President Donald Trump is spending one of the last days before Election Day engaged in a five-rally blowout across several key states where he is either trailing Joe Biden or running narrowly ahead.
After visiting Michigan, Trump will travel to Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida for events there later Sunday. Meanwhile, Biden is holding a pair of events in Philadelphia.
Trump began his Sunday spree in Michigan, where he held a mid-day rally in snowy Washington Township, played the greatest hits of his campaign as temperatures dropped down to 29 degrees with the wind chill.
The president went through his typical rally setlist, blasting Democratic policy proposals, criticizing Biden’s fitness, and assailing so-called “cancel culture.”
Of Biden, Trump called him “agitated” and “angry” because “he’s losing,” though Biden leads in most national and swing-state polling.
The president also referenced an incident from the weekend where a group of Trump supporters surrounded the Biden campaign bus with their vehicles in Texas. Video showed two cars colliding, and the Biden campaign said the pro-Trump trucks tried to run the bus off the road as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin.
“You see the way our people, they — you know they were protecting his bus yesterday,” Trump said. “Because they’re nice. So his bus — they had hundreds of cars, Trump, Trump, Trump and the American flag. You see Trump and the American flag. Do you ever notice when you see the other side — I don’t even see much of the other side.”
The president repeatedly made reference to how cold he was, saying that he did not bring the proper coat for the event. He said the rally amounted to “a contest to see whether or not we can all stand it.”
While playing a video of past Biden remarks, Trump began bouncing up and down at the lectern, trying to stay warm. Mentioning refugees as “one of the biggest issues” in Michigan, Trump said, “With this weather, you don’t have to worry about it.”
“They’ll never come,” he said.
The president later claimed that Biden would tap Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to oversee U.S. immigration and asked why the Justice Department was not investigating Omar and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Trump also bashed Democratic governors for their efforts to contain the coronavirus — including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Cases and hospitalizations are currently on the rise in Michigan.
“We’re not having any lockdowns, that I can tell you,” Trump said.
Trump won Michigan in 2016. Current polling shows Biden ahead there, but polling in 2016 also showed then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton winning the state.
With early voting setting records as states have expanded the ability to do so, nearly 100 million people have already cast ballots. Polls show Biden with a large lead among early voters in key states, while Trump maintains a significant advantage among those who have yet to vote.
Democrats are leading nationally and in several key swing states among voters who did not cast ballots in 2016.
Trump and his allies have in recent days amplified rhetoric calling into question the legitimacy of Tuesday’s vote. On ABC’s “This Week,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller on Sunday baselessly claimed that Democrats will seek to “steal” the election back from Trump if he holds a lead in some key swing states over Biden on November 3.
Election officials from both parties have attempted to reassure voters about the legitimacy of the count, which may last for days as mailed-in ballots trickle in. Spencer Cox, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Utah, called Miller’s comment “garbage.”
“Hey guys, please ignore this type of garbage,” he tweeted. “The truth is that elections are never decided on election night. … It really doesn’t matter who is ahead on election night, it only matters when every eligible vote is counted and each county canvasses and certifies the vote totals.”
On CNN’s ‘State of the Union,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, noted that “it is going to take time to count” the firehose of absentee ballots.
“It’s more important that we get a count that’s accurate than a count that is fast,” she said.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that voters should “ignore the hype. Just get your ballots in today.”
