Election 2020: Melania Trump delivers pointed political attack on trail

In her first solo campaign event of 2020, first lady Melania Trump delivered her most political speech to date in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, blasting Democrats for attempting to divide the country, she said, and defending the administration for choosing to move forward -- “not backward”-- in its pandemic response. 

Deeming her husband a “fighter,” the first lady began her prepared remarks by defending his social media use and applauding how Americans can hear “directly and instantly” from their president "for the first time in history." 

“I don’t always agree the way he says things, but it is important to him that he speaks directly to the people he serves,” she said to an enthusiastic crowd of 300 supporters packed in a barn in Atglen. 

Echoing her husband, she then ripped into Democrats, saying they are invoking fear and attempting to divide Americans amid the pandemic that has claimed more than 225,000 Americans lives. 

She went on to slam Democrats for what she called a “sham impeachment” while she said Trump took “decisive actions” to slow the spread of the pandemic.

“This sham was led by opposition and their display of hatred is on display to this day,” she said to roaring applause. 

Urging Pennsylvanians to get out the vote, she painted Democrats as a looming threat to "traditional values," while pitching her husband as the anti-politician candidate who will keep American families safe.

Although the first lady herself did not model Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by wearing a mask, she did in closing ask the audience to follow the CDC guidelines to slow the spread. Most attendees were wearing masks -- which were encouraged but not required, according to release on the event -- and had been asked on the loudspeaker to socially distance. However, the crowd bunched up around the stage for the first lady’s remarks.

Former senior counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, who left the administration in August, introduced the first lady for her appearance -- as she did in 2016 when Melania made a campaign stop in the state and Conway was Trump’s campaign manager.

Biden pitched himself as the unity candidate from Warm Springs, Georgia -- a tiny, but historically significant, town in Meriwether County where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited for polio treatments and where he died. Biden channeled the Democratic hero in his remarks focused on healing the country.

“This place, Warm Springs, is a reminder that, although broken, each of us can be healed,” Biden said.

“We can overcome the suffering virus. And yes, we can restore our soul and save our country.”

The former vice president lamented the fact that on Monday the U.S. had its highest number of new cases since the pandemic began and slammed Trump for once saying of the country’s death toll, “It is what it is.”

“It is what it is because he is who he is,” Biden said. “As a president, I will never waive the white flag of surrender.”

He repeated that he is running to serve all Americans -- not just those in his party -- and ended with a message that he is “ready to act.”

"With our voices and our vote, we must free ourselves from the forces of darkness, from the forces of division, and the forces of yesterday, from the forces that pull us apart, hold us down and hold us back," Biden said. "If we do so, we’ll once more become one nation, under god, indivisible, a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed."

Trump told reporters as he departed the nation’s capital for rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska that he’s expecting a “proper and very nice” election night, portraying himself as a confident candidate as he heads to campaign in states he won in 2016, while sowing doubt in the election process if the race isn't called on Nov. 3.

But certification of the votes and official results have always been determined after election night.

“Look how we’re doing everywhere practically,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn, though he trails Biden in nationwide polls. “We are going to have an exciting night, and it will be very very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on November 3rd instead of counting ballots for two weeks which is totally inappropriate.” 

“I don't believe that that is by our laws. I don’t believe that, but we’ll see what happens,” Trump added.

Trump also touted the favorability of his wife, first lady Melania Trump, who is traveling to Pennsylvania to campaign for her first solo event of the 2020 cycle.

“Melania as you know is going to Pennsylvania. That’s very exciting. I’d like to go with her and be with her. She’s gonna make a speech in Pennsylvania. That’s great and she does very well, very popular,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before they departed for their respective states. 

As Biden campaigned in Georgia, his top campaign surrogate former President Barack Obama returned to the battleground state of Florida for another drive-in rally, urging Floridians to vote "right now" and warning them not to be complacent. 

Greeted by blaring horns from supporters outside Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Obama opened his speech by pointing out the last time Florida’s Tampa Bay Rays were in the World Series, as they enter Game 7 tonight, was in 2008 -- when Florida helped send Obama to the White House.

"The Rays fell just a bit short then, but here in Florida, Democrats fell a little bit short in 2016 also," Obama said. "Over the next couple of weeks, Florida, you've got the chance to fix two mistakes. You've got the chance to set two things right. You can bring a World Series championship to the Sunshine State. And you can send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House."

“Don't take any chances. Just get it done,” Obama said.

Trump’s predecessor ripped into him for what he deemed his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, excoriating him for the outbreaks at the White House, noting he lived there for eight years and that it's a "controlled environment."

"He's turned the White House into a hot zone. Some of the places he holds rallies have seen new spikes right after he leaves town," Obama said. "We cannot afford this kind of incompetence and disinterest."

He also made his pitch specific to Florida, citing the loss of tourism and a spring training season the state experienced as cases spiked and noting how Trump has said he wouldn’t do anything differently looking back on his response. 

“You can't think of anything that you might be doing differently? Like maybe you shouldn't have gotten on TV and suggested we might inject bleach to cure COVID," Obama said. "Think about how hard the tourism industry has been hit right here in Orlando, right here in Florida. You lost one spring training season already, and he can't think of doing anything differently?”

Obama also slammed Trump for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and what he deemed his "bizarre" behavior saying, "even Florida man wouldn’t be doing some of this stuff."

"Sometimes it's almost too easy to make fun of it, but it's serious. There are consequences to his actions. If he was just on Jerry Springer or something, you know, you'd say, ‘Well’ -- But this is the most powerful office on earth. And when people see the president doing things like that, it emboldens other people to be mean and cruel and divisive and racist. And it frays the fabric of our lives," Obama said. 

Most attendees were standing outside their cars or sitting on top of them to get a better look -- still socially distanced and wearing masks. Almost every car has at least one "Biden/Harris" sign on it.

The trip comes after Obama held a drive-in rally for Biden in North Miami on Saturday in which he urged Florida voters to cast their ballots early. In the past two weeks, Trump has held rallies in Sanford, Ocala, The Villages and Pensacola and cast his own ballot in West Palm Beach Saturday.

Florida, which Trump narrowly won in 2016, is considered a critical state in the 2020 election with polls indicating the race will be decided by the thinnest of margins.