Harris and Trump hold rallies last Friday night in Milwaukee battlefield

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her rival, former President Donald Trump, held dueling rallies just a few miles from each other in the city of Milwaukee – the culmination of a day of events that served as one of the last attempts at support before the Nov. 5 election.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city, is vote-rich territory for Democrats, but Republicans are focusing on the conservative suburbs surrounding it. Trump won the state in 2016 but lost in 2020.

“We know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said Friday night. “He’s not someone who thinks about how to improve his life. He is someone who is increasingly unstable and obsessed with revenge. He is grief-stricken and desires unchecked power.”

Less than 10 miles away, in another part of town, Trump said: “My answer to Joe and Kamala is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love America, and you can’t be president if you hate the American people.”

Democrats know they need to win over voters in Milwaukee, which is also home to the state’s largest Black population. Harris hopes to repeat or even exceed 2020 turnout in a city that voted 79 percent for Biden this year.

Harris’ campaign warmed up young audiences with performances from music artists GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers and DJ Gemini Gilly.

Harris was also supported by rapper Rapper Cardi B. “Did you hear what Donny Trump said the other day?” she said, referring to Trump’s promise to protect women “whether they like it or not.”

“Donny, no,” she said. “Please.”

You have to turn the page

Harris’ message, as heard increasingly at all her rallies, is that Americans are exhausted by Trump’s negative political presence and that it is time to move on.

“We have the opportunity to finally turn the page after a decade of Donald Trump, who tried to divide us and make us afraid of each other. We’re done with it, we’re exhausted with it, we’re turning the page,” she said.

Harris also stressed the need to find common ground and compromise in the country’s deeply divided politics.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t think that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.

“I want to put them in jail. I will give them a place at the table.”

Everyone wants a job

Trump told his supporters that he asked his employees not to speculate on who might work for him if he wins.

“I don’t want to talk about any people. First of all, I want to win. We don’t want to talk about people. Don’t talk to me about people. Everyone wants to have a job,” he said

“Remember this – there was a point where they said, ‘Oh, nobody wants to work for Trump.’ It’s too difficult.” I’ll tell you a little secret: they died to work for us. Do you know why? Because they all want to be that glamorous offering. They want to be in this beautiful administration.”

Trump’s rallies have taken on a touch of nostalgia in the final week before the election, and Friday was no exception.

At an afternoon rally in Warren, Michigan, he told supporters he felt “energy” about the campaign trail.

“It was a thrill for me, for you and for everyone,” he said.

Earlier Friday, Harris left Las Vegas for Wisconsin, where she spoke at a union hall in Janesville, followed by an event in Little Chute and then her third stop in Milwaukee’s West Allis neighborhood.