US Presidential Election: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris face off with Joe Rogan and Beyoncé

In a tale of two Texases, Donald Trump’s interview with Joe Rogan in Austin and Beyoncé’s expected performance with Kamala Harris in Houston could tip the deadlocked presidential election.

A tale of two Texases could decide the next US president.

As national polling averages reached a precise tie for the first time, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris steered into their campaign strengths on two of the world’s biggest platforms. A Joe Rogan podcast in Austin, and a Beyonce performance in Houston.

Mr Trump and Ms Harris go into the weekend at a critical moment in the US presidential election, with whoever comes out ahead on Monday having the advantage of momentum for their closing message.

The former president’s interview on the Joe Rogan Experience is the pinnacle of his “manosphere” podcast strategy to turn out the low-propensity bro vote among GenZ.

The vice president’s rally headlined by Beyonce is the pinnacle of her abortion “freedom” strategy to turn out the white suburban female vote.

Both plays are working, with the New York Times/Siena College’s final survey showing Mr Trump and Ms Harris tied at 48 per cent each. The RCP average of national polls reflected the neck and neck race also with a near-identical tie of 48.5 to 48.5.

It was the first time Ms Harris lost the post-Joe Biden lead she held since overtaking Mr Trump in early August.

Democratic pollster Mark Penn said the three to four-point movement across three polls from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes showed a clear trend in the direction of Mr Trump in the last few weeks.

“This is real movement and momentum going into the close. It is still close but this is a substantial move,” he said.

Mr Trump’s comeback comes despite a series of negative stories dropping against the former president, and the Harris campaign’s outspending to boost them in swing states.

Thirteen former officials from the previous Trump administration issued an open letter expressing their agreement with ex-chief of staff John Kelly’s assessment of the former president as a fascist.

Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartski, 94, denounced comparisons of Mr Trump to a Führer, saying he knows “more about Hitler than Kamala will ever know in a thousand lifetimes”.

“Adolf Hitler invaded Poland when I was 9 years old. He murdered my parents and most of my family,” he said in a moving video.

“For her to accuse President Trump of being like Hitler is the worst thing I ever heard in my 75 years living in the United States,” he said, adding Ms Harris “owes my parents and everybody else who was murdered by Hitler an apology for repeating this lie.”

🚨WATCH: Auschwitz survivor Jerry Wartski rips Kamala Harris for calling President Trump a fascist:

“I know more about Hitler than Kamala will ever know in a thousand lifetimes. For her to accuse President Trump of being like Hitler is the worst thing I've ever heard in my 75… pic.twitter.com/bdPnCImHRn

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 25, 2024

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a rare joint statement to Ms Harris to tone down the rhetoric in the lead-up to election day after she compared Mr Trump to Hitler and called him an outright fascist.

“She must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions,” they said, noting that Mr Trump has already survived two assassination attempts.

“We call on the Vice President to take these threats seriously, stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.”

The Harris team, meanwhile, continued undeterred with the messaging, backed by a reported $97 million ($A146m) raised in the first half of October compared the just $16 million for the Trump campaign $A24m).

That money is being spread across all swing states, but increasingly funnelled into the Blue Wall that is rapidly becoming Ms Harris’ most likely, and perhaps only, path to 270 Electoral College votes: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Trump adviser Jason Miller says the “danger to democracy” message won’t resonate outside the Washington DC bubble.

“I’m old enough to remember back in 2000, they had the debate with [George W.] Bush/ [Al] Gore on who would you rather have a beer with? … The person who would win that — even though he doesn’t drink — would be President Trump,” he told Politico.

“When you’re able to communicate the relatability, then voters feel even more strongly that the policies that you’re pushing for are being done because you want to help them.”

As Mr Trump attempts to further soften his image with Rogan in Texas, he will also hold a press conference to talk about border security and the “army of migrant gangs” unleased in the US.

It continues the theme of campaign appearances in Nevada and Arizona, where he called the US “a garbage can for the world”.

While the mood of the country remains a mystery inside political echo chambers, some Washington insiders are beginning to sense shift.

The Washington Post newspaper shocked its staff and readers by announcing it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since the 1980s.

CEO William Lewis it was a return “to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” referencing its nonpartisan policy before endorsing Jimmy Carter in the wake of the 1976 Watergate scandal.

The last time it did not endorse a candidate was in the 1988 race between George HW Bush and Michael Dukakis.

It follows a similar move by The Los Angeles Times, which has also refused to endorse a presidential candidate.

The New York Post, however, endorsed Mr Trump after previously saying the January 6 Capitol Riots in 2021 disqualified him from being Commander-in-Chief.

Originally published as US Presidential Election: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris face off with Joe Rogan and Beyoncé