wisconsin by son Eric, his wife, Lara, and youngest daughter, Tiffany.
In what has been a punishing campaign schedule, Mr Trump sounded slightly hoarse as he addressed supporters.
He quickly turned his attention to the coronavirus, declaring that a vaccine was imminent and “this China plague” will be “wiped out in a few weeks”.
He also slammed “far-left anarchists” who are “allowed to roam the streets” while “you’re all locked in your house”.
“That’s why I call these rallies,” Mr Trump said. “They’re not rallies anymore, they’re protests.”
Democrats slammed the choice of the Winsoncin city as a rally location. In August, teenager Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and wounded a third in Kenosha, amid protests over the shooting of 29-year-old black man Jacob Blake by a white police officer.
Earlier, Mr Trump decried the treatment he had received from the media and Democrats throughout his presidency.
“I have been under siege illegally for three-and-a-half years. I wonder what it would be like if we didn’t have all of this horrible stuff. We’d have a very, very calm situation,” Mr Trump said at an evening rally in Michigan.
“People see that we fight and I’m fighting for you. I’m fighting to survive. You have to survive.”
After wrapping up in Wisconsin, Mr Trump was then headed back to Michigan for his final event before Election Day.
GAGA ENDORSES BIDEN
Lady Gaga has slammed Donald Trump over his treatment of women during a campaign appearance for Joe Biden in Pittsburgh.
The pop superstar made a pointed plea to women to vote Mr Trump out.
“To all the women and to all the men with daughters, and sisters and mothers … Now is your chance to vote against Donald Trump, a man who believes his fame gives him the right to grab one of your daughters or sisters or mothers or wives by any part of their bodies,” Gaga said to a cacophony of beeping car horns.
“Vote for Joe. He’s a good person, thank you.”
Gaga joined the former vice president at the University of Pittsburgh after earlier sharing her Biden campaign excitement via Instagram.
“Good morning PENNSYLVANIA! I’m so excited to see you today and SING for you!!!!!!!” the pop star wrote, holding up a Biden-Harris badge.
“I believe in YOU & I!!!!” Gaga said.
“Let’s talk about what America looks like with a KINDER President. WE NEED EVERY VOTE. I’m with @JoeBiden — Lets go 24 hrs!!!!! PUSH!!!!!”
Earlier on Monday (local time), the Trump administration released a statement, calling Gaga “a fracking activist”.
“Now he’s got Lady Gaga,” Mr Trump said earlier in the day during a rally in Pennsylvania. “Lady Gaga — is not too good. I could tell you plenty of stories. I could tell you stories about Lady Gaga. I know a lot of stories about Lady Gaga.”
Mr Biden closed out his final day of campaigning in Pittsburgh, the city where he held his first rally after announcing his candidacy for the White House in April of last year.
He came out swinging during his final campaign appearance before Election Day.
“I have a feeling we’re coming together for a big win tomorrow,” Mr Biden said at a drive-in rally in Pittsburgh.
Mr Biden, who followed Lady Gaga on stage, said “it’s time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home.”
Mr Biden spoke at an outdoor event in Pittsburgh and finished the evening at a drive-in rally with his wife, Dr Jill Biden.
“We are really at one of those inflection points. This is going to be more than just who governs the next four years,” Mr Biden said to a cheering crowd during an appearance at Pittsburgh’s Lexington Technology Park.
“What happens now, what happens tomorrow, is going to determine what this country looks like for a couple of generations.”
Mr Biden told the crowd that “the power to change this country is in your hands”.
He also spoke about the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has had on the African-American community.
A passionate Mr Biden said that “we’re done with the chaos, we’re done with the racism, we’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility.”
Those supporters sitting in their cars for the outdoor event beeped their horns, while others watching Mr Biden in front of the stage cheered.
Earlier, Mr Biden and Lady Gaga, who was decked out in a bedazzled ‘VOTE’ mask surprised University of Pittsburgh students who were holding “We’re Gaga for Joe and Kamala” signs.
“I was just saying this generation represents the single most open, best educated generation in American history,” Mr Biden said.
“If in 2016, people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted the same percentage that the rest of the population did, it would have been 5.2 million more votes. You guys can own this election. You can own it. I really mean it. I’m counting on you. We’re counting on you. Now, Lady Gaga’s going to be speaking, and I’m going to be singing. We’ve been friends for a while — I can’t thank you enough for all you’re doing.”
“I’m so excited. This is wonderful. Thank you everybody,” Gaga said.
OBAMA SLAMS TRUMP’S COVID MANAGEMENT
Barack Obama has slammed Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic during a campaign stop for Joe Biden in Miami ahead of Election Day in the US.
Mr Obama, who also rallied for Mr Biden in Atlanta earlier in the day, went on the attack.
“Americans just had its worst week of new cases. We’ve been living with this thing for months now,” Mr Obama said.
“What is Donald Trump’s closing argument? He says people are too focused on COVID.”
He also made reference to Mr Trump’s raucous rallies, at which most attendees have ditched masks or social distancing.
“Last night on his super spreader COVID tour – because nothing is more important to him than crowds to make him feel good – last night he said, ‘Don’t tell anyone but I’m going to fire Dr Fauci after the election.”
As the crowd booed, Mr Obama said: “Don’t boo, vote.”
It was the former president’s second time in Miami for a drive-in rally for the Biden/Harris campaign.
Mr Obama is not only Mr Biden’s most powerful surrogate, but also one of the main forces for attacking Mr Trump’s handling of the pandemic, healthcare, and race relations in the US.
“I’d there was a Democrat who was behaving this way, I couldn’t support him,” Mr Obama said.
“If I saw a Democrat who was lying every single day; the fact checkers can’t keep up. I would say, that’s not the example I want, it’s violating the values we try to live be. They’re not white values. They’re not Black values. They’re not Latino values, they’re American values.”
Before Mr Obama appeared, attendees danced to Shakira and waved colourful Biden/Harris bandannas.
The former president was introduced by Despacito singer Luis Fonsi.
“This isn’t about your party affiliation. This about saving our democracy and moving forward together,” the singer said.
“Latinos are going to make the difference in this election … let’s vote tomorrow, baby.”
Mr Obama also took the opportunity to have a dig at Mr Trump’s long-running obsession over inauguration crowd size.
“Four years later, and he’s still talking about this,” Mr Obama said.
“What is it? Did no one go to his birthday parties when he was a kid?”
TRUMP FIGHTS IT OUT IN PENNSYLVANIA
Meantime, thousands of Trump supporters braved below zero conditions and snow flurries for a last chance to see the US president in Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump chose Scranton, the birthplace of his opponent Vice President Joe Biden, to launch his final pitch to Pennsylvanians.
The Biden campaign was also stretched out across the state, with Mr Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris and his wife, Dr Jill Biden, stumping in the crucial battleground state.
Among those at an airport outside Scranton were Suzanne Gillis who brought along her granddaughters Gigi, 10, and Lucy, 8 and her sister Anne Marie Vancosky.
“I don’t see how Joe Biden can win this, everyone in Pennsylvania is [supporting] Trump because he has done so much for us,” said Mrs Gillis, from Wilkes Barre.
“I was a Democrat until 2016 but I voted for Trump because our economy was in a lot of trouble.”
“We have noticed things are better all over, my husband’s paycheck, everything.”
Farmer Steve Rogers, who owns a 350 acre cattle farm that is in Susquehanna County, is a registered Democrat but voted for Trump in 2016 and plans to do so again.
“I’m voting for him again because I think everything was great in this country until the coronavirus came along, and that was not the president’s fault,” he said.
He and his partner Robin Belcher also said they thought Mr Trump could win.
With the race narrowed to a knife-edge in several key states, US President Donald Trump has warned he would challenge any result that didn’t come on election day.
Sprinting through five battlegrounds on his second last day of campaigning, the President revved-up tens of thousands of supporters at each rally, some standing in freezing rain and snow.
Democrat candidate Joe Biden narrowed his focus on Pennsylvania, with two events in Philadelphia ahead of another push there.
With 20 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory, the state is considered a must-win for both candidates.
Mr Biden is currently leading by an average of 4.3 points, but there are indications Mr Trump could be set to repeat his 2016 victory, where he was swept into the White House by voters outside the state’s two main cities.
The liberal Pittsburgh Post Gazette backed Mr Trump for re-election over his handling of the economy and support of mining, endorsing a Republican for the first time since 1972.
Pennsylvania can’t start counting its millions of early votes until Tuesday and the process is expected to last for days. Mr Trump has warned that if he’s ahead on election night he won’t give up his lead.
“I think it’s a terrible thing when people are — when states are allowed to calculate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over,” he said.
“We’re going to go in the night of … as soon as that election is over, we’re going in with our lawyers.
“If people wanted to get their ballots in, they should have gotten their ballots in long before that.”
Legal challenges to the count at the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore took 37 days to be settled by the Supreme Court. The presidency was won by 537 votes in a single Florida district.
In North Carolina, a queue stretched a kilometre down the road as an estimated crowd of 30,000 flocked to hear Mr Trump speak at his third of five rallies.
The crowd cheered in full voice when a local politician declared he would repeal the state’s mask mandate if the Republicans won this week.
Mr Trump is trailing Mr Biden in North Carolina by just 0.3 per cent according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls. He narrowly won the state in 2016 and will return there on Monday.
“This is Trump country!” declared supporter Karen Bolick.
“He keeps the promises he made, he’s lowered my taxes and my stocks have doubled. He will keep his word. Joe Biden is just a liar.”
Her son Seth is only 17 and regrets he can’t vote for his “hero”.
“I have the same morals as him,” Seth said.
“It is religious based, he supports the things I do, especially guns and the second amendment.”
Shelley Campbell and partner Jacob Huffman are devout Trump supporters who simply like him because “he’s not a politician”.
“Trump is a businessman, he gets things done. Look at Joe Biden, he’s been a politician for 47 years, he’s never had a real job,” Mr Huffman said.
“He will win. Look at this crowd, and it’s only a small town.
“North Carolina is behind the President because he is our President.”
When asked what she thought of Mr Biden, Ms Campbell giggled and said: “Is he the best they could come up with? Really?”
Mr Trump will stump in another five states today, with rallies in Florida, North Carolina, Mr Biden’s birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania as well as two cities in Michigan
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Originally published as US election 2020: Donald Trump v Joe Biden as America votes