Last weekend of campaign, foot to the floor in the United States

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are going full throttle on Saturday into their final weekend of campaigning in an extraordinary US presidential election standards, with an unpredictable and expected result throughout the world.

The Democratic vice president, who could be the first female president of the United States, will once again be in the key states that will decide the fate of Tuesday's election: in Georgia (south), North Carolina (southeast) and Michigan (north), Ms. Harris will try to convince the last undecided voters that she is the “antidote” to the former Republican president, as her running mate Tim Walz said on Friday.

On Friday evening, during three consecutive rallies in Wisconsin, another crucial state on the shores of the Great Lakes, she called for “finally turning the page on a decade of Donald Trump” who has shaken American democracy and “exhausted us.”

The populist tribune, with increasingly authoritarian rhetoric, convicted and charged in a number of criminal and civil cases, hopes, fulfill his dream of returning to the White House to promote his “America First” policy.

– The “occupied” United States –

During campaign rallies on Saturday in Virginia and North Carolina, he is expected to once again paint a black picture of the United States, which is allegedly “occupied” by millions of illegal immigrants, “criminals” whom he has promised to expel.

Donald Trump campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 1, 2024 © AFP – KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

On Friday in Michigan, the New York real estate billionaire accused the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris of having failed economically, while all the indicators of the world's leading power are green.

He predicted a “1929-style depression” if his rival is elected.

Until the last day, the 60-year-old vice president and the 78-year-old former president, tireless, will be campaigning: on Monday evening, she will be in Philadelphia in the crucial state of Pennsylvania and he in Grand Rapids in Michigan.

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The election is Tuesday, a non-working day in the United States, and 70 million Americans have already mailed or slipped their ballots into ballot boxes in a anticipated.

Kamala Harris campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 1, 2024 © AFP – Brendan SMIALOWSKI

But the climate is particularly electric, with a political-media controversy every day and fears of violence after November 5, especially if the result is extremely close as all the polls predict.

In a politically fractured country, nothing seems to move the lines between two rivals who are complete opposites.

Seeking to win over tens of thousands of voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona who hold the keys to the election, Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are in full verbal escalation.

– “Detestation” of Americans –

For the former conservative president (2017-2021), his rival “hates” Americans, while according to the current vice-president who is campaigning in the center, her opponent is “unstable and obsessed with revenge” for the 2020 election that he never admitted to having lost.

Early voting in the Bronx neighborhood of New York on November 1, 2024 © AFP – David Dee Delgado

The 2024 campaign, scrutinized around the world and particularly in Europe and the Middle East, has been extraordinary: in the space of a few weeks this summer, President Joe Biden, 81, threw in the towel and made way for Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump was the target of two assassination attempts.

Since then, the two adversaries have done everything to seduce women, young people and African-American, Arab-Muslim and Latin American voters.

Ms. Harris has obtained a number of endorsements from economic and political circles — including former Republican leaders — as well as of superstars from the worlds of cinema, music and sports, such as Cardi B, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lopez and LeBron James.

And on Saturday, the former First Lady, the ultra-popular Michelle Obama, will be campaigning in Philadelphia, with the singer Alicia Keys.

Tuesday's election could be so closely contested that it could take days before a final national result is known.

Donald Trump's entourage has already started to fuel rumors of irregularities, even “cheating,” committed during voting operations.

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