The pace of events in the 2020 US presidential campaign isn't letting up. One event follows the next.
On Monday, President Donald Trump held three rallies in purple-state Pennsylvania, which could decide the election, and then immediately returned to Washington to put the bowtie on another huge achievement of his presidency – a third appointment to the Supreme Court – an hour after Judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate.
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Shortly thereafter, we woke up to news of riots in Philadelphia after police shot a young man who was apparently threatening police officers with a knife.
Theoretically, neither the appointment of the justice nor the incident in Philadelphia has anything to do with the election, but in the era in which we live, everything is related. The Democrats will certainly use the events in Philadelphia to enlist their base, and claim that under Trump, the authorities have been more racist and quicker to pull the trigger. Of course, the Republicans and Trump himself will use Barrett's appointment to the Supreme Court as another draw to bring voters to the polls, reminding them that even if they don't like the president, he is the only one who will keep the court conservative, and also that he is appointing judges to lower federal courts at a dizzying rate (almost 200 thus far).
If these two events weren't enough, the COVID crisis across the US is also not letting up, and voters are voting early in droves, with the number of early votes already exceeding that of 2016. Over 60 million citizens have already had their say.
Trump summoned Barrett about an hour after she was confirmed, and she was sworn in at the White House by senior Justice Clarence Thomas. She received the job at a young age, 48, and it is hers for life. There are only eight others like her, and together they will decide fates and will shape the image of America for generations to come.
Trump praised Barrett's work, her excellence as a brilliant professor of law at Notre Dame University. "The Barrett family has captured America's heart," the president said, praising her seven children, who were watching from their home in Indiana. Barrett was the 115th justice nominated to the Supreme Court and is only the fifth woman to hold the job. America is so divided, however, that not a single Democrat voted for her, despite her qualities.
In America of 2020, everything is political, and that reminds us of another country. This was the first time in over 150 years that not a single person from the minority party voted for a nominee from the opposing party.
Barrett, by the way, could soon find herself in the eye of a storm if the election results aren't decisive, and both parties have to bring it to the justices to decide, as happened in 2000. It isn't clear, though, that the court would want to intervene in that political uproar. The Constitution is very clear – every state decides on its own electors, either through elections or otherwise.
But both parties remember Florida, and the Democrats are afraid that the Republicans, who control many states at the local level, will try to tamper with the results or the vote count and appoint electors in ways that skirt the vote, as state legislatures are allowed to do, under the Constitution. Even Republicans could appeal to various courts, claiming that the Democrats are committing voter fraud or submitting invalid ballots or ones that were not filled out by voters.
Letting loose on Harris
On Tuesday, the first lady also appeared. This was Melania Trump's first appearance this year at a major campaign event for her husband. At a rally, Trump promised that he would promote a tax cut for the middle class, and again warned that Biden would hurt American workers by promoting environmental policies that would close down the oil shale industry, which is very prevalent in the Midwest, and also cause gas prices to go up.
"You are so lucky I'm president. Look at the low price of gas," he said, stressing that Biden was "a cheerleader for NAFTA. You got killed by NAFTA … enthusiastically voted for China's entry into the World Trade Organization fueling the rise of China on the backs of Michigan workers." He went on to attack the media for not reporting his successes. He called the appointment of Justice Barrett "historic," and emphasized that she will "defend our God-given freedom." He also let loose on Biden's vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, warning that she would effectively replace him because he would no longer be fit to serve: "Three weeks into his presidency, they'll say, 'Kamala, you're ready? That's why they're talking about the 25th Amendment."
He warned that she is "The most liberal person in the Senate… this will not be the first woman president" and said, "I'm working my a*s off here. Sleepy, Joe, the guy goes to his basement. He's got another lid … That's the garbage can." At the rally, he also praised his senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, "who's leading peace in the Middle East without blood." The audience cheered when he mentioned his name.
A race against time
Back to Pennsylvania. On Monday, Trump held three rallies in a state where Biden is supposed to be a local son, because he grew up there, in Scranton, until he was nine. On Tuesday, the president sent his wife, Melania, to Pennsylvania and continued on to a series of rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. This, after three in Pennsylvania on Monday.
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Just before leaving, he attacked Biden for hiding in his basement and expressed pride in discomfiting him. "Sleepy Joe rushed to get to Pennsylvania because he saw that we had 25,000 people at my rally," Trump said. On Tuesday, Biden was in Georgia at another "drive-in" rally, because he thinks he has a real chance of nibbling away at the Republican South. It could be that the Democrats are wasting precious resources and even showing hubris, but we'll know in a week.
Michigan and Wisconsin, like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida, are critical states because both electoral lists, Republican and Democrat, can win there.
Polls are showing a close race, with a slight advantage for Biden in some states. Trump won all of them four years ago, but this year it looks like it's going to be very hard. Pennsylvania is still the big story. It is Ground Zero for this election. Incidentally, on Monday, Biden called his opponent "George" twice at a virtual event, alongside his wife, who appeared surprised. To whom was Biden referring? Some claim he meant the host, George Lopez, or George Bush.
Either way, the media and Trump rushed to celebrate the entertaining clip, which bolstered Trump's (unproven) claim Biden is unfit and incapable of even remembering his opponent's name and for what job he is running. In the meantime, other than Fox News, most channels continue to support Biden in very biased coverage, while accusing Trump of failing to handle the COVID crisis.
"I can promise you that he will win," I was told by Ted Halison, a resident of Lancaster who came to Trump's Monday rally at the local airport in his Pennsylvania town.
"The story of people not wanting to reveal their vote is right. But the huge early voting has to wake us up. In any case, I'm convinced there will be voter fraud. They don't want Trump," Halison says.
"Who doesn't?" I ask.
"Everyone other than the American people, who love him," he says.
At the hotel I stayed at in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, there was a group who had just arrived from Charlotte, North Carolina. One of the members of the group, Larry, told me that Trump is dividing America too much: "That's why he is losing. Enough, we can't go on like this. America under Trump is losing standing in the world," he said. Larry and his wife already voted and he thinks that even if Republicans wake up now, it will be too late.
Trump himself can be encouraged by the size of the audiences his rallies are drawing. They are in love with him. On Monday, I attended one and I saw how excited they are about their president. The local paper The Patriot-News reported on its front page on Tuesday: "Trump's final-stretch campaign blitz draws big crowd in central Pa." A young Amish man who came to the rally with his friends told me that he wasn't sure he would vote, but eventually decided to because this was a very important election. Most Amish will, he said.
The Amish don't have cars or television and they are not allowed to use electricity, but the young man was able to tell me that Trump gets a lot more support than people think, and that the feeling among Trump supporters is that the polls don't reflect the true public support he has, which can be seen in the number of people who attend his campaign rallies. The Trump campaign is also worried by the fact that there is no third-party candidate who could help the president by splitting the Democratic vote.
More than 150 years ago, Pennsylvania was the site of the terrible Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Next to the battlefield, President Abraham Lincoln made his famous speech calling to heal the country's wounds. It seems as if this year, too, Pennsylvania will be a bloodbath – political, thank God, and not in a real war.
I'm in Harrisburg, an hour away from that same important site, and it looks as if this year there is a civil war brewing over the character of America. But in the end, America will win, like always.
