ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama made their first joint appearance Thursday along with music and entertainment stars as they work to revive her momentum in the campaign’s final stretch.
Mr. Obama implored the Georgia crowd at a packed Hallford Stadium just outside Atlanta to turn in their ballots early. He said that, even though they may be strained by high inflation and other economic woes, he could not understand “why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”
After all, Mr. Trump is hawking gold watches and gold sneakers while running for president, Mr. Obama said.
The presidential race remains essentially tied, but Ms. Harris has begun to slip behind her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, in Georgia and six other battleground states that will decide the winner.
She summoned some of the biggest names in politics and entertainment to energize the Democratic base, particularly Black and Hispanic voters whose support has shrunk since 2020.
Ms. Harris told the crowd that with 12 days left in the campaign, voters are yearning for new leadership.
“We here understand we have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and divisiveness that have characterized our politics for a decade because of Donald Trump,” Ms. Harris said. “We have the opportunity to turn the page and chart a new way and a joyful way forward.”
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen entertained at Thursday’s event at a packed James Hallford Stadium just outside Atlanta. On Friday, superstar Beyonce will perform at a rally with Ms. Harris in Houston.
Mr. Springsteen, whose net worth is $1.2 billion, revved up the packed stadium with his hit song “Land of Hope and Dreams.” He said he backs Ms. Harris because she will fight for “a woman’s right to choose and wants to create a middle-class economy that will serve all of our citizens.”
Mr. Trump, he said, does not understand the country or what it means to be “deeply American” and is “running to be a tyrant.”
The messaging at the rally was aimed directly at Black voters who are gravitating toward Mr. Trump in record numbers, according to polls. Speakers called him a racist whom the Justice Department accused of refusing to rent to Black tenants in the 1970s and reminded them he paid for a full-page newspaper ad calling for the death penalty against five Black men convicted of raping and nearly killing a woman in Central Park. The men were exonerated decades later.
“In this Donald Trump America, there is no dream who looks like me,” said Tyler Perry, a wealthy Black filmmaker and actor.
The Trump campaign responded to the star-studded event by calling it a last-ditch, desperate effort to salvage her flagging campaign.
“Relying on celebrities is nothing new for the party of Hollywood elites — and as voters realize the depths of Kamala’s incompetence and radicalism, she needs an added draw. But it’s certainly an indication of just how far out of touch Democrats are with the working class,” Team Trump Rapid Response Director Jake Schneider said.
At the rally, both Ms. Harris and Mr. Obama spent less time talking up her campaign than they did attacking Mr. Trump as a danger to democracy and the nation.
Ms. Harris said Mr. Trump praised Hitler, promised to act as a dictator and called those who disagree with him enemies.
“Just imagine the Oval Office in three months. Picture it in your mind. There’s a choice that everybody has, so let’s imagine it for a moment. It’s either Donald Trump in there, stewing, stewing over his enemies list, or me working for you,” Ms. Harris said.
Mr. Obama labeled Mr. Trump “a wannabe king” who will be surrounded by “loonies” if elected and will spend his time in office seeking retribution against his political enemies.
Mr. Obama warned voters not to be “bamboozled” by Mr. Trump’s claims that he created jobs and improved the economy during his term in office. He gave himself credit for those successes and said he handed over upward job growth and economic improvement when he left office. Mr. Trump, he said, then cut taxes “for people who didn’t need it” and drove up the nation’s deficit.
He also accused Mr. Trump of tossing his “pandemic playbook” in a dustbin and said the COVID-19 deaths were much higher in the U.S. than in Canada. He blamed Mr. Trump, who he said told people to inject bleach into their arms.
“You need to remind folks who are still on the sidelines that the election is about more than just policies. It’s about values, and it is about character,” Mr. Obama said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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