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Former President Donald Trump used a rally in Georgia on Wednesday evening to tout the Peach State’s record-breaking early voting turnout – and its potential swing-state impact.
Trump emphasized the importance of turnout in a neck-and-neck election. He also praised the millions of Georgia voters who have already cast their vote.
He also talked about his economic plan and vision for bolstering cities like Detroit; criticized the Biden administration and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, over immigration; and repeated claims of political persecution.
He said nothing on stage about recent allegations by his longest-serving chief of staff.
Election 2024 recap:Trump courts Christian voters, Harris sits for CNN town hall
John Kelly, who worked in the Trump White House from 2017 to 2019, said he believes Trump has traits of a “fascist” and has made admiring comments about Adolf Hitler, in interviews with the New York Times.
While Kelly’s claims dominated headlines, the former president traveled to Georgia. He appeared in Duluth, Ga., northeast of Atlanta, Wednesday evening at a “Georgia for Trump” event.
Trump praises Georgia’s early voting numbers
Georgia is one of seven swing states that could decide the 2024 presidential election. Neither Trump nor Harris holds a clear advantage in the state, according to various polls. He congratulated the state for casting millions of early votes.
“The early voting is, people have never seen anything like it,” Trump said on stage.
Early voting in the state began Oct. 15 with a record-breaking 300,000 Georgians casting a ballot. By the time Trump took the stage a week later, that number was close to 2 million early voters, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger said in a press conference Wednesday.
Trump’s most recent comments represent a shift for the former president who has previously claimed without evidence that early voting is connected with election fraud. Republicans, including the Trump campaign, have made a concerted effort in 2024 to encourage voters to turnout early.
Still, Trump added a word of warning, telling the Duluth, Georgia crowd to “be a little careful, make sure your vote gets counted.”
Takes aim at Biden over ‘lock him up’ comments
During his speech, Trump jumped on recent remarks by President Joe Biden that the former president said proves he is being politically persecuted.
At a stop at the New Hampshire Democratic Headquarters Tuesday, Biden told campaign workers, “We’ve got to lock him up,” referring to Trump.
“As I’ve said, these lawsuits are being run by the Department of Justice, the FBI,” Trump said the following day. “Biden is behind it all, believe it or not, and he proved that yesterday with his stupid statement.”
Trump was convicted by a New York jury in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and he faces counts in three other cases related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Biden and Democrats have been careful to avoid commenting on Trump’s legal woes. The president quickly added to his initial comments Tuesday, “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”
Trump talks Detroit ‘comeback’
In touting his economic plan, Trump highlighted the city of Detroit − a city he recently bashed, while campaigning in Detroit.
“You watch Detroit. Detroit, you know for 40 years I’ve been hearing about Detroit’s coming back. Never came back. It’ll come back so fast,” Trump said, under his administration.
Earlier this month, in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Trump spoke at length about the threat he believes a Harris administration would pose to America.
“The whole country is going to be like, you want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit,” Trump said then. “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
Local and state leaders criticized Trump over the comments, arguing that Michigan’s largest city is on an upswing.
On Wednesday, Trump said he plans to make Michigan “richer than anybody.”
“I think even richer than you, I hate to say,” he told the Georgia crowd.
Blasts Biden on immigration, Laken Riley death
Trump also criticized Biden and Harris over their record on immigration, a typically winning issue for the GOP.
The former president specifically mentioned the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student killed while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February. Trump said the Biden administration’s border policies were to blame for her death.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022, was indicted in May and charged with 10 counts, including malice murder and aggravated assault.
Ibarra’s immigration status led to Riley’s death becoming a flashpoint in the debate around border security. Her father, Jason Riley, has criticized the politicization of his daughter’s death.
Also in his pitch to voters about immigration Wednesday, Trump alleged that the Biden administration allowed people with “swastikas on your forehead and swastikas all over your cheek and lots of other symbols all over your face” to cross the border. Meanwhile, his former chief of staff’s claims – namely, that Trump has spoken positively about Hitler loomed over the election.
Trump is mum on John Kelly
Trump said nothing about any of Kelly’s recent statements while on stage in Duluth.
He did not mention the allegations earlier in the day, either, during a “Believers and Ballots Faith Town Hall” in Zebulon, Ga.
The former president instead took to social media, writing in a Truth Social post between events that Kelly “made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred!”
“John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON!” Trump wrote.
