US election: MAGAmania on display in final push

“When that didn’t work, some madman tried to take his life,” says Eric Trump. “And the whole time, guys, he stood up and said three simple words: Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Trump’s son knows the crowd is riled up. It’s election eve in arguably the most important state in the country and Trump is promising the working class voters of Reading, Pennsylvania everything they think they need for the United States to enter its “golden age” – as Trump is now calling it.
The crowd of 5000 want their jobs back, they want their country back, and they’re ready to fight for it.
James Brown’s It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World blasts through the speakers as a group of late-comers enter the venue. The young men are high school-aged – college at most – and are all sporting ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, adding to the sea of red heads.
The opening speeches from a variety of Republican senators, and Senate hopefuls, stretch on. The long waits between are punctuated by the pointed playlist: You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore; Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.
Then, when Republican spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko shares a story about her time in Iraq with Trump, the young men in the backwards MAGA hats join in the chant: U-S-A! U-S-A!
Another voice from behind me gets in on the action – a boy, maybe six or seven.
Both presidential candidates focused on the swing state of Pennsylvania during the final day of the campaign.
Harris hit four locations in Pennsylvania in less than 24 hours – driving miles across the commonwealth of cornfields and past countless Dunkin’ Donuts cafes. Meanwhile, Trump stopped off at two counties in Pennsylvania, and bookended his day with stops in the battlegrounds of North Carolina and Michigan.
As Trump supporters arrive at the Santander Arena, they are herded to seating behind the stage. 
The stage faces a platform of television cameras and bright lights, with an American flag acting as a backdrop. Behind the flag are empty seats.
Those curating the crowds that will be seen on TV screens across the country strategically place a group of women directly behind the stage. 
Women – particularly white women – make up the single largest voting bloc in the country. And Trump’s team knows he still needs to make up ground here, and fast.
As Trump’s speaking slot draws nearer, a man in a suit opens up a large cardboard box and starts throwing out red MAGA hats and pink signs to the group. 
When Trump comes on stage they wave their “Women for Trump” signs. But not before getting a picture with a line-up of the women on Trump’s team, including Pipko and Lara Trump.
At this point in the campaign, the candidates are recycling their closing remarks from location to location. But in North Carolina earlier in the day, Trump diverts from his prepared remarks to talk about “hitting back” at Michelle Obama.
Obama is often quoted as saying: ”When they go low, we go high.” But faced with the possibility of a second Trump presidency, the former first lady seems to have abandoned her mantra.
In response, Trump says he asked his campaign team if he could hit back.
“She hit me the other day. I was going to say to my people: ‘am I allowed to hit her now?’.”
These comments probably aren’t what his strategists have in mind when they’re trying to win undecided and independent women voters on election eve. But a show of empathy and warmth towards a mother in Reading may help win back some support from that voter bloc.
While talking about migration, and the danger he believes undocumented migrants pose to American families, Trump invites Patty Morin on stage to talk about the death of her daughter, Rachel.
Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was allegedly murdered by a suspected illegal immigrant in 2023.
Trump helps Patty Morin on stage to talk about her daughter, the little “spitfire”, and the outpouring of love and grief she experienced in the wake of her daughter’s death.
When Morin gets choked up, Trump stands with the woman and supports her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her on the cheek as she leaves the stage.
Trump is known for saying what comes into his head, and this 11th-hour rally is no different. But among the rambling anecdotes and self-aggrandising, he more or less hits his key talking points.
Much of Trump’s speech – and those of his warm-up acts – are focused on so-called “illegal aliens”.
After the disastrous comments made by a comedian during Trump’s New York rally last month, the presidential hopeful is sure to mention Puerto Rico – if only in passing. Latinos now make up two-thirds of the population in the old industrial county of Reading, and a large slice of the total population in Pennsylvania.
Trump repeats his promise to bring back the “Alien Enemies Act of 1978”, while also committing to mass deportations. Then he goes further, saying any illegal immigrant who kills someone in the United States will face the death penalty.
This last remark wins Trump a standing ovation.
Another crowd favourite is criticism aimed at the “fake news mainstream media”. But on Monday, Trump shies away from repeating his earlier comments about “not minding” if someone has to shoot their way through the media.
Trump remarks on Harris’ failures, takes a stab at Speaker Nancy Pelosi (“Crooked Nancy!” A nearby woman yells), and expresses awe at Elon Musk’s technological achievements. Supporters, who’ve waited for hours to see Trump, start to leave the arena 20 minutes into his speech, he speaks for a further hour.
The Republican candidate’s closing arguments are defined by his dislike of Harris and how broken things are (don’t worry, he’ll fix it). Meanwhile, Harris refuses to say Trump’s name in her final hours of the campaign.
The vice president finished up her day in the blue city of Philadelphia. Wearing the same outfit she wore on the now viral Saturday Night Live skit, Harris made her final address focused on hope and freedom to crowds at a festival-like rally, following acts like Lady Gaga and Oprah.
Hilary Clinton held a similar event, in the same city, eight years ago. But Harris’ team tells US media they are confident this time is different.
The marathon final day comes off the back of Harris’ supporters knocking on an estimated 2000 doors a minute, during the weekend’s ground canvassing campaign in Pennsylvania.
While there are a variety of paths to the presidency for both Trump and Harris, depending on how those swing states fall on the day, a big question mark hangs over Pennsylvania.
With its 19 electoral college votes, it is a key component to the race for the 270 electoral college votes needed to win.
Professor John Kincaid, from Lafayette College in Northampton County, says Pennsylvania is truly as important as everyone thinks it is.
“Probably neither candidate can win without Pennsylvania,” he says.
Polls have the candidates neck-and-neck in the all-important swing state.
Pennsylvania, and Kincaid’s home of Northampton County, are also known as bellwether states.
In 75 percent of the presidential elections between 1912 and 2020, the candidate who won in Pennsylvania, won the presidency. In Northampton County – sister city to the much-talked-about Allentown – that was true in 89 percent of cases.
In 2016, Trump won Pennsylvania by 2 percent (winning 49.6 percent of the vote), and in 2020 the state swung back to the Democratic candidate, with Biden winning 49.6 percent of the vote (a 0.5 percent margin).
The professor of government and public service says what happens this election is anyone’s guess.
On election eve, the polls show it’s too close to call in almost all of the seven battlegrounds.
But there are a few factors that will play a significant role in what happens in Pennsylvania, as well as other swing states like Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.
Kincaid says voter mobilisation is rising to the highest levels ever seen.
“One thing about Donald Trump is he really mobilises voters – on both sides. People love or hate Trump.”
The professor says he doesn’t expect the country to know the results on election night, as the Republican Party lays the groundwork to contest the validity of the election results, in a repeat of the 2020 election.
“Most of us don’t like it.” he says about the possible legal challenges and unrest that could come.
“We’re kind of stuck having to live with this, and none of us like it. So neither candidate is really liked by anybody. People are voting for Harris because they want to vote against Trump, and people are voting for Trump because they want to vote against Harris, not because they love either of these candidates. They’re both terrible.”
A couple of days earlier, more than 300 vehicles – mostly large utes – gathered for a Trump event in Arizona.
Families mill around the petting zoo, feeding goats grain from a small dispenser, while others sit around tables sharing food, or waiting for the rodeo to begin after the ‘Too Big to Rig’ car rally.
Stalls selling Trump merchandise are topped with flags. Trump will fix it, some read. Others fly the confederate flag.
One hat says: “I’m voting for the convicted felon.” Trump’s record is a source of pride, not something to shy away from.
For Corinne Alonzo, this is the first election with which she’s been involved.
“I just feel like we’re losing our country, and it’s important for people to stand up and be patriots,” she says.
“Borders, people coming in … I have a young daughter. I’m concerned for her safety.” 
These are common concerns among Trump supporters – across the country.
“This country is built on immigrants, and I welcome immigrants from everywhere here,” Jeff Adams says. “But do it legally. If you do it in a legal manner, then by all means, we welcome everyone. But right now, it’s a free for all, it seems, and it’s very sad.”
While border security is an issue on Adams’ mind, his top concern is the economy. He doesn’t think it’s fair that hard-working people can’t get ahead.
Too many people have been left behind from the American Dream.
Some of the Trump supporters in that Arizona desert ranch tell other media they expect a civil war to follow this election.
But those who talk to Newsroom speak about unity.
Adams and Alonzo say they want to see America flourish, but to do that there needs to be change, and parties on both sides need to figure out how to work together.
Barry Simonton is selling hi-vis vests as “garbage vests” at his stall, making light of a comment made by Joe Biden a week ago.
The Arizonan says those on both sides need to dial down the rhetoric. Like Adams and Alonzo, Simonton says he would love if people would work together. 
“It’s missing because I just think both sides are shut off. I just think there’s just been so much tension between both sides that they’re shut off to hearing each other,” he says.
“But if they just sit down and talk and not be mad and not be haters.”
Next to the “garbage vests” is a stack of ‘Make America Great Again’ hats. 
Straight across from Simonton’s stand is a larger stand, flying a flag covered in the picture taken after the Trump assassination attempt in July. Beneath the flag are stacks of novelty coasters and small signs – the type that usually say something like ‘live, laugh, love’.
One of those signs says ‘Keep America Great’.
So, which one is it? 
“It is great at the moment, it is. But we want to keep it great,” Simonton says.
“I wouldn’t live anywhere else, and I’m sure New Zealand’s nice,” he says. “ But I wouldn’t trade my citizenship for anything. I would rather die here.”