TRUMP: IT’S GONNA BE BREXIT PLUS PLUS PLUS
Donald’s boast as US election goes down to the wire
DONALD Trump called on Americans to ‘deliver justice at the ballot box’ as he and bitter rival Hillary Clinton spent the closing hours of the presidential election making their final pitches.
Amid calls from politicians from both sides for FBI chief James Comey to resign for ‘meddling’ in the election, voters cast their ballots today after the most toxic campaign in US political history.
And with Democrat candidate Mrs Clinton, 69, four points ahead in three separate polls of likely voters yesterday, both campaigns concentrated on a clutch of ‘battleground’ states such as Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, as well as some in the northern Midwest such as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin which have shown signs of weakening in their traditional support for the Democrats.
Speaking in North Carolina, Mr Trump promised that today was ‘gonna be Brexit plus, plus, plus’.
Calling on voters to ‘reject a media and political elite that has bled our country dry’, he added: ‘It’s going to be amazing. We’re going to drain the swamp.’
Mr Trump’s best chance of snatching victory was hampered by the FBI’s decision to drop its investigation into Mrs Clinton’s emails, but the Republican candidate used the bureau’s 11th-hour intervention to revive his claims that the election is rigged and that his opponent has been reckless with state secrets.
And amid accusations that he has been the most Machiavellian FBI boss since the notorious J Edgar Hoover, under-fire Mr Comey faces serving one of two candidates, both of whom have publicly effectively accused him of political bias.
Veteran Republican Newt Gingrich said Mr Comey ‘caved’ in to pressure to close the investigation and had been ‘twisted into an indefensible pretzel of contradictions’. Democrats, meanwhile, are furious that many Americans exploited the chance to vote early during a period of uncertainty about the FBI investigation when Mrs Clinton’s likelihood of winning plunged in polls.
Thousands of supporters packed an arena in Sarasota, Florida, to hear Mr Trump, 70, speak in the first of five rallies yesterday.
As newly released Clinton campaign emails revealed how the CNN network had asked her aides for help on deciding interview questions for Mr Trump, he attacked the US media for favouring the Democrats. Dismissing the late polls predicting a Clinton victory as ‘a phony deal’, he said: ‘They are so worried. You ought to see them on television this morning.’
He added: ‘Hillary Clinton is being protected by a totally rigged system. And now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box tomorrow.’
Midway through a speech lambasting Mrs Clinton’s star supporters Jay Z and Beyonce for their crude language, Mr Trump broke off to indulge in some brief levity as he admired a latex mask of himself brandished by a fan.
‘Nice set of hair, I’ll say that,’ he said. ‘Is there any place more fun to be than a Trump rally?’
Showing no sign of preparing for defeat, the Trump campaign is reportedly considering who will join him in government. It is reported the tycoon is thinking of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani becoming his Attorney General and Mr Gingrich his Secretary of State.
Facing a tough but not impossible task, Mr Trump must win all of the main swing states – including Florida, Ohio and North Carolina – as well as crack Mrs Clinton’s socalled ‘blue wall’ by taking some traditional Democrat states.
Mrs Clinton tried to strike an upbeat tone yesterday, insisting she genuinely wants to be ‘a president for everybody’. She promised a crowd in Pittsburgh that she would listen even to voters who rejected her and made a late plea for ‘more love and kindness’.
With many Democrat voters lukewarm about her or confident of victory, Mrs Clinton’s main problem is to ensure her supporters get out and vote today.
Black voters have proved particularly unexcited about voting for her, prompting her campaign to rely heavily on Barack Obama.
The US President was hugged by Mrs Clinton’s daughter Chelsea as he appeared on stage in Michigan at the close of what may be his final political campaign. He warned voters that Mr Trump was ‘temperamentally unfit’ to be the US commander-in-chief.
‘We’re going to drain the swamp’