Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday, October 19, that Republican former President Donald Trump was "cruel" for how he talked about the grieving family of a Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat her complications from an abortion pill, as she put combating restrictions on reproductive care at the center of her pitch to voters.
At a rally in Atlanta, Harris blamed Amber Thurman's death on Georgia's abortion restrictions that took effect after the Supreme Court in 2022, with three Trump-appointed justices, overturned Roe v. Wade. It comes as Harris is looking to the issue to propel support to Democrats, who have pledged to restore a national right to abortion if they win the White House and enough seats in Congress.
Thurman's story features at the center of one of Harris' closing campaign ads, and her family attended her Atlanta rally, with her mother holding a photo of her daughter from the audience. Harris showed a clip of Trump saying during a recent Fox News Channel town hall, when he was asked about the Thurman family joining a separate media call, "We'll get better ratings, I promise."
"A grieving family, a grieving family, sharing the memory of their daughter with our nation. Where is the compassion?" she asked. "He belittles their sorrow, making it about himself and his television ratings. It is cruel," Harris added.
Early voting is also underway in Georgia. More than 1.2 million ballots have been cast, either in person or by mail. Democrats hope an expansive organizing effort will boost Harris against Trump in the campaign's final weeks. Harris referenced that former President Jimmy Carter recently voted by mail days after his 100th birthday. "If Jimmy Carter can vote early, you can too," Harris said.
Harris was joined at the rally by hometown music icon Usher, drawing again on star power as she looks to excite voters to the polls. Earlier Saturday she appeared with Lizzo in the singer's hometown of Detroit, marking the beginning of in-person voting and lavishing the city with praise after Trump recently disparaged it.
The singer said it was time to "put some respect on Detroit's name" noting that the city had revolutionized the auto and music industries and adding that she'd already cast her ballot for Harris since voting early was "a power move."
Heaps of praise for the Motor City came after Trump, the former president, insulted it during a recent campaign stop. And Harris continued the theme, saying of her campaign, "Like the people of Detroit, we have grit, we have excellence, we have history."
Arms wide open as she took the stage, Harris let the crowd see she was wearing under her blazer a "Detroit vs. Everybody" T-shirt that the owner of the business that produces them gave her during a previous stop in the city earlier in the week. She also moved around the stage during her speech with a hand-held mic, not using a teleprompter.
More than 1 million Michigan residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 5 election, and Harris predicted that Detroit turnout for early voting would be strong. "Who is the capital of producing records?" Harris asked when imploring the crowd to set new highs for early voting tallies.
She slammed Trump as unstable: "Somebody just needs to watch his rallies, if you're not really sure how to vote." "We're not going to get these 17 days back. On Election Day, we don't want to have any regrets," the vice president said.
Lizzo also told the crowd, "Mrs. Commander-in-Chief has a nice ring to it." "This is the swing state of all swing states, so every last vote here counts," the singer said. Then, referencing her song of the same title, Lizzo added, "If you ask me if America is ready for its first woman president, I only have one thing to say: "It's about damn time!"
Trump's campaign suggested he would begin previewing his closing argument Saturday night with Election Day barely two weeks away. But the former president kicked off his rally with a detailed story about Arnold Palmer, at one point even praising the late, legendary golfer's genitalia.
Trump was campaigning in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Palmer was born in 1929 and learned to golf from his father, who suffered from polio and was head pro and greenskeeper at the local country club.
Politicians saluting Palmer in his hometown is nothing new. But Trump spent 12 full minutes doing so at the top of his speech and even suggested how much more fun the night would be if Palmer, who died in 2016, could join him on stage.
"Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women," Trump said. "This is a guy that was all man." Then he went even further. "When he took the showers with other pros, they came out of there. They said, 'Oh my God. That's unbelievable,'" Trump said with a laugh.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters before the speech that Trump planned to preview his closing argument against Vice President Harris and "start to get into that framing."
Trump eventually hit many of his favorite campaign themes but didn't offer much in the way of a new framing of the race or why he should win it. He instead boasted of creating strong tax policies and a strong military during his first term in office. He slammed Harris as "crazy" and added a profanity.
Trump invited on stage members of a local steelworkers union that endorsed him. He donned a construction hat with his name on it.
He also said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him amid Israeli's ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. "He said, 'It's incredible what's happened,'" Trump said of the Netanyahu call before moving to a criticism of President Joe Biden, saying that the Israeli PM "wouldn't listen to Biden."
Trump praised the raucous crowd, which was outside and at an airport, but also made a point of suggesting that there was more conspicuous security around him following two assassination attempts, saying, "They give you a little extra security nowadays, you notice?"
"I got more machine guns than I've ever seen – look at these guys," he said referring to security. "We've got more guys, and every one of them is like central casting too, holy s..." Then he tied it back to Latrobe's native son, adding, "They look like Arnold. Can't look better than Arnold."