GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump kicked off his final day of campaigning Monday by telling voters in Florida the 2016 election will decide whether the nation is “ruled by a corrupt political class” led by Hillary Clinton or embraces the “real change” that he plans to usher in if elected.
Both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are scheduled to crisscross the nation Monday and deliver their closing arguments in crucial battleground states expected to play a pivotal role in determining the 45th president of the United States.
At the first of five scheduled stops, Mr. Trump said he is poised to break the decades-long stranglehold Democrats have maintained in states such as Michigan and Minnesota and win over minorities and other voters who feel as though they’ve been forgotten by their elected leaders.
“If we win, the corrupt politicians and their donors lose,” Mr. Trump said in Sarasota. “If they win, the American people lose big-league. This is it folks. We will never have another opportunity. Not in four years. Not in eight years. It will be over.
“Our failed political establishment has delivered nothing but poverty at home and disaster overseas,” Mr. Trump said. “They get rich by making America poor. It is time to reject the media and political elite that has bled our country dry.”
Mrs. Clinton is leading Mr. Trump in national polls. The race, however, has tightened in battleground states, including North Carolina and Florida — two states that both candidates planned to visit Monday.
Mrs. Clinton is leading in Michigan and Minnesota.
The former secretary of state has planned stops in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, where she will be joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at a mega-rally headlined by Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.
Mr. Trump also is set to parachute into North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire
In Florida, Mr. Trump reiterated his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, defend religious liberty and build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that would stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs coming into the country.
He vowed to cut individual and corporate taxes and “bring back” jobs by renegotiating trade deals and slapping tariffs on imports from American companies that relocate their production facilities into other countries.
And he issued a stinging rebuke of Mrs. Clinton, calling her the most corrupt presidential candidate in the history of the country, and saying the way the FBI and Department of Justice has handled her secret email server has made the nation as “laughingstock” around the globe.
“Now it is up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box tomorrow,” he said. “I want the entire corrupt Washington establishment to hear the words we are all about to say: When we win tomorrow, we are going to drain the swamp.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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