This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 28 episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
In the closing days of the election, Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to make the contrast between herself and former President Donald Trump as clear as she possibly can.
And she definitely offered quite a contrast with the headlines you may have seen from Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, which was basically six hours of racist, hate speech — with a brief interlude that included an awkward interaction between Melania Trump and her husband, exuding the level of warmth you might feel between two distant cousins who don’t particularly like hanging out at family gatherings.
This is yet another reminder, one week before the election, of exactly who Trump is.
But beyond that, the coverage of Trump’s rally has largely revolved around two things: First, a racist comedian who opened for the former president and said some truly vile things, targeting Latinos, calling Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage and mocking Black people, Jewish people and Palestinians. Overall, just really horrible stuff.
None of that should be surprising. Trump has built for himself quite a body of racist and xenophobic work over the years. It’s a good thing for the Harris team that Sunday night’s remarks have sparked a huge outcry but, as the vice president said on Monday, this is nothing new. Sure, it might’ve been more vivid but it’s yet another reminder, one week before the election, of exactly who Trump is.
Besides all the racism, the other big headline from Sunday’s rally was about a secret plan Trump said he has with his little buddy, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
They think they can close out this campaign on racism, fear and hate.
Now, when the two major takeaways from a six-hour-long big, closing message rally just over one week out from Election Day are about how racist you are and speculation about your secret plans to steal an election, it’s pretty clear you don’t have a whole lot else going for you.
At the end of the day, this is all very revealing about what Trump and his team are thinking right now. It tells us that they think they can win like this. They think they can close out this campaign on racism, fear and hate. They think that will work. But if that doesn’t work — then don’t worry, Trump has a secret plan with Johnson.
That is what Sunday’s rally told us: Hatred is the message and conspiring with Mike Johnson is the backup plan.
Allison Detzel contributed.