MACON, Georgia — Former President Donald Trump has charted his own path to victory in the final, fateful days of the 2024 election, going off script on various tangents that have either stunned or energized supporters.
Trump has deviated from voters’ top concerns of the economy, immigration, and healthcare, while his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has stayed on script at all costs, remaining vague on policy through her little more than two-month campaign.
On Sunday, Trump rallied across the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. Throughout the day, he went off-script and into uncharted territory.
In Lititz, Pennsylvania, Trump, referencing the bulletproof glass surrounding him onstage, joked that for an assassin to shoot him, “someone would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that.”
In Lititz, PA, Trump takes note of the bullet proof glass in directly in front of him. “To shoot me, someone would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that.” The riser facing him head-on is full of reporters and cameras. pic.twitter.com/xP2F6jQloG
— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) November 3, 2024
Trump also said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after the 2020 election, then raised concerns about election integrity in Pennsylvania just two days before polls close and demanded statewide reforms before the next election.
Georgia voter Susan Hansel of Milledgeville told the Washington Examiner ahead of Trump’s rally in Macon that she believed Trump was “speaking figuratively” about media being shot.
“I don’t think he’s saying anything with intent to violence,” said Hansel, a nurse. “I feel like the Democrat said does. I feel like they say a lot of things are almost bully-ish.”
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In North Carolina, Trump went after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and celebrated the decades-long politician’s upcoming exit from politics, a departure from the unified front that the GOP has tried to project.
In Macon on Sunday evening, while thanking Republican surrogates for their endorsements, Trump said congressional candidate Wayne Johnson of Georgia had a good look about him.
“You’re not allowed to talk about looks anymore,” Trump said. “Especially if you were a woman, that would be bad. And you know, nowadays, with this administration, you can become a woman, if you like. I don’t think he should. I have a feeling that he’s going to take a pass.”
Chase Gowan, a 26-year-old Georgia voter who works two jobs in the town of Warner Robins, perceived Trump’s remarks in recent days as “escalating” but intentional and not without calculation.
“He’s very precise,” said Gowan, a rally attendee. “People think that he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s dumb at all. I think he’s very smart, and he’s very particular about his words.
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But Trump’s off-script remarks have caused a headache for the campaign.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung claimed on Sunday that Trump’s comment was not an attack or call for violence against the media.
“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,” he said. “There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”
Trump takes the stage on election eve eve in battleground Georgia pic.twitter.com/F92FGWtgxH
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) November 4, 2024
Dave Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said Trump had gone off-script and gone against what voters wanted to hear about.
“Trump had one job in the final days: talk about the economy/border and tie Harris to Biden. And we’re really talking about Puerto Rico and water fluoridation?” Wasserman posted on X, referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke last weekend at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” and Trump’s support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent call to remove fluoride from U.S. public water.
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Trump has also become agitated at various points this weekend, reeling at sound technicians during his rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Friday evening and again in Michigan amid microphone problems. At one point, Trump made suggestive hand gestures and body motions with the microphone in his hand.
“Did you notice I was bending over like this? And then everybody says, ‘Is there something wrong with his back?’” Trump said at one rally. “They’re saying, ‘He’s cognitively impaired and physically impaired. There’s something wrong with him.’ All because I have guys that are stupid back there.”
“Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?” Trump said to the crowd at another rally. “I’m seething. I’m working my ass off with this stupid mic. I don’t ask for much. The only thing I ask for is a good mic.”
Trump has even defended his going off-script, admitting over the weekend while campaigning in Virginia that he liked to “weave” from topic to topic.
“Nobody else can do the weave like Trump,” he said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) surprised attendees at Trump’s Georgia rally and said Trump is justified in his frustrations and the topics he has chosen to focus on in the final days of the campaign.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen what we’ve seen [the] last 10 days. This is nothing but a full-scale effort to do everything we possibly can in virtually every major media in America to depress and suppress Republican votes and Trump voters,” Rubio said.
David Axelrod, who was a campaign strategist for former President Barack Obama, said on Sunday that Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, was closing well by staying on message and remaining disciplined.
“Trump has not, and I think that is meaningful,” Axelrod said in an interview.
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Darren Latch, an Australian who immigrated to the United States in 2009, said Trump — unhinged or not — was “doing exactly what he needs to do.”
A RealClearPolitics average of national polls published between Oct. 11 and Nov. 3 showed Trump received 48.5% compared to Harris at 48.4%.
