US Presidential Election: the end is in sight

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TRANSCRIPT
“And make no mistake, we will win. (crowd chants) And we will win because here’s what everyone here knows: when you know what you stand for you know what to fight for.”
“Hopefully everything will work out well. We’re way leading. All we have to do is close it out. We have to close it out. If we get our vote, there’s nothing they can do. This is one of those deals. If we get our vote, we’re leading every swing state, which is unheard of for the Republican Party.
With one day left before the US Presidential Election, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris seem confident of one thing … that they are going to win.
The 2024 presidential campaign has been unlike any other, with a convicted felon on the ticket, an incumbent president pushed out of the race, and multiple assassination attempts; the unpredictability of this election has lasted to the very end as polls show one of the closest elections in US history.
The candidates, who for months have been campaigning alongside billionaires, pop-stars, and even historic political rivals, are now making their final rally calls to convince any remaining undecided voters that they are the best pick for president.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has already started telling voters that the Democratic party is planning to cheat.
“It’s a damn shame. And I’m the only one that talks about it because everyone’s afraid to damn talk about it. And then they accuse you of being a conspiracy theorist. And they want to lock you up. They want to put you in jail. The ones you should be locked up are the ones that cheat on these horrible elections that we go through in our country. And I don’t know what’s going to happen, but for future elections – I won’t even a part of it – but you’re oughta  damn well go to paper ballots. You ought to go to voter I.D. and you ought to have the election over by 9:00. I’m hearing now they’re going to take weeks.”
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris told voters in Michigan that no matter what her rival says, their vote does count.
“I would ask, in particular people who have not yet voted, to not fall for his tactic (referring to Donald Trump), which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter. Suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact, so that they don’t vote. And again, I think that it is a tactic; it is meant to distract from the fact that we have and support free and fair elections in our country. We did in 2020, he lost. And the systems that are in place for this election in 2024 have integrity. They are good systems.”
She says this election is a chance to turn things around.
“Here in Michigan, right now, each of us has an opportunity to make a difference because in this moment we face a real question, what kind of country do we want to live in? What kind of country do we want for our children and our grandchildren? A country of chaos, fear and hate or a country of freedom, justice and compassion? And the great thing about living in a democracy, as long as we can hold on to it, is that we have the power, each of us, to answer that question.”
It’s been a campaign dominated by appeals to non-traditional media, with both candidates frequenting popular podcasts, running heavy social media campaigns and appearing on comedy and talk shows in an attempt to reach an audience often disengaged with traditional news outlets.
With multiple assassination attempts against Donald Trump, calls to tone down violent rhetoric were made by both sides.
Speaking in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump told a rally he doesn’t mind if reporters he claims work for fake news outlets are shot at during his rally.
“And I have a piece of glass over here. And I don’t have a piece of glass there. And I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news, right? And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much because I don’t mind.”
Both candidates are making big promises to voters if elected, with Donald Trump claiming he will end the war in Ukraine, stop illegal immigration and fix the American economy.
“I’ve come today with a message of hope for all Americans. With your vote on Tuesday I will end inflation. I will stop the invasion of massive numbers of criminals coming into our country. Thank you very much, Kamala and Joe, and I will bring back the American dream and we’ll bring it back stronger than ever before. But this is all you need to know. Kamala broke it, and we will fix it. And we’re going to fix it fast.”
On their final day, both candidates are rallying in the key swing states, with Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania and Donald Trump travelling to Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
In the battleground states, voters are feeling uneasy about the results.
In Arizona, Democrat Gillian Marshall says she is incredibly nervous.
“As a woman and as a woman who’s a survivor of sexual assault and sexual harassment, it’s very triggering to me to have a man that represents that, a man who has done that throughout all of his adult life, possibly be the president again of the United States. And to me, it tells myself, my granddaughters and my daughters, that we don’t matter. Women don’t matter. We are garbage.”
In Michigan, Trump supporters like Lisa Watterson also say the other side has made them feel like garbage, they’ve even dressed up to fit the description.
“Well, I know that President Biden referred to Trump followers as ‘garbage’, and we’ve been referred to as deplorables and all kinds of ‘scum of the earth’ names. And so I thought I’d come out and support Trump. And I know that he’s also dressed up as a garbage man. And so, yeah, so here I am, in a garbage bag.”
Dr Paul Beck is a Professor Emeritus and Academy Professor of Political Science at the Ohio State University.
He says even though Donald Trump will content the results if he loses, he doesn’t have the same power as he did in the last election.
“Well, if Trump is defeated, he will not accept the result and will do everything he can to try to prevent that count on I think it’s January 5th this year where they’re certifying the presidential electoral votes. The difference between 2024 and 2020 is that he’s not president. He doesn’t have the kind of levers of power that he was fully able to exercise to try to prevent a Biden victory in the Electoral College. He failed to do that. But he came closer, I think, than we think. And it’s apparent, in fact, from things that have come out over the last few months and even after the 2020 contest itself, he tried to pull out all stops to try to prevent that outcome.”
Dr Beck says if a win for Donald Trump is paired with Republican control of the Senate and the House, he has almost nothing stopping him from doing what he wants.
“Just  because things are so close in 2024 and it’s so hard to predict what’s going to happen should Trump lose. If he wins, I think we know what is going to happen. He has said it himself and it’s going to be a really tumultuous four years in the United States, particularly if he has control of the Senate and if he has control of the House, he will have what we call a trifecta where all three branches of the federal government are in Republican control. And even for that, there would almost be nothing that could prevent him from doing what he wants to do.”
On Kamala Harris, Dr Beck says a change from the Biden administration policy will occur but won’t be dramatic.
“If Harris wins, we will find incremental changes from what was going on the Biden administration. But they would be incremental. It’d be the status quo with some changes, more in a direction that Harris would chart. I think changes in pressures on Israel, but probably behind the scenes, not so much blatantly in the public.”
With polls closing on Wednesday afternoon, Australian time, it could be days before the results of the election are known.
In the meantime…
“Probably not much but watching TV later in the evening, waiting for results. Can’t speculate all day long because it just doesn’t work. Anything can happen.”