Trump wrapped up his first of two stops in North Carolina, a state he won in 2020 and is trying to defend in a dead heat with Harris in critical swing states, without using violent rhetoric against his political foes.
As he often does, Trump spoke at length again about what he calls “the weave,” referring to his tendency to meander from subject to subject in a way that can be hard to follow.
That included the topic of illegal immigration, during which Trump worked in a reference to the fictional serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter — one he hasn’t made in weeks.
“So I’ve done something for you that I haven’t done in 20 speeches. I brought up Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and we’re allowing him,” Trump said. He explained that while he has been criticized for making the reference, he was trying to draw an analogy to the kinds of criminal and insane migrants whom he has repeatedly claimed, without substantiation, are being released by their native countries and are crossing into the U.S.
But the former president refrained from the kind of imagery he invoked about Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney, who has endorsed Harris. Trump suggested earlier this week that Cheney would not be a war hawk if she had “nine barrels shooting at her,” which drew backlash from the Harris campaign and others.
Trump also brought up his level of support from women, which polling has show lags that of men. After Trump received criticism from the Harris campaign for saying earlier this week that he will protect women “whether the women like it or not,” Trump told rallygoers that women love him because he will protect them in the suburbs.
“I got into so much trouble. You saw that. I said we will protect because I keep hearing, I think the women love me, I do, because they know,” Trump said, adding, “They got millions of people pouring through and coming up to the suburbs.”
The former president briefly brought up his sole debate with Harris, criticizing her performance and saying, “What the hell was that?” Trump said, in comparison, that he had “an aptitude for this shit.”
Trump also sought to foreshadow a bad economy under a would-be Harris administration, telling the crowd that current jobs numbers are “depression numbers,” which is inaccurate. Jobs are still being added to the U.S. economy, though, as Trump notes, there has been a loss in manufacturing jobs and the October jobs report came in far lower than expected, in part because of the multi-state hurricane damage and labor strikes.
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