Trump says Democrats are using vile rhetoric

Donald Trump gave his final speech to voters in Atlanta on Monday, leaning heavily on immigration and anti-trans rhetoric.

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump – while attacking everyone from Vice President Kamala Harris to former first lady Michelle Obama – claimed Monday that it was Democrats who were using “disgusting” rhetoric to define his campaign during He tried to woo all-important voters in Georgia, just a week before the 2024 election.

Trump's rally at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta was aimed at getting voters to the polls ahead of the subsequent November 5 election. “We love Georgia,” he told the crowd to cheers at the start of his roughly 75-minute speech.

Georgia is among seven crucial swing states that Trump and Harris believe are key to their respective paths to victory. Trump narrowly lost Georgia to President Joe Biden in 2020 – neither the former president nor Harris showed a clear advantage in the state in recent polls.

Trump's final address to voters included attacks on transgender people, tax cut proposals, a touch of nostalgia and lots of talk about immigration.

Here's a look at some key moments.

Anti-trans message

In the final days of the election, Trump's campaign questioned Harris' support for the transgender community and leaned toward anti-trans messaging. Monday's rally was no exception.

At the start of his speech, Trump called transgender issues a “big deal” and told his supporters: “We don't want transgender surgeries everywhere…We don't want men involved in women's sports.”

He included similar lines throughout the speech, suggesting that his campaign may be viewing the issue as a rallying cry for Trump's base. Pro-Trump ads argue that Harris is pro-“they/them” and that she supports “sex changes for prisoners.”

But polls have shown that transgender rights issues are not top of mind for most voters. A Gallup poll in early October found that transgender rights were ranked the least important issue in voters' minds out of 22 issue areas, including the economy, inflation, abortion, taxes and energy policy.

criticism of Harris' rhetoric

Trump used the rally to dispute attacks from some Democrats who had compared his rallies, actions and past comments to those of Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

Harris described Trump as a “fascist” last week after John Kelly, Trump's former White House chief of staff, used the term to describe the former president in interviews with The New York Times. Kelly also said that Trump made admiring comments about Hitler more than once.

“The way they talk is so disgusting, just terrible,” Trump said at his rally on Monday. “This is the kind of outrageous rhetoric that has led to two assassination attempts in the last three months.”

Democrats have pointed out that Trump is the one who attacked Harris' intelligence, ethnicity and competence. He called her politics fascist in August and called her a fascist on Monday.

While denouncing the rhetoric against him, Trump told the crowd in Atlanta about Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay? She’s a fascist.”

Harris previously said Trump was “fixated on his grievances, on himself and on the division of our country,” citing Sunday's rally at Madison Square Garden as the latest example.

“It is absolutely something that is designed to further fuel the attempt to divide our country,” Harris said.

Tax relief for care

If elected, Trump has proposed tax cuts on everything from overtime pay to benefits. A tax credit for family caregivers can now be added to the list.

Trump announced the new caregiver policy proposal during his rally at Madison Square Garden and reiterated it to voters in Atlanta on Monday night.

“I will support a tax credit, a full tax credit, for family caregivers who are caring for a parent or loved one. You deserve it,” Trump said to cheers.

The proposal comes at a time when Trump and Harris are trying to woo two major groups of voters — seniors and women, who make up the majority of unpaid family caregivers in the country.

Harris promised earlier this year to expand Medicare coverage to include home care costs for seniors if she wins.

MAGA nostalgia

According to the constitution, if Trump wins, he cannot run for re-election again. If he loses, he has signaled that he will not launch another presidential campaign in 2028.

The burden of his last eight years in the political spotlight and the end of his days on the campaign trail came to mind for the ex-president on Monday evening.

“We're almost done with it. We've been doing this together for nine years,” he said, adding that it would be “very difficult” for future Republican presidential candidates to match his viewership.

Trump described his rise to political fame as a “unique situation” and the “biggest political movement.”

Trump called Michelle Obama “evil”

Trump called former first lady Michelle Obama “evil” for comments she made about him at an event for Harris over the weekend.

During a speech on Saturday in Michigan, Obama called Trump “unpredictable” and said, among other things, that he was a convicted felon and was “obviously in mental decline.”

Trump hit back, saying it was “a big mistake she made.” He didn't elaborate.

Trump criticizes Democrats' immigration record

Immigration has been Trump's central campaign focus since he launched his first presidential bid in 2016. And he stayed with the embassy in the final days of the race.

Trump criticized Biden and Harris' immigration policies and recalled the death of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was killed while jogging on campus in February. A 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant was arrested on charges of murder and assault. Federal authorities said he entered the United States illegally in 2022 and has already been arrested at least once.

Trump has cited Reilly's death as an example of violent crimes committed by immigrants in the U.S. – even though they commit crimes at less than half the rate of U.S.-born citizens, according to a National Institute of Justice study.

Rally call to get the vote

With margins as narrow as they are in Georgia, every vote counts. Trump pressed rally attendees on the importance of voting, at one point conducting a real-time vote poll to see how many people had already voted.

“We are way ahead, but go out and vote. We can’t take any chances,” Trump said.

During a religious summit near Atlanta earlier in the day, Trump encouraged Christian voters – a key part of his electorate – to go to the polls.

Contributor: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY