Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris held a showdown on Friday night, trading verbal blows from a distance with the election less than two weeks away.
The split-screen dynamic was the result of Trump, 78, arriving at the Traverse City, Mich., site of the rally more than three hours late.
“I’m sorry,” Trump said at the top of his speech. “We’re tied, and I don’t think you’ll mind too much because we’re trying to win.”
The Republican presidential candidate has been detained in Austin, Texas, recording a nearly three-hour interview on comedian Joe Rogan’s wildly popular podcast.
“This is the longest interview I’ve ever done in my life,” Trump said.
“So I’m sorry but, you know, it’s all about winning. We have to win. And, we did some things today that will help us win,” he said.
The former president then mocked Harris, 60, for campaigning in Houston – with Beyonce’, Kelly Rowland, Willie Nelson and Jessica Alba – when Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes against Iran.
“Do you know where he is tonight?” Trump said of his 2024 opponent. “He’s out partying.”
“So, Israel attacks (Iran) — we get a war and they go out partying,” added the 45th president. “At least we’re working to make America better again.”
“He’s the worst vice president in the history of our country,” Trump said of the Democratic nominee.
With Harris in Houston and President Biden in Wilmington, Del., over the weekend, the former commander-in-chief said the leadership in Washington is not at a time when it could be dangerous.
“Tonight in the Middle East – it’s like a tinder box. It’s ready to explode,” Trump said.
“No one is responsible,” he said. “Joe Biden is sleeping and Kamala is at the prom with Beyonce.'”
Trump also took aim at Harris’ plan to raise taxes on corporations, unrealized capital gains and individuals with incomes over $400,000.
He called the vice president the “tax queen.”
“All my life, I’ve watched politicians – they say, ‘We’re going to cut taxes.’ This is just a stupid politician trying to say, ‘I’m going to raise your taxes,'” Trump said of Harris. “He brags about it.”
Meanwhile, more than 1,300 miles away in Houston, Harris railed against “Trump’s abortion ban” in a speech that focused on the procedure’s limitations.
“Texas, what’s happening in this state and our state is a health care crisis,” the vice president said of the state’s abortion restrictions. “And Donald Trump is the architect of that.”
“When Donald Trump became president, he handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention of overturning Roe v Wade protections,” Harris said.
“He brags about overturning Roe v Wade,” he continued. “In his own words, quote, ‘I did it and I’m proud to have done it.’ That’s what he said.”
Harris then suggested that Trump “is proud that women will die; proud that doctors and nurses can be thrown in prison for life for administering life-saving care; proud that young women in America today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers.”
“How could he,” the vice president fumed, before saying that “Donald Trump doesn’t believe in women.”
Harris also slammed Trump for refusing to release detailed medical records, saying he was being hypocritical.
“Do you see the irony?” Harris told the rally-goers.
“On the one hand, Donald Trump will not allow anyone to see your medical records – I give up – and on the other hand, he wants to take your medical records,” he said.
“They will force all 50 states to track and report on women’s miscarriages and abortions,” Harris said, citing, “Project 2025.”
Trump has repeatedly rejected the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint.
“It’s just that he’s out of his mind,” Harris said.