President Donald Trump traveled to Kenosha for a last-minute rally on the eve of Election Day, as Wisconsin figures to be a key battleground state heading into the 2020 presidential election.
The president spoke at Kenosha Regional Airport in front of a largely maskless crowd where some supporters waited more than 12 hours to attend the rally.
Members of Trump's family made appearances at the rally, including sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., daughter Ivanka, daughter-in-law Lara Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The president’s former Chief of Staff and former Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus as well as current Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski were in attendance.
Trump’s rally marked his fifth visit to Wisconsin over the past two weeks, following rallies in Janesville, Waukesha, West Salem and Green Bay.
While polls show Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Trump by nine points, the president remained confident that Republicans would win the state, which was a key part of his victory in the 2016 election
“I think we’re going to do well in Wisconsin, just like we did four years ago,” Trump said Monday. “Tomorrow we are going to win this state and we are going to win four more years in the White House.”
Trump went on the offensive and attacked Biden, calling him an unsuitable candidate and a globalist, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He even played recordings of Biden’s vocal mishaps, much to the amusement of his crowd.
“Can [Biden] really win?” Trump said. “Are we serious about this? What the hell is going on? Is he serious? ... He’s shot. Some people are shot. He’s shot.”
Following a summer defined by social justice protests after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, the city of Kenosha catapulted itself into the national spotlight in August after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, seven times.
Ensuing arson and rioting led to massive property destruction. During the mayhem, a 17-year-old Illinois teenager who had come to Kenosha to protect property from the demonstrations opened fire, killing two protesters and injuring a third.
Trump toured the city and credited himself for quelling the violence by deploying the National Guard, though the decision rested in Gov. Tony Evers’ hands, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“We sent in the National Guard, and we saved Kenosha,” Trump said. “I said, ‘You know I think Kenosha is going to like me’. We did a good job.”
The president accused Biden of being weak on crime and harped on the former vice president’s running mate Kamala Harris as he drew praise from an endorsement by Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth.
“They’re waging war on police. You know that,” Trump said. “I stand with the heroes of law enforcement.”
At a gathering in Milwaukee last Friday, Biden countered Trump’s stance and advocated for justice to be served following a string of incidents related to police brutality toward the Black community.
“While Donald Trump fails to condemn white supremacy, we can vote to deliver racial justice. A season of protest has broken out all across the nation,” Biden said in Milwaukee. “Protesting is not burning and looting — and violence must never be tolerated. And it won’t. But these protests are a cry for justice. The names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake will not soon be forgotten. Not by me, not by us, not by this country.”
As Trump serenaded his supporters, a simultaneous "Get Out The Vote" rally took place at the Kenosha Civic Center Park, where state legislators and other demonstrators offered their support for Biden and condemned the incumbent president.
“Tomorrow is a really important day,” said state Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee. “[Trump] tried to come to Kenosha and exploit our pain.”
Hours before Trump took the stage, Biden responded to the criticism and attacked the president over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, alleging the president “knew the dangers of this virus” and that he lied to the American people.
“And now, more than eight months into the pandemic, the President still has no plan to get the virus under control,” Biden said.
Wisconsin recently reported a 30 percent seven-day positivity rate as more than 230,000 people have been infected in the state, along with 2,050 deaths.
As Trump and his advisors continue to downplay the toll caused by the pandemic, Biden rebuked the president’s approach and offered his assurances to help Wisconsinites navigate through the public health crisis.
“When I’m in the Oval Office, I will stand with Wisconsin and I will listen to the experts, trust the science, execute on my plan to get the virus under control, get our schools and small businesses safely back open and speak the truth to the American people,” Biden said.
Republicans won Kenosha County in the 2016 election by just 255 votes, flipping its support from Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2012. Trump won Wisconsin in the 2016 election by less than 23,000 votes.
The Kenosha rally represented the fourth leg of a five-part campaign tour for Trump in which he visited the battleground states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
After Trump left Kenosha, he and his family traveled to Grand Rapids, Mich., for his final rally of the presidential campaign.
