Here and Now 2020

Trump Rallies in Kenosha on Eve of Election

The president cast aspersions on the results of absentee ballots and said that bad things can happen "in the streets" with an angry population that questions the results.

By Will Kenneally

November 2, 2020 • Southeast Region

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump holds one of his final rallies of the 2020 election in Kenosha Nov. 2, 2020.


President Donald Trump held one last rally in Wisconsin less than 12 hours before the polls opened on Election Day.

The president made his last pitch to voters as he remains consistently behind Democrat Joe Biden in the latest Wisconsin polls.

“Tomorrow, we are going to win this state and we are going to win four more years in the White House,” he said.

Trump also cast aspersions on the results of Tuesday night’s election results, saying without evidence that mail-in ballots could taint the results of the election.

“We’ve got a very horrible, horrible ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States, a ruling that puts our country in danger, actually,” he said, referencing a U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow Pennsylvania voters to have their absentee ballots received after Election Day to still count.

The president added that discontent with the election results could spill out into the streets.

“There’s a lot of bad things that can happen with the streets. I mean, you’re going to have a population that’s going to be very, very angry,” he said.

Despite the claim that mail-in ballots make the election less secure, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has said voter fraud in the state remains “extraordinarily rare.”

The president invoked public safety as part of the high stakes for the decision between him and his opponent.

“If you want your children to be safe, if you want your values to be respected, if you want to be just treated with dignity and respect, then I am asking you tomorrow to go out and vote for your all time favorite president,” Trump said.

This was the president’s fifth visit to the state in a little more than two weeks, and his second stop in Kenosha this year.

“I am concerned,” said Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian about the president’s trip. “Wisconsin has been hit hard with COVID and it is not getting better. It is continuing to spread and that is a concern and will always be a concern whenever we have large groups of people forming for these types of gatherings.”

Polls will open in Wisconsin Tuesday at 7 in the morning and will remain open until 8 that evening. Voters still in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballot, and voters must return their absentee ballots before the polls close tomorrow.

You can follow updates throughout the day at pbswisconsin.org/news and access voter resources and see the election results at WisconsinVote.org.

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