DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump implored supporters at a Georgia rally to vote for him — with an early ballot or in-person on Election Day — in a state that will be crucial in the presidential election.
"Just vote — whichever way you want to do it," Trump said at the event Wednesday organized by conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk and the group he founded.
But the rest of former president's speech and the lineup that preceded him framed the 2024 presidential election in stark terms. The Republican nominee insulted Democrat Kamala Harris while Kirk and other speakers used religious references and described the vice president and her Democratic Party as evil.
Democrats "stand for everything God hates," Kirk said, calling the Trump vs. Harris choice "a spiritual battle."
"This is a Christian state. I'd like to see it stay that way," Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians, who at one point joined Kirk in a deafeaning chant of "Christ is King! Christ is King!"
Harris, who is a Baptist, used a CNN town hall in Philadelphia to describe Trump as fascistic, further crystallizing the nation's polarized posture with less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
The Trump campaign strategy of encouraging supporters to consider every voting method is a turn from when blamed his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on mail ballots; the number of people voting early has surged this year. Over 1.9 million voters have cast early ballots in Georgia, where Trump lost by a mere 11,779 votes four years ago to Biden. Voters nationwide have returned a total of over 23 million advance ballots in the 2024 general election. That's broken records in multiple states, partly driven by Republicans embracing early voting at Trump's direction.
Yet as the contest enters its final days, allies like Kirk are searching for people who lean toward Trump but may still sit the election out when it comes to casting a ballot.
"You need to go to every single person you know and say, 'Are you voting for Trump?'" Kirk told the crowd.
The 31-year-old Kirk has an outsize role in this year's election, using his online presence and the organization he founded, Turning Point Action, to make himself one of the nation's most recognizable conservatives and a central part of Trump's operation. The former president has put a particular emphasis on courting younger men, the "bro vote," trying to reach them through podcasts, social media and influencers such as Kirk.
The rally, at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, was filled with Turning Point's signature pyrotechnics. Trump used it to feature three figures who represent the populist coalition he is trying to assemble: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran his own campaign for president this year before endorsing Trump; former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who announced this week that she is joining the Republican Party; and Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News commentator who has attracted millions of followers with his bravado-heavy social media presence. He added country music singer Jason Aldean, whose "Try That in a Small Town" single was a reaction to urban protests.
Carlson whipped the crowd into a frenzy by reassuring them that liberals and political elites were the "bizarre minority" in U.S. politics, while Trump's "Make America Great Again" supporters comprise a "gentle, tolerant" movement. Carlson cast Trump as America's "Dad" and said a Trump victory over Harris would mean "Dad's home! And he's pissed!" — while also being a "big middle finger wagging" at "the worst people in the English-speaking world."
Later in the night as Trump spoke, some in the crowd shouted out, "Daddy's home!"
Wednesday's rally was strategically located in part of the swath of metro Atlanta where Trump underperformed four years ago in his reelection campaign. Kirk and Trump are also scheduled to appear at a rally Thursday evening in Las Vegas.
Trump praised Kirk for "working so hard" on the rally and other campaign efforts.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump made his own pitch to conservative Christian voters at a faith-focused town hall held at a church in Zebulon, about 50 miles south of Atlanta. He made the dubious claim that Christians don't vote in high numbers.
"When you have faith, when you believe in God, it's a big advantage over people that don't have that," he said, arguing that Christian voters are energized in his favor this year.
At the end of what was billed as a "Believers and Ballots" event, Trump moved outside to address an overflow crowd. Several hundred people were assembled in the church parking lot, chanting "USA!"
Beyond his work in Georgia, Kirk's Turning Point is pitching state and local Republican officials in a get-out-the-vote operation in Arizona, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Critics question the group's claims and its use of an app that has minimal protections to secure voters' personal information. In a recording of one meeting obtained by The Associated Press, a group operative declared, "We now are an official arm of the Trump campaign."
Earlier this week, Kirk and Vivek Ramaswamy took the stage in downtown Atlanta, a decidedly liberal environment for the conservatives to hold court with college students. The event was part of Kirk's "You're Being Brainwashed Tour," which stops on college campuses across the swing states. More than the field work, the "Brainwashed" tour has become perhaps his most visible presence in the closing months of the campaign.
Within minutes, Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who sought the Republican presidential nomination this year, and Kirk were jousting with Georgia State University undergraduates over their choices in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Trump and his aides argue that his populist nationalism appeals to younger voters frustrated by an inflationary economy and rising housing prices.
"I'm definitely voting for Trump because he reflects my values as a conservative and as a Christian more than Ms. Harris," said 25-year-old student Jean Pierre.
Kirk repeated Trump's misrepresentation that Harris has been singularly responsible for immigration policy. He amplified the falsehood that 325,000 children have been "lost" at the border during Biden's term.
Kirk also defended the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify Biden's election.
Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer inside the building, was unarmed, Kirk said. He asked rhetorically whether the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, was acceptable. That drew jeers and more than a few expletives.
Kirk, who is white, went on to say: "Black people in America are getting put last, which seems to be a theme the last 60 years when Democrats are in charge."
The crowd, which reflected the racial and ethnic diversity of Georgia State's enrollment, largely did not react. Turning Point staffers and local conservatives cheered.
Pierre praised Kirk for trying to organize on liberal-leaning campuses. Yet he seemed vastly outnumbered in the crowd by students who were there to push back at the host or simply to watch the combative exchanges.
Jason Evans and Tyler Hill showed up in "White Dudes for Harris" attire.
Said Hill: "I'm just here for the show."
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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.