Trump and Harris crisscross campaign trail days out from Election Day : NPR

Americans have two days left to pick their new leader in a neck-and-neck presidential election likely decided by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states.

Former President Donald Trump started Sunday campaigning in Lititz, Pennsylvania — a key swing state with 19 electoral votes. The commonwealth is widely seen as a must win for both the Trump and Harris campaigns.

During his speech at the Lancaster Airport, Trump told his supporters that this election is being stolen — a false claim he also made in the lead up to the 2020 election.

“We got a lot of crooked people out there — we’re fighting like a son of a gun,” Trump said while pointing to the press. “We’re fighting. They are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing. Look at what’s going on. Look at what’s going on in your state every day. They’re talking about extending hours and stuff.”

The former-President provided no supporting evidence of the election being stolen, but cast doubt on voting machines citing tech-billionaire Elon Musk, who is backing Trump and has used his ownership of X, the online platform previously known as Twitter, to push misinformation about the electoral process.

He also took swipes at a Saturday poll by J Ann Selzer, the widely respected Iowa pollster, that shows Trump 3 points behind Harris in Iowa — a state Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020.

“The polls are just as corrupt as some of the writers back there,” Trump said. “They can make those polls sing. They brag about it. I got a poll — I’m 10 points up in Iowa. One of my enemies just put out a poll — I’m three down.”

Trump also talked about what he called a failing U.S. economy and border, while also taking personal jabs at Harris calling her “low IQ.”

“Kamala broke it, and we will fix it, and we’re going to fix it fast,” Trump said after arriving more than an hour late for his event. “America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.”

Trump plans to travel to Kinston, N.C., for another rally Sunday afternoon. He’s then set to put on a third rally in Macon, Ga., — just 2 hours north of Kinston. The former president is scheduled to campaign in the Tar Heel state every day until the end of the election. Trump won North Carolina’s electoral votes in 2016 and 2020, but polls show an increasingly tight race.

Meanwhile, Harris is returning to “Blue Wall” Michigan after campaigning in North Carolina and making a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live in New York City.

For the fourth Sunday in a row, Harris is delivering remarks at a Black church in a swing state — this time, in Detroit. She plans to stop at a restaurant in the Livernois district afterward, a neighborhood with a lot of Black-owned small businesses, and then campaign at a barbershop in Pontiac. On Sunday night, she will have a rally in East Lansing, home of Michigan State University.

Black voters and college students are key to the coalition the Harris campaign needs to get her across the finish line in states like Michigan, where the race is tight.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Deepa Shivaram contributed to this story.