CNN
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Donald Trump justified his bid to win a second term in the White House next week on simmering fears about immigrants at a rally at Madison Square Garden, reaffirming his promise to implement a massive deportation program on day one to reverse an “immigration invasion.” close.

As the ex-president's allies defend him against Democratic claims that he is a “fascist” and a wait-and-see authoritarian, drawing, among other things, on the warnings of his former chief of staff John Kelly, Trump delivered a message on Sunday that was the ultimate could promise the most presidential election in modern history if he beats Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on November 5th.

“The United States is an occupied country,” Trump said as Democrats projected messages onto the outside of the storied New York arena that read “Trump is unhinged” and “Trump praised Hitler.”

The huge rally was billed as the start of the final phase of Trump's attempt to pull off one of the biggest comebacks in American political history after he tried to overturn the results of the last election and left office in disgrace in 2021. Before he spoke, some of the ex-president's main supporters spread racist and vulgar rhetoric. Former congressional candidate David Rem called Harris the “antichrist” and “the devil,” while others sharply criticized Hillary Clinton, “illegals” and the homeless. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

Tony Hinchcliffe criticizes Latinos and Puerto Rico in opening speeches at Trump rally

The Trump campaign later denied that statement, with spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez saying in a statement to CNN: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Much of Trump's speech was full of falsehoods and exaggerations. It was exactly the kind of rhetoric that the Harris campaign believes could sway moderate voters and disaffected Republicans to vote for the vice president. But it also represents a bet by the Republican candidate that he can achieve huge turnout and activate voters who don't normally cast ballots but agree with his tough policies.

At the very least, it highlighted the choice facing voters in the coming days, as Harris promises Americans that they can move on from Trump's extreme behavior, which has tested the rule of law and constitutional constraints on presidents in his first term .

The ex-president's harsh anti-migrant rhetoric is among the most blatant demagoguery by a major figure in a Western country since World War II. But it was also complemented by a sharp economic argument that made up the second part of Trump's closing argument, targeting the frustration of many Americans struggling with high food prices despite cooling inflation.

“I want to start by asking a very simple question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump asked. “I am here today with a message of hope for all Americans: With your vote in this election, I will end inflation. “I will stop the invasion of criminals in our country and bring back the American dream.” He also said he would push for a tax credit for “family members who care for a parent or loved one” — after Harris unveiled her own platform had proposing that Medicare cover home health care.

“If Kamala Harris gets four more years, our economy can never recover. If I win, we will quickly build the greatest economy in the history of the world,” he said.

The former president based his first presidential campaign in 2016 on inflammatory rhetoric about Mexican migrants. Eight years later, he suggests that migrants are directly responsible for citizens' economic frustration – a conceit that has been used by far-right leaders throughout history.

Trump's somber performance added to the palpable sense of tension that permeated the country a week before an election that could be a national turning point. Supporters of each candidate fear what would happen if their candidate loses, in a showdown that has highlighted two incompatible visions of the future — and what it means to be an American. Trump's warnings that he envisions a presidency with virtually unchecked power dedicated to “retaliation” reinforce the sense that a fateful moment is at hand.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz drew a reference between Trump's rally in downtown Manhattan and an infamous pro-Nazi rally in 1939 at the previous arena at the same location, as Democrats are now openly branding the ex-president a “fascist.” The Minnesota governor said: “There is a direct parallel to a large rally that took place at Madison Square Garden in the mid-1930s … and don't think for a second that he doesn't know exactly what they're doing there.”

Sunday's raucous event showed that the 2024 presidential election raises new standards, with Trump unlikely to be competitive in New York state next week. But the ex-president's homecoming to a city where he built skyscrapers to reflect his outsized personality showed how candidates sought headlines far from battleground states. Harris was in the red state of Texas on Friday to highlight Republican hardliners' abortion policies, which she said could spread nationwide if Trump wins. And on Tuesday, she's hosting an event in Washington, DC

Both candidates are heading into the final week of the campaign, with polls in swing states and nationally showing a tied race. The election is already underway, with 40 million Americans voting early in person or by mail. The CNN poll shows no clear leader nationally, with Harris at 48% and Trump at 47%. The race will be decided in battlegrounds including the blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as the Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The result could depend on just tens of thousands of votes, potentially setting the stage for tense counting over several days that would only fuel fears of a disputed election.

Early voting explains why Harris will make her closing argument a full week before Election Day with a rally Tuesday night at the Ellipse Square in Washington. The symbolism will be acute as it is the site of Trump's infamous rally on January 6, 2021, when he told his crowd to “fight like hell” or they would have no country before his mob entered the US Capitol breached to try to undermine the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory. Harris' rally will be a powerful exclamation point on an increasingly important theme of her campaign – that Trump poses an existential threat to American democracy.

That message was at the heart of Biden's campaign until he abandoned his re-election bid in July. Harris didn't initially have the same topic in mind, but she's becoming more comfortable with it. But some Democrats worry that the American people are more interested in how they can quickly improve their economic situation. “How effective is it to attack Trump because he is a fascist? “This issue is not as compelling as contrasting messages to Harris' economic plans and her promise to protect reproductive rights,” said an Oct. 25 email from Future Forward, the top super PAC backing the Harris campaign and was sent to Democrats and was first reported by The New York Times and obtained on Sunday by CNN.

Trump in recent days has countered claims from Democrats and Kelly that he is a rising authoritarian.

That led Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, to try to cherry-pick and redefine the ex-president's official statements and blame the media for reporting exactly what his boss said. Vance stressed in a heated interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that the ex-president was not referring to political opponents when he openly mused about deploying the military and National Guard against the “enemy.” from within”. However, Trump had previously clarified that he was talking about people like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Rep. Adam Schiff.

Jake Tapper and JD Vance engage in a heated exchange over Trump's “enemy within” remarks

“He said he wanted to use the military to crack down on left-wing lunatics who were rioting, and … he also called them 'the enemy within.'” He said separately, in a completely different context, in a completely different conversation, that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are threats to this country,” Vance said.

Both Trump and Harris have been targeting strategic sectors of their core voters in recent days. Harris, for example, made a new attempt Sunday to win over black male voters, some of whom appear to be moving toward Trump. At a barbershop in West Philadelphia, an area where she needs major turnout to offset Trump's advantage in rural Pennsylvania, the vice president took part in a discussion with black men about creating better opportunities. And she stressed the vital nature of the commonwealth and its 19 electoral votes – which could block her path to the White House if Trump comes to power, as he did in his 2016 election victory.

“We’re going to get it done — victory goes through Philly and through Pennsylvania,” Harris said.

The vice president is also eyeing another constituency that could help her win the White House: female voters, as she seeks to use the already significant gender gap to her advantage. She appeared in Michigan on Saturday with Michelle Obama – a reserved political figure who is nevertheless extremely popular with Democrats. In a powerful speech, the former first lady appealed not only to women but also to “the men who love us” – warning that Trump's history of building the conservative Supreme Court that overturned federal abortion rights would have serious consequences for would have women's health.

“Please, please don’t leave our fate to people like Trump, who knows nothing about us and has shown deep contempt for us,” Obama said. “Because a vote for him is a vote against us, against our health, against our worth.”