Notable Moments From the Harris Campaign, From Megan Thee Stallion to Bruce Springsteen

Safe to say Kamala Harris’s campaign has been nothing short of entertaining. From her riveting and lively rallies to her numerous amount of celebrity endorsements, her campaign is one for the books. 

June 27th marked the date of Biden and Trump's first and last debate of this election, serving as a historic day that would end up leading to the endorsement of Kamala Harris as president. Harris announced her campaign for president on July 21st, 2024.  And so the campaign began. 

On July 30th, Megan Thee Stallion performed at Harris’s rally in Atlanta. Sporting the phrase, “Hotties for Harris,”  Megan Thee Stallion led a lively performance, singing and dancing, all while encouraging voter support in between her sets. Following Megan was rapper Quavo from the Migos, hoping to spread awareness on issues like gun violence, and quoted for saying, “One thing I learned about working with Vice President Harris is she always stands on business.” Endorsements like these from celebrities popular among the youth are not only very interesting to watch, but extremely smart for urging young voters to vote blue! The use of silly phrases targeted at our generation's lingo and captivating performances are a great way to enhance voter turnout among young people, especially those who just gained the ability to vote. 

Kamala Harris was officially nominated by the Democratic Party on August 5th. She continued to host engaging rallies, and began utilizing social media like TikTok to reach out to her younger viewers and continue to gain support among our generation. On September 10th, Harris debated against Trump. Through her points, manner of speaking, strong responses to the questions, and overall respect and maturity, Harris put up a great performance. After the debate she continued to campaign and connect with the youth, and on top of that raised millions of dollars towards her campaign, raising $997.2 million by October 16th compared to Trump’s campaign committee, which raised $388 million. 

On October 20th three Harris campaign officials and three White House officials disclosed that “Harris has no current plans to campaign with Biden before Election Day,” even though she was set to campaign with Obama. Harsh. Or is it? According to Harris and Biden aides, this is the best strategy for the campaign as it comes to a close; Biden can focus on being president while Harris focuses on the campaign. And it probably is for the best. I mean come on, the man is 81 he needs a break. This is also an important decision to emphasize how Harris isn’t Biden. She isn’t trying to represent a Biden second-term, and is making sure people see this as her own presidency.

As the campaign comes to a close, Harris continues to pull out all the stops. On October 24th former president Obama joined Harris on stage at a rally in Atlanta in hopes of energizing the room and creating full support for Harris. And it worked, as millions of Americans were reportedly “energized and inspired not only by Barack Obama’s message but by how he leads,” according to Harris. The two were also joined by Bruce Springsteen on stage, who not only endorsed Harris but openly criticized Trump, calling him an “American tyrant.” Now that’s how you do a rally!

With Election Day fast approaching all we can do is hope and see how much of an impact Harris’s campaign really had. If it all ends up being for nothing, at least her campaign efforts will go down in history. 

Sources:

• https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kamala-harris-no-current-plans-campaign-biden-election-day-rcna176254  

• https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/07/30/megan-thee-stallion-kamala-harris-campaign-rally/74599637007/ 

• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/us/politics/obama-harris-bruce-springsteen-georgia.html 

• https://www.npr.org/2024/08/21/g-s1-18188/democratic-national-convention-roll-call-music-state 

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/10/25/trump-vs-harris-fundraising-race-harris-outraised-trump-3-to-1-with-last-pre-election-report/ 

Third-Party Candidates: Who Are They and How do They Influence This Year’s Election?

In every swing state in this year’s election there is at least one third-party candidate present on the ballot. But who are these third-party candidates and what impact are they having on the presidential race?  In the 2024 election the most prominent candidates are Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, and Independent Cornel West, a progressive theologian. Another notable mention is Independent Robert F. Kennedy, who ended up dropping out of the race, supporting former president Trump instead. However, his name is still present on ballots in over 20 states, including Wisconsin and Michigan, two swing states that are crucial to the election. 

In the previous week’s lesson we focused on political parties, and how in America the two-party system has remained dominant for many years. However, this doesn’t mean third parties can just be disregarded. Especially in election years, third parties can have a surprisingly large impact. In tight presidential elections like this one, third-party and independent candidates act as “spoilers”, meaning they take votes away from the main two candidates that have the best chance at winning, in this case Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Let’s take a look at the most prominent third party candidates and what a vote for them really means. 

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is currently polling at about 1% nationwide, according to polls conducted by the New York Times, and is present on ballots in 38 states. Stein has been in the game for a long time, being the Green Party candidate in both the 2012 and 2016 elections. Obviously the woman is not a quitter. She is back again in this year’s election, in support of things such as a more aggressive climate policy, a withdrawal of US support for Israel and Ukraine, and free public education from pre-kindergarten through college. Individuals who agree with her opinions and outlooks may be drawn to vote for her in the upcoming election. But as a third-party candidate with little national support, in reality, “A vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump,” says the Democratic National Committee. According to them, voting for Stein only takes votes away from Kamala Harris, putting the democratic party at a disadvantage while advantaging Trump and the republican party.   

Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party candidate, has the same polling stats as Jill Stein. Oliver is a 39 year old male (nice to see someone young for a change) from Nashville, Tennessee, who has criticized Trump and Vance in the past when they tried to garner Libertarian votes earlier in the year. Oliver believes in “simplifying the pathway to citizenship for immigrants and expanding work visas,” as well as withdrawing the US from international conflicts and federally decriminalizing marijuana use. Sounds like a cool dude! Except, in reality, any votes for Oliver don’t really count as they don’t end up going to one of the main candidates (and depending on how you look at it just end up being votes for Trump). How unfortunate. 

Finally, the two Independents: Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy. West is a political activist and scholar, and formerly a professor at Union Theological Seminary. West has said he aims to pressure Israel into a permanent ceasefire from Gaza and to cut off all US aid to Ukraine. Those angered with moderate left politics could be inclined to vote for West, but this would only draw votes away from Harris, and as a result advantage Trump’s campaign. I’m starting to notice a pattern… Now lastly, when it comes to Kennedy, even though he has dropped from the race, his name is still present on ballots in many different states, including two important swing states. However, since Kennedy has formally endorsed Trump, any votes for him would actually take votes away from Trump, benefiting Harris’s campaign. 

In the end, votes for almost all third-party candidates, in reality, are pointless (because in this case, they usually just end up being votes for Trump). Maybe there’s a reason that America has had a two-party system for decades! 

Sources:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/us/politics/presidential-election-third-party-candidates.html 

• https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/politics/presidential-candidates-dg/ 

• https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2024-10-22/if-you-vote-for-a-third-party-or-independent-presidential-candidate-will-your-vote-hurt-or-help-trump-and-harris

• https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2024-10-25/if-youre-progressive-or-muslim-dont-waste-your-vote-on-jill-stein 

Everything comes full circle: Donald Trump goes from serving Mcdonalds to working at Mcdonalds

    On January 14th, 2019, Donald Trump served fast food to the Clemson Tigers, who were the national college football champions at the time. When you think of the U.S. government’s State Dining Room, you would imagine that they would have the best chefs and food available, not fish sandwiches. However, there was a reason behind this; The longest partial-government shutdown in American history was happening, and funnily enough was because of Trump’s refusal to support a bill not including his 5 billion dollar wall on the Mexican Border. Usually a president is supposed to be the leader of the people, not the pitfall, but hey we all have our petty tantrums sometimes! After this fiasco, everything went back to normal, and the fast food stopped being served in the White House.

   However, you can take the man out of the fast food, but you can't take the fast food out of the man. He created a photo-op, and to do so he had the McDonald’s franchise in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, closed for himself and had pre-selected customers beforehand. During this publicity stunt, he cooked two batches of French Fries, though he forgot to drain all of the oil and added too much salt. Funnily enough, he marveled at the fry packaging, which if you ask me is the last thing you would compliment McDonalds about. Furthermore, after he spent 2 minutes making some fries, he said he “like(s) this job” and would “do it again”. I don’t think he understands that each of these fast food workers have to do this over and over EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Even more blasphemous, he avoided all questions about federal minimum wage… The true definition of a stuck-up celebrity. Take the fame, get a good image and leave everyone else suffering. Not exactly president material.

   Anyhow, his pettiness seems to be something of a habit, as NBC news states that this was designed to troll Harris. One of the big appeals about Candidate Harris, who’s shared her experiences as working the fry machine over 40 years ago. This experience has been instrumental to her appeal of the middle class, and Trump continually tries to take this away from her; There are multiple reports of him trying to accuse her of never working, which lets be honest is sort of getting repetitive at this point. False accusations are a staple of his, and I'm not exactly sure this stunt helped a ton for his image and appeal. Pennsylvania is a keystone state, and by doing so he hopes to sow doubt that Kamala never worked at McDonalds, which he hopes will help cause the vote to sway in his favor.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-tries-troll-harris-serving-french-fries-mcdonalds-rcna176294 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwWDCh8O9WE 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/15/18183617/trump-clemson-mcdonalds-burger-king-wendys-dominos 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/20/politics/mcdonalds-donald-trump-pennsylvania/index.html 

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-harris-mcdonalds-fry-cook-economy-election-2024-10 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/10/20/trump-works-fryer-at-mcdonalds-and-accuses-harris-without-evidence-of-lying-about-summer-job/

Manipulating the Narrative:The Role of AI Propaganda in the 2024 Election

Nope, that’s not a lie. And that title was generated by AI. As the 2024 election gets closer and closer, media literacy is as important as ever. While we often think of propaganda as those cartoons from WWI depicting Germany as a gorilla headed for the streets of New York, there is a much broader definition with the growth of the internet. Currently, we can think of hit ads, direct to consumer mail, rallies, debates and catchphrases as ways that you may be drawn to one campaign over another, but a recent contender has entered the ring. The growth of AI in the past 10-15 years has been hugely effective at infecting our brains without us even realizing it.

With the recent tragedies of Hurricane Helene, AI generated images have been used to damage Biden’s administration by prompting an emotional reaction to young children and animals. The picture of a young girl wearing a life vest and holding a small puppy while crying in a boat as we see houses being flooded around her is meant to provoke an emotional response, to make people feel bad for those in the hurricane.

“I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter.” says Republican Amy Kremer defending her decision to keep the AI generated image of the "survivor" on her X feed. 

And to be honest, she’s kind of right. The spread of misinformation is everywhere and although we shouldn’t be spreading misinformation, people’s opinions on a subject often don’t change after they’ve already formed an opinion based on a visual. Photos tend to evoke emotions into people before they have time to process what they are seeing.

In a hypothetical study done by the Royal Society of Open Science in 2018, they found that between the political candidates both parties generally didn’t change their view point after finding out that information about their candidate was fake or that their candidate had been fact checked and this is still relevant today, where Trump supporters don’t care whether or not Harris is actually a communist, or if she even wore the outfit, but the image reinforced the idea that they had heard, that Harris is a communist.

Some of Trump’s claims over the years have been ridiculously absurd, like the idea that the illegal aliens are eating the dogs and cats in Springfield or that Harris is a communist. And while these may seem like harmless jokes or drawn out extremes that no one would believe, it can gradually warp your brain. While the AI generated images of pets in Springfield holding up signs that say “Don’t Let Them Eat US! Vote for Trump!” may seem satire, many believe they are really perpetuating a conspiracy theory about the immigrant community, prompting threats to schools and government buildings. 

These may not be liked or posted by Trump himself, it is unlikely he has even seen some of the propaganda but there is no doubt that Elon Musk posting Kamala wearing a communist uniform to his audience of over 201 million people had an impact on the favor Trump has been receiving as the polls get closer and closer come to election time.

It is unclear whether or not these kinds of images have affected the polls this election, but since then, even with the generally positive response to how the Biden Administration is handling Hurricane Helene, Harris has fallen in the polls. But more than public image, we should really be concerned about how the media can manipulate public opinion. If people are perhaps literate enough to understand what is fake and what is not, it is still abundantly clear that they don’t care.  

"The standard of live news has sagged deep into the entertainment department, several floors below." Ed Turner, Editor at large, CNN, 1998

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/18/nx-s1-5153741/ai-images-hurricanes-disasters-propaganda

https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intellgence-memes-trump-harris-deepfakes-256282c31fa9316c4059f09036c70fa9

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.180593#RSOS180593C39

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-harris-trump-communist-ai-x-b2606199.html

https://apnews.com/article/springfield-ohio-haitian-immigrants-threats-key-details-7594bae869fb05dc6f106098409418cc

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/10/09/the-cons-of-a-viral-ai-generated-photo-after-hurricane-helene/

U.S. Gives Israel 30 Days to Boost Gaza Aid, Threatens to cut on Military Assistance

    Over a year has passed, and the Israel-Hamas war is still raging on. While the U.S. has been on Israel’s side during the duration of this violence, they’re giving them an ultimatum in order to boost Gaza humanitarian aid. 

    On October 13th, a letter by the Defense Secretary and the Secretary of State was signed and sent to senior Israeli officials, blaming them for their role in drastic humanitarian aid drops and widespread suffering in Palestinian territory. In the last month, Israel has denied nearly 90% of humanitarian aid between the north and south, with the U.S. having many concerns on Gaza civilians. There have been missile attacks on these civilians, with videos surfacing of them being burned alive in medical tents. While war is extremely terrible no matter who’s fighting for what, I feel that we can all agree that civilians shouldn’t be harmed in the process; that goes for both Gaza and Israel, however in this moment it appears that Palestinians have had no access to essential resources, including shelter as the Israeli army has surrounded the area. 

                                    

    Since the start of this war on October 7th, 2023, America has continually pressed for better humanitarian conditions, in particular in Gaza, however for the most part the Biden administration hasn’t posed much restrictions on the billions of military aid since Hamas attacked Israel. The exception to putting restrictions was the Rafah Offensive where Israel put an onslaught on the city of Rafah, using airstrikes and seizing the crossing. This wasn’t as violent as it would’ve been due to the Biden Administration declaring the attack crossing a red line, and suspending 500 and 2000 lb. bombs to dissuade this assault.

    One has to ask if this ultimatum has anything to do with the political agenda of the democrats; While Biden stated that this didn’t have anything to do with the upcoming presidential election on November 5th, I feel that there are some underlying truths here. Trump promised to get the war to end quickly, while Harris stated that she supports Israel but also proposes that Palestinians would get sovereignty and security. By U.S. threatening to cut down on military assistance, this creates a win-win for the Biden Administration and the democrats; either Palestinian civilians have better quality of life or America cuts down on the amount of military aid, saving a pretty penny in expenses. 

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Israel-Hamas-War 

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-administration-issues-warning-to-israel-on-gaza-aid-0d4b5eea  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/us-warns-israel-that-military-aid-is-at-risk-if-conditions-dont-improve-in-gaza/vi-AA1sjZdj?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=8496cb06e0154df6a141ffa1b1383bf0&ei=111 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah_offensive 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/05/world-leaders-fail-to-act-as-israeli-invasion-of-rafah-worsens-humanitarian-catastrophe/ 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wk0e8zey2o 

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-gives-israel-30-days-improve-gazas-humanitarian-situation-or-risk-aid-reports-2024-10-15/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/world/middleeast/trump-harris-israel-gaza.html 

Does America's Protection need Protection? FEMA Withdrawals from North Carolina after Threat of Gun Violence and Militia Involvement

As Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton continue to terrorize the US South, FEMA continues to push federal aid to relief efforts. However, there have been reports of armed militia out to stop FEMA from their relief efforts. 

This past weekend, on Saturday, October 12th, North Carolina FEMA officials relocated after a perceived threat of a 44 year old North Carolinian after he was found with a loaded handgun and a rifle and was making threats to hurt FEMA employees. He was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public.” 

But this isn’t the only reason FEMA chose to withdraw from North Carolina.

While not directly related to Parsons, a Forest Service official says that FEMA had advised them to relocate workers, saying that US military personnel “had come across… trucks of armed militia saying they were out hunting FEMA.” This ended up being false and Parsons was the only active person they found trying to hurt FEMA. In the following days, FEMA will be returning to going door to door to help the hurricane effort. 

This is just one of many Republican conspiracy theories perpetuated by their party less than 30 days before the election. US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia started the conspiracy theory that the government controls the weather. This has been perpetuated by other Republicans who claim that democrats have been manipulating the weather in the South to prevent Republicans from voting for Trump. They also claim that Democrats are trying to make themselves look better with how they are handling a hurricane like this, while also claiming that FEMA isn’t doing anything. Trump has personally claimed that FEMA is broken and isn’t actually helping hurricane victims because, as he claims, the Biden-Harris administration redirected funds for FEMA to handle the surge of migrants from the southern border. 

“They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank.” Meanwhile if they actually did this it would be illegal. FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which gives grants to local governments and nonprofits to take care of undocumented immigrants and has no relation to FEMA’s disaster relief authorities or funding. Grants can’t just be taken back, or redirected by the Federal Government without the consent of the states.

The reason he made this claim was because FEMA began making claims that they wouldn’t have enough money to last out the storm if it continued. This is true but not because they weren’t given enough money, because Biden continues to send money into FEMA as recently . He has not taken from it. Trump meanwhile has. In 2019, Trump actually took between 155 million to 271 million dollars to pay for immigration detention space and hearing locations for asylum seekers in Mexico.

As we head closer and closer to the primary election, the question still stands how this will affect the vote. Have Republicans lost all trust that Democrats have their states in mind? Will the rhetoric pushed by Trump continue to spread throughout all the parties? 

Interestingly, Harris has actually gone down in the polls recently, making the election closer than ever, with 50 percent likely voters for Harris and 48 for Trump. As this question is phrased by likely, people are more likely to be honest but there is definitely a possibility for change in opinion within the next 3 weeks. It is unclear what caused Harris to drop in the polls but media speculation suggests that her recent interviews weren’t as favorable to her image.

Hurricane recovery officials in N.C. relocated amid report of ‘armed militia,’ email shows - The Washington Post

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/threats-fema-workers-north-carolina-sheriff/story?id=114776904

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/10/13/hurricanes-fema-funding-republicans-ignore-democrats-election/75614382007/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/04/no-biden-didnt-take-fema-relief-money-use-migrants-trump-did/

https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20241012/biden-harris-administration-assisting-seven-major-disaster-declarations

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/dead-heat-trump-pulls-even-harris-nbc-news-poll-rcna174201

  

Man Armed with Firearms Arrested Outside Donald Trump’s Coachella Rally

            On Saturday, October 12, 2024, Donald Trump appears to have faced another threat to his life. Trump was visiting California for a rally in Coachella, CA. An event that is a gathering to demonstrate support involved a man with firearms. Fortunately, this incident did not result in the harm of the former president or the attendees of the event. 

The suspect was identified as 49 year old Las Vegas resident Vem Miller. Miller was caught at a checkpoint with fake VIP passes to the rally and fake press passes along with the illegal possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine. The idea that the pass to the rally is for VIPs indicates that Miller probably wanted to get close up with Trump. It appears that if that did not work, the fake press passes would have allowed Miller to get another close up angle on Trump. Additionally, he did not have a valid ID when he was stopped at the rally checkpoint. No valid ID heavily implies that someone is trying to stay secretive. 

Deputies at Trump’s rally detained Miller after he was found to have unregistered firearms. Riverside County Sheriff Bianco stated, “[they] probably stopped another assassination attempt” (Los Angeles Daily News).

Police records show that Miller was released after a $5,000 bail and as of Sunday, is no longer in custody. In this case, money got a suspicious person out of serving potential jail time or a form of punishment. He is set to have a court appearance on January 2nd. For some background on his personal life, he has a master’s degree from UCLA and in 2022, he ran for Nevada State Assembly. Based on this information, Miller can be identified as someone engaged with politics. Miller is a registered Republican and is believed to be a member of a right-leaning anti-government group. The FBI calls the group “anti-government extremist” (New York Post). By labeling the group as extremist, Miller is a clear example of the lengths one might go to achieve what one wants, even when those actions are to resort to violence. 

The political scene now includes violence. What is the state of our political environment that makes people feel the need to bring loaded firearms to rallies? California is a state that is filled with Democrats, a strong blue state. Surprisingly, the person who tried to assassinate Trump was a Republican and not a California resident. Though Miller is a registered Republican, he still dislikes the government. He appears to resemble the traits of an anarchist, someone who rebels against government authority. 

Trump has already faced two previous assassination attempts. One in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another in Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. This first attempt in Butler is the most extreme as Trump’s ear was struck by a bullet. In the West Palm Beach golf club, the gunman was caught hiding in the bushes. Even though the man did not fire directly at the former president, he was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump. 

Though Miller’s true intentions may never be known. A man bringing loaded firearms and a fake entry pass implies something wrong is going to happen. This brings up the question, what could a man with a loaded firearm near a presidential rally do? 

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2024/10/13/us-news/third-trump-assassination-attempt-thwarted-when-armed-man-arrested-outside-coachella-rally-sheriff-says/ 

https://www.dailynews.com/2024/10/13/las-vegas-man-found-with-loaded-firearm-high-capacity-magazine-near-trump-rally-in-coachella-valley/ 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13955435/Donald-trump-assassination-attempt-gunman-arrested-coachella.html 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-possession-firearms-arrested-outside-trump-rally-coachella-valley 

Donald Trump visiting California, a Democratic state for the past decade

Even though rallies often take place in swing states where no one political party dominates the state, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is visiting California, a state with a supermajority of democrats for the past decade, this weekend. Specifically, the rally is at Coachella, a music festival venue, and will be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit during his rally. Despite all of this, why is Trump still holding a rally in California?

It turns out, Trump rallying at a non-swing state is nothing new. In the last election, Trump visited California, and although a landslide win by Joe Biden, because California is so populated, the “portion” of Trump supporters equated to more than 6 million votes (most votes received by a republican presidential candidate from California). His goal is not to win California and get the electoral votes, but get the considerably high amount of popular votes compared to other states with smaller populations. Moreover, Coachella is the only competitive congressional district that he won in the 2020 election. This district’s representative was GOP Rep. Ken Calvert who barely won. Trump hopes to be able to help out Calvert again with this weekend's rally (which will ultimately help him if he gets the presidential position).

Fundraising is another reason, with California producing one of the most fundraisers for both political parties. Seats that come with an opportunity to take photos with Trump were priced at $25,000 for two people, and $5,000 for a “VIP experience” seat. 

Gaining support from the republicans within California, Trump takes advantage of the fact that California is still predominantly democratic by blaming all the current negative status of California to the Democrats. For example, California’s high housing, gas, and other inflations; he refers this as California Dream into a Nightmare. Trump is able to blame it all on the democrats and make himself appeal by claiming that all will be solved under his term.

On the other hand, from the community’s perspective there are some oppositions. Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez disagrees with Trump’s claim and said that “Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community and the most vulnerable among us don’t align with the values of our community.”

California is not the only democratic state he plans to visit. Trump plans to visit Chicago and New York later on. Although the claims Trump makes at the rallies are questionable, his rallies identify a clear sign of support from these democratic states.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/12/politics/trump-coachella-rally/index.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/11/trump-coachella-rally-00183392

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4920478-trump-to-hold-rare-california-rally-on-saturday/