Donald Trump promised MAGA supporters “we’re going to take back our country” as he weaved a stream of tangents together during a late-night rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Saturday (Nov. 2). But if people do not show up for him at the polls, “bad things could be [happening],” he warned, with only days left before Election Day, Nov. 5.
Countless polls throughout the election cycle have projected him and Vice President Kamala Harris as tied. At times either of the candidates has led by a 2 to 3% lead, but not enough for a landslide victory. His political musings lasted an hour and 20 minutes, where he explicitly spoke of his grim immigration policies, one that opposes Democratic "idiots,” who he claims have left the nation’s borders with limited protections, allowing the country to become “occupied.”
Trump stated that “on Nov. 5, 2024, it will be liberation day in America. On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history. It’s gonna be the largest deportation of criminals, we’re gonna get them out of here fast.” Furthermore, the convicted felon declared, “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put the vicious and blood-thirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of our country.”
His crackdown would include invoking the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, also known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, it “is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship.”
Presidents James Madison, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt were the only commanders-in-chief who resorted to using the act during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, respectively. Trump faced resounding criticism for his immigration policies that were described by critics as draconian. Once inaugurated, President Joe Biden overturned many of the measures put in place by his predecessor.
“With your vote this November, we are going to fire Kamala, and we are going to save America,” Trump claimed. “If I don’t win this thing after all this talk, I’m in trouble. You please go and vote,” he urged the crowd.
Harris has candidly expressed plans to support a bipartisan border bill previously supported by the National Border Patrol Council if elected. When she spoke to supporters on Saturday, she reassured them, “Make no mistake, we will win,” and that it was time “to finally turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump.”