Superstar Beyoncé provided Kamala Harris’s White House campaign with the latest shot of stardust on Friday, as Vice President and rival Donald Trump wooed voters with just 11 days left in the hotly contested election.
Taking the stage with Destiny’s Child co-star Kelly Rowland, the Grammy-winning diva introduced Harris to more than 20,000 supporters in the Texas metropolis of Houston, Beyoncé’s hometown.
Beyoncé urged voters to come out, saying, “It’s time to sing a new song for America.”
Although the superstar didn’t perform a hit, her appearance brought even more attention to Harris’ rally, which focused on abortion restrictions in Republican-led states.
Beyoncé said she was there not as a celebrity but as “a mother who cares deeply about the world… a world where we have the freedom to control our own bodies.”
Texas is not one of a handful of battleground states where the presidential election is expected to be decided, or where Democrats and their rivals would typically campaign on home turf.
But Harris is counting on her star-studded show — which also included 91-year-old country legend Willie Nelson, who sang “Mamma, don’t let the kids grow up to be cowboys” — to energize her campaign. finals week.
“Voting has already started and we know it will be a tight race to the end,” Harris said.
“We are 11 days away from an election that will decide the future of America, including every woman’s freedom to decide about her own body.”
‘Fascist’ line
While Harris was in Houston, Trump was in Austin, the state capital, taping an interview with “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the United States’ most popular podcast.
Trump’s follow-on rally, in the battleground state of Michigan, was delayed after his taping with Rogan ran for three hours.
Harris and Trump also clashed earlier Friday over accusations that the Republican former president is running as a “fascist.”
The two camps clashed over claims by Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, which Harris also echoed, that Trump is a “fascist” who cannot be trusted with power again.
Republican leaders in Congress attacked her over that characterization, revealing in a statement that they were briefed on “ongoing and persistent” threats to Trump, and on Harris from the attempt on her life in July. Accused of encouraging “another potential murderer” after escaping. ,
‘Trash Bin’
Half the country agrees with Harris that Trump is a fascist, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll of registered voters, and she suddenly hit back at the press conference.
“The truth is that some people close to Donald Trump, when he was president … were very clear about the danger and threat he poses to America, and the fact that he is unfit to serve,” Harris said.
“The American people deserve to hear it and know about it, so they can make decisions.”
Trump described the United States as a “trash dump for the world” in remarks in Austin for the second time this week — the latest in a series of inflammatory comments on immigration.
According to opinion polls, the race is extremely heated. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Friday showed Trump and Harris tied at 48 percent each.
Both candidates have tried to shore up their support by bypassing newspapers and big TV networks in favor of podcasts and YouTube shows, which are viewed by undecided young voters who could make a difference.
Trump hopes to appeal to Rogan’s huge audience. “The Joe Rogan Experience” was the world’s most-listened-to podcast on streaming giant Spotify in 2023 and has 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube.
‘Bad things happen’
Trump’s latest comments before the recording are aimed at undermining confidence in US elections and alarming Americans about crime committed by undocumented immigrants, who are statistically more law-abiding than the native population.
He complained that elections “go on forever, and bad things keep happening.”
He said, “Harris is here in Texas rubbing shoulders with vigilante celebrities. Isn’t that exciting? But she won’t be visiting any victims of migrant crime while she’s here.”
Harris is relying on the abortion issue to help sell her message that Trump is a threat to Americans’ freedoms.
Harris described the suffering of many women, saying, “What’s happening in Texas, this state, and our country is a health care crisis and Donald Trump is the architect of it.”
“Please know, no one is safe if Trump enacts a national abortion ban.”
November’s presidential election will be the first in 2022 following a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning abortion protections nationwide.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
