Trump on Kamala Harris: U.S. won't have socialist president, "especially a female socialist"
President Trump was back on the campaign trail Friday in his "home state" of Florida after the second and final debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Mr. Trump is trying to win over seniors and women, two groups he's struggling with as millions of Americans are already voting.
The president's win in Florida was key to his 2016, but polling shows he and Biden are neck-and-neck in 2020. Mr. Trump declared on early voting that the campaign is "way ahead of where we are supposed to be."
At the second rally in Pensacola, Mr. Trump emphasized Biden's comments from the debate on oil and fracking.
"Did you hear Joe last night made a big mistake?" Mr. Trump said. "He made a big mistake. I said, 'oh you're against oil.' Well 'yes we would like to get' — Oh, I said 'thank you. Texas are you watching, right? Pennsylvania are you watching? Ohio are you watching?' And then today they came — well actually we're not really against it, we don't know — they didn't know what the hell happened."
At his first rally in the retirement community The Villages, Mr. Trump repeated his pleas to women to "love" him, which he says he's "kidding" about, but polls show him far behind Biden among women.
"Please please love me, suburban woman, I want you to love me," the president told the crowd.
Moments later, he said the U.S. can never have a "socialist president," but especially a "female socialist president," in reference to vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
"We're not supposed to have a socialist — look we're not going to be a socialist nation. We're not going to have a socialist president, especially a female socialist president, we're not gonna' have it, we're not gonna' put up with it," he said.
Mr. Trump, who is struggling in the polls with minorities, also criticized "Barack Hussein Obama," emphasizing the "Hussein" part of the former president's name.
The president said he thought he was "treated very fairly" by the moderator, NBC News' Kristen Welker, in Thursday night's final debate.
Florida, which has a significant senior population, is a must-win for Mr. Trump. Recent polling shows the president is trailing Biden with seniors. Mr. Trump is keen on winning in The Villages, one of the country's largest retirement communities.
In The Villages, the president said "American seniors must come first."
The president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic is believed to be a factor in his struggles with seniors, a group he easily won in 2016. Earlier this month, the president tweeted out a meme of Biden in a nursing home with other seniors with the title, "Biden for resident." Both Biden and Mr. Trump are in their 70s.
On Friday, Mr. Trump claimed Biden said he would shut down the country over the pandemic, which is not what Biden said.
Trump: "Did you hear him last night? 'Oh I'd lock down the country,'" the president said of his opponent.
But Biden actually said: "I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country."