Trump ponders shooting of reporters as Harris heads to church – NBC10 Philadelphia

Kamala Harris told a church in Michigan on Sunday that God is offering America a “divine plan that is powerful enough to heal division,” while Donald Trump gave a profane and conspiracy-filled speech reflecting on reporters being shot and called Democrats “demonic.”

On the last Sunday of the election campaign, the two leading candidates struck significantly different tones. Less than 48 hours before Election Day, Harris, the Democratic vice president, argued that Tuesday's election offered voters a chance to reject “chaos, fear and hate,” while Trump, the Republican former president, sought to spread lies about voter fraud the integrity of the vote and suggested that the country would fall apart without him in office.

Harris focused on her Sunday in Michigan, starting the day with a few hundred parishioners at the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit. It was the fourth straight Sunday that Harris, who is a Baptist, spoke to a black congregation, a reflection of how critical black voters are in several battleground states.

“I do indeed see faith in remarkable ways,” she said in her remarks, which quoted the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. “I see a nation determined to leave hatred and division behind and chart a new path forward. In my travels, I see Americans from the so-called red states and the so-called blue states ready to bend the arc of history toward justice.”

She never mentioned Trump, although she will surely return to her more conventional partisan speech later on Sunday. But Harris told her friendly audience that “there are those who want to deepen division, sow hate, spread fear and cause chaos.” In the election and “this moment in our nation,” she continued, “it must be that way “It has to be about the good work that we can do together.”

Harris finished her remarks in about 11 minutes – which began and ended during Trump's roughly 90-minute speech at a chilly outdoor rally at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, airport.

Trump typically vacillates from topic to topic, a discursive style he has dubbed “the weave.” But in Lancaster he delved deeply into the subject matter, barely mentioning his usual points on the economy, immigration and routine criticism of Harris.

Instead, Trump again voiced criticism of election procedures across the country and of his own employees. He revived his complaints about criminal prosecution after trying to overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, suggesting at one point that he “should not have left” the White House.

And he stepped up his attacks on a “totally incompetent” national leadership and U.S. media, at one point musing about violence against members of the press.

He noted the ballistic glass placed in front of him at events after a gunman nearly assassinated him at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and spoke about places where he saw openings.

“I have this piece of glass here,” he said. “But all we really have here is fake news. And to get me, someone would have to shoot through the fake news. And that doesn’t bother me that much.”

His campaign later aimed to clarify its meaning.

“President Trump has spoken brilliantly about the two attempts on his own life, including one that came within an inch of killing him, something the media constantly talks and jokes about,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “The president’s statement about the placement of protective glass has nothing to do with harming the media or anything else.”

Trump also called John Bolton, his former national security adviser and current harsh critic, a “stupid son of…” And he repeated well-known and debunked theories about voter fraud, claiming that Democrats can only win through fraud. Public polls suggest a close and hard-fought race between him and Harris.

“It’s a crooked country,” Trump said. “And we will fix it. We’ll fix it.”

Trump admitted he was deviating from his usual approach. He repeatedly mentioned how he ignored the advice of his aides and told their side of the story in a mocking voice.

Co-campaign manager Susie Wiles, long credited with bringing order to Trump's often chaotic political operation, watched the former president silently from offstage.

Trump once indicated he wouldn't give that version of his speech again: “I hope you enjoyed that,” he said, “because I'm only doing it once.”

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Superville reported from Detroit, Barrow from Washington and Cooper from Phoenix.