“Make no mistake: we will win,” she says.
“It is time for a new generation of leadership in America,” says Harris. “And I am ready to offer that leadership.”
Harris, who recently turned 60, is a generation younger than Donald Trump, her opponent, who is 78, and Joe Biden, 81, who she replaced on the Democratic ticket.
Tucker Carlson then teed-up a question about the CIA and FBI conspiring against Trump, but the former president didn’t seem interested in answering it.
Instead, he proposed firing anyone involved in the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“You mentioned the enemy within. . … It’s a fact that the CIA and the FBI, which are absolutely not allowed by law to have any influence in American politics, because that’s the end of democracy. Both of them and a bunch of other intel agencies worked against you on behalf of the Democratic Party from the minute you got elected in 2016 and they’re still doing it. They’re working against you. Now, what will you do about that?” Carlson asked.
Trump didn’t quite say, instead talking about how succeeding in Washington was all about finding the right people. Then he brought up the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the point at which Joe Biden’s approval ratings began dropping to levels from which they have not recovered.
“By the way, every one of those people having to do with Afghanistan should be fired immediately. Every general should be fired immediately. You know, Biden doesn’t fire anybody,” Trump said.
Meanwhile at Trump’s event:
Donald Trump doubled down on his insistence that “the enemy from within”, as he called his political opponents, are a true threat to the country.
Kamala Harris has seized on his remarks to argue that he is a fascist looking for “unchecked power”, but Trump doesn’t appear bothered.
“We do have an enemy from within. We have some very bad people, and those people are also very dangerous. They would like to take down our country. They’d like to have our country be a nice communist country or fascist in any way they can, and we have to be careful of that. But they’re the greatest con artists, because [as] soon as I said an enemy from within, they said … oh, he’s saying an enemy from within. These are sick puppies, I’m telling you.”
More detail on J Lo’s appearance a few moments ago, from the press pool report:
Jennifer Lopez took to the stage at 9.02, wearing a long olive-colored dress. The crowd sounded very pleased.
The event is being livestreamed but here are a couple of quotes:
“You are the ones who are going to send a message – that Las Vegas is Harris country
“Kamala Harris gets it …. As president of the United States Kamala will fight for us … And the freedom to choose to do what we do with our bodies.”
On Trump and Madison Square Garden:
“It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that days. It was every Latino”
Shouts of ‘thank you’ and ‘we love you J-Lo’
Harris takes to the stage and, smiling, says what she has said before: She’s not afraid of hard work, and nor are those present, she is a new generation of leadership, she has a record of being tough on criminals, and if elected, “there is nothing that will stand in my way.”
“Let’s do this Las Vegas,” J Lo says, and introduces Harris.
“Let’s get loud,” J Lo says, using a line from the chorus of one of her hits.
Then she says she promised herself she wouldn’t get emotional, but that “we should get emotional.”
She calls on voters to encourage their loved ones to vote.
“They love it when you do nothing,” J Lo says, and that a non-vote is an agreement.
It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended by the comments made at Trump’s Madison Square Garden event, J Lo says, it is “every Latino in this country” and anyone with humanity.
Harris has “shown up every day” for the people, and it is time for them to “show up for” Harris.
J Lo reminds the audience that her parents are children of Puerto Rico.
She says she likes Hollywood endings, she likes it when the good girl or good guy wins.
And she’ll be voting for Harris.
“You can’t even spell American without ‘Rican’,” J Lo says.
Meanwhile at the Trump event in Arizona:
At least once per rally, Donald Trump tries to give his supporters the opportunity to boo reporters in attendance.
This evening’s moment just came as he complained about how news outlets had pursued stories about his potential ties to Russia following his 2016 election victory: “It was a hoax. It was made up to justify why Hillary Clinton lost the election, which he wasn’t supposed to lose … it was made up by [congressman Adam] Schiff and Hillary and some … just total sleaze balls. And what happened is, the fake news media, which is back there, you do know that, they’re always around someplace.”
And at that, the crowd got their moment to boo.
Harris has “only ever had one client: you, the people,” J Lo says.
“There is no candidate in the history of the presidency that is more qualified, and there is no job that Kamala Harris can’t do,” J Lo says, somewhat hyperbolically.
She repeats: “Kamala Harris gets it.”
“I believe in the power of women,” J Lo says. “Women have the power to make the difference in this election. I believe in the power if Latinos,” she says.
“I believe in the power of all our votes.”
J Lo is on stage now at the Kamala Harris event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She says that America faces a choice between “divided and united”
And that if you believe that any child in America, if they “work their ass off”, will be able to make it in America, the choice is clear.
“Not just some Americans, but all Americans,” she says.
When she started in TV and film, she could get roles playing “the maid or the loud-mouthed Latina,” but she knew she could do more.
A lot of Americans have had that experience, she says.
“Kamala Harris gets it.”
Should Trump lose, it’s widely expected that he will claim fraud, as he did in 2020.
To that effect, he says: “I think we’re leading by a lot, and … we can keep that cheating down, because there are a bunch of cheats. If we can keep that cheating down, we’re going to have a tremendous victory … I think it’ll go down as one of the greatest victories of all time.”
More now from the start of the Trump portion of the Carlson-Trump event in Arizona:
After Carlson’s introduction, Donald Trump arrived onstage to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”, his customary entry music.
First question from Tucker Carlson: “What motivates you to keep going?”
Trump’s supporters often point to the fact that he’s rich, thus doesn’t stand to benefit from being president, and therefore must be running for some altruistic reason.
This is a friendly crowd, and Trump gave them the answer they wanted to hear: “hell knows. I don’t know … I just want to be with people like this … so much love in this room, so much love, right? It’s pretty easy … I have a lot of alternatives. [I] could be in a beautiful beach with the waves hitting me in the face and all that boring stuff. And I’ve been there, and you get very bored pretty easily. I have one thing in mind: It’s called Make America Great Again.”
