When President Joe Biden took the podium in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, many expected a return to the ‘self-professed unifier’ Biden from the 2020 election, particularly after his recent comments calling tens of millions of Trump supporters ‘garbage.’  If so, they were disappointed when it turned out to be the ‘take him behind the Gym’ Biden. Speaking through clenched teeth, Biden seethed that he wanted to ‘smack [Trump] in the ass.’ Even with the Harris campaign alarmed over his costly gaffes, Biden clearly could not resist the rage. He is not alone.

This entire election seems to be a type of political roid rage. In my book, ‘The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,‘ I discuss how rage rhetoric and rage politics have long been part of our history. Politicians will often intentionally trigger rage to rally voters not in support of their policies but in opposition to their opponents.

However, Biden’s seeming inability to keep his rage in check is a common feature of this rage politics. As I wrote in the book, ‘rage is liberating, even addictive. It allows us to say and do things that we would ordinarily avoid, even denounce in others.’ It is also contagious. Across the country, people are yelling at neighbors, tearing down signs, and even assaulting each other. What they are unwilling to admit is that they enjoy the rage. They like it.

As someone who has written about rage rhetoric and covered presidential elections for over two decades for different networks, I should be accustomed to these scenes. I am not. From the scenes outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan to the scenes outside of political rallies in Virginia, I find the rage depressing and deflating.

However, in flying to New York this weekend to join the Fox election coverage, I had a moment of real hope. I was driven to the airport by a man who told me that he was just months from his citizenship and how he and his wife were so thankful to soon be U.S. citizens. He came from a MiddleEastern nation where he long admired the United States for its freedoms, particularly the freedom of speech. Indeed, in his home country, he constantly ran into trouble with his government and was warned by his imam that he had to stop acting ‘like an American’ by speaking his mind.

He could not shut up, so he decided to become an American instead.

He then told me how confused he and his wife are by this election. They love the United States and cannot understand why people are so hateful and angry. ‘It is like they do not understand what they have here,’ he noted.

Listening to him over the course of our ride, I started to feel something that I had not felt in a while: real hope.

Sometimes, our truest citizens are found among our newest converts. As I discuss in my book, the problem with our democracy is that most citizens grew up in a nation where basic rights like the freedom of speech are guaranteed. They have never known the absence of such rights. This man and his wife have. They were not born here. They had to escape their country at great peril and cost to become U.S. citizens. They chose us and what we stand for.

They follow other great Americans drawn to these shores by something unique about this country. One was Tom Paine. The man who was credited with rallying a nation behind a revolution only landed upon these shores two years before the Declaration of Independence. His rocketing to fame with the publication of Common Sense enraged some, like John Adams, who viewed him as an unkempt, unknown rabble-rouser.

Yet, it was precisely Paine’s immigration that gave his words such clarity and power. He saw this emerging nation as unique for all of humanity, a nation where citizens could live free without the calcified social, economic, and political limits of the Old World. His voice resonated with this nation because it was so genuine and authentic.

I heard that same voice on my way to the airport. Sometimes, it takes the newest among us to remind us who we are to not only the rest of the world but also to each other.

I do not know what is coming out of that gate on election night. I have been there before. However, half of this country is going to be very, very upset either way this goes. What we need to struggle to remember is that this election does not define us. The rage does not define us. We defined ourselves almost 250 years ago and do so every day that new citizens like my new friend come to these shores. There is hope in who we are . . . even if we forget sometimes.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., slammed Democrats’ ‘scare tactics’ regarding former President Trump’s stance on women in terms of abortion and IVF access on Sunday. 

At a recent campaign stop in Wisconsin, Vice President Harris claimed that Trump would ‘ban abortion nationwide,’ ‘restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk and force states to – get this – monitor women’s pregnancies.’ Democrats have run ads across the country on the issue. 

Trump has repeatedly stated he would not sign a national abortion ban, and Stefanik, in an appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ reiterated how Trump ‘believes this issue should be decided at the states’ and supports three exceptions for abortions in circumstances of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. 

‘When it comes to IVF, that is a false smear,’ Stefanik told ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Shannon Bream. ‘President Trump wants to expand access to IVF, make birth control available, and the reason why Democrats are only talking about this issue is these are scare tactics because they are losing on every other issue. Whether it’s the economy, the border, safety and security around the world, we’re going to run and win, and I think that women when they look at the key top issues, they are increasingly looking at their lives were much better under President Trump versus the crises that we’ve seen under Kamala Harris today.’ 

Stefanik also slammed Harris for failing to condemn Mark Cuban’s recent remarks about female Trump supporters. Cuban faced backlash for suggesting on ‘The View’ last Thursday that Trump neglects to surround himself with ‘strong, intelligent women,’ claiming that they intimidate and challenge him. 

Stefanik pointed to how she, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump have been traveling across the country as surrogates of the Trump campaign. Stefanik also noted that under Trump’s administration, the U.S. had ‘the highest number of women ever in the workforce, the largest wage and salary increase for working women ever,’ and ‘child care was affordable.’

The congresswoman also highlighted how inflation drove up grocery, energy and utility costs, impacting women, as well as the safety issues for women arising from the lack of border security. 

‘Kamala Harris did not condemn Mark Cuban’s just disgraceful comments saying that President Trump does not surround himself with strong, intelligent women,’ Stefanik said. ‘Whether you compare it to the first lady, his daughter Ivanka Trump or so many senior level women that are working in support of his campaign.’ 

Asked if she would accept Cuban’s apology issued after the backlash, Stefanik responded by noting how Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, described Trump supporters as ‘deplorables’ in 2016, ‘then they called us Nazis, then Mark Cuban said there are no strong or intelligent women around President Trump, and just yesterday you had Kathy Hochul smearing voters who support Republicans as ‘anti-American.” 

‘President Trump is running to unify this country on the goals of securing the border, strengthening the economy,’ she said. ‘So Kamala Harris should condemn that, and they didn’t, the campaign failed to do that, and that’s offensive to so many women across this country, not just elected official women. Gold Star moms, Gold Star wives, women veterans who are proudly supporting President Trump.’ 

Stefanik later discussed Election Day predictions for Congress. She deemed New York the ‘epicenter’ of the House majority, as several first-term Republican incumbents face competitive challenges from Democrats in the deep blue state. 

‘President Trump on the ballot is a net gain to every Republican candidate for Senate and House,’ Stefanik said. ‘I’m from New York, obviously, New York is the epicenter for the race for the House Republican majority, Republicans, when it comes to early voting, increased by 50% compared to where we were in 2022, and that was cycle where of course we flipped those five House seats.’ 

‘Kamala Harris is underperforming Joe Biden in every single swing district across the country if you look at Joe Biden’s performance in 2020,’ she said. ‘I think on a good night we can win up to 10 seats, Shannon, which would be a sizable Republican majority. We’re not taking anything for granted, but the issues are on our side.… On every top issue, Republicans are winning. President Trump is winning, and I think we could be in for some surprises on Election Day that House Republicans will overperform the predictions.’ 

Georgia Republicans and former President Trump’s campaign say that they are continuing to take legal action against ‘coordinated efforts’ by Democrat-heavy counties to accept ballots after the early voting period ended. 

A statement from the Georgia Republican Party, which was obtained by FOX Business on Sunday, detailed the party’s latest efforts to stop counties from counting ballots that were hand-delivered over the weekend. 

The lawsuit names seven counties: Clayton County, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Chatham and Athens-Clarke. Fulton County houses the capital of the state, Atlanta.

In the letter, chairman Josh McKoon claimed that these counties were ‘illegally accept[ing] ballots this weekend AFTER the end of early voting on Friday.’

‘The Georgia Republican Party, in conjunction with the RNC have filed suit in federal court to halt the counting of these ballots,’ McKoon wrote. ‘At minimum, we want to sequester the ballots that were submitted without proper oversight of our election observers.’

‘Additionally, we have requested Georgia’s Secretary of State and Attorney General get involved to resolve this matter and find answers to the burning questions we all have,’ he added.

McKoon said that the Republican Party intends to find out how a 501c3 organization ‘knew to inform voters within 15 minutes of early voting closure that six Democrat[ic] counties would be extending their weekend hours.’

‘Why didn’t these six counties inform the state board of elections, their county board of elections, the Secretary of State, or their local governments about their plans to essentially extend early voting?’ the letter asked. ‘Who gave the order to Fulton and Chatham County officials to bar poll observers from monitoring the process? Why did they do this?’

McKoon concluded the update by urging Georgia Republicans to ‘keep our foot on the gas.’

‘We will keep the public informed all along the way,’ the Republican said. ‘However, this doesn’t change our overall mission. We MUST keep our foot on the gas and turn out voters on Tuesday like our lives depend on it. Because it does.’

The Trump campaign released a statement on Sunday identifying themselves as one of the suit’s plaintiffs.

‘At the last minute several heavily Democrat counties announced they would open their offices over the weekend to receive mail ballots,’ the campaign said in a statement. ‘This is illegal, so we immediately filed a state court lawsuit. In a win for election integrity, the counties retreated from plans to keep drop boxes open over the weekend, but we continue to fight the illegal re-opening of the centers in state and federal court.’

‘This is a clear, partisan violation of the law intended to boost Democrat efforts in Georgia,’ the campaign’s statement added. ‘With just two days until our country’s most important election, it is critical for officials to follow the law and run the election in a fair and transparent manner.’

The new legal action comes a day after a similar lawsuit brought by Republicans was struck down. On Saturday, a judge in Fulton County dismissed a lawsuit about normally-closed offices allowing voters to hand in their ballots over the weekend.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer had rejected all arguments presented by GOP attorney Alex Kaufman, who claimed that absentee ballots should not be hand-delivered and accepted after the early voting period ends.

‘I find that it is not a violation of those two code sections for a voter to hand-return their absentee ballots,’ the judge claimed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Georgia Republican Party for additional comment.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Trump’s campaign issued a clarification after he joked about shooting ‘through the fake news’ at a rally on Sunday.

Speaking in Lititz,Pennsylvania,, less than two days before Election Day, Trump made the remark while speaking about the July 13 assassination attempt against him.

‘I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there,’ the Republican candidate said to his supporters, gesturing to the bulletproof glass surrounding him. 

‘And I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news,’ Trump added. He appeared to reference the gaggle of journalists in front of him at the time.

‘And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind,’ he joked, causing the audience to laugh.

On Sunday, the Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung released a statement arguing that the candidate’s remarks ‘had nothing to do’ with journalists being hurt.

‘President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,’ Cheung said. ‘The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.’

The spokesperson added that Trump’s remarks were about ‘threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.’

‘In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also,’ Cheung said. 

‘There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!’

In response to the remarks, Harris campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa accused Trump of ‘violating the Ninth Commandment.’

‘Trump is spending the closing days of his campaign angry and unhinged, lying about the election being stolen because he’s worried he will lose,’ Moussa said in a statement. ‘The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth and will walk into the Oval Office focused on them – that’s Vice President Harris.’

Trump’s remarks came as he and Harris were neck-and-neck in national polls on Sunday. Pennsylvania is a major swing state that is expected to be a deciding factor in which candidate wins the Electoral College.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke on Fox News Channel’s ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ and claimed that Harris made a grave mistake by not picking Josh Shapiro, the Keystone State’s governor, as her running mate.

‘Shapiro might well have won the state of Pennsylvania for her,’ Cruz said to host Maria Bartiromo. ‘But the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat[ic] Party could not imagine, could not tolerate, such a thing.’

Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris was asked at the top of a press gaggle of reporters in Detroit, Michigan, ‘Simply, how are you feeling and have you submitted your ballot?’ 

Harris, 48 hours from Election Day, admitted that ‘everyone’s a little tired’ and ‘sleep-deprived.’ 

‘I am feeling great, I am looking forward to these next 48 hours to continue to talk with the voters and talk about the stakes and talk about the future of our country,’ Harris said, ‘Which I think is bright when we’re working with the same spirit of building community, building coalitions and building the strength of our economy and our country. I have, I actually just filled out my mail-in ballot, so I have voted.’ 

Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before she was elected vice president in 2020, declined to answer about how she voted on Proposition 36. The California ballot measure would reverse criminal justice reforms made in her home state in recent years. 

‘I’m not going to talk about the vote on that because honestly it’s the Sunday before the election, and I don’t intend to create an endorsement one way or another around it,’ Harris said. ‘But I did vote.’ 

The initiative, if passed, would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It also would give judges the authority to order people with multiple drug charges to get treatment.

Harris also addressed election integrity concerns, telling reporters former President Trump ‘lost’ in 2020. 

‘So here we are on the Sunday before the election, and I would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not fall for his tactic, which I think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, their vote won’t matter,’ Harris said.  ‘Suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact, so that they don’t vote. And again, I think that it is a tactic.’

Actor and comedian Will Ferrell is throwing his star power behind Kamala Harris – it’s just another in a long list of celebrity endorsements for the vice president.

In an official Harris campaign ad, Ferrell jokingly threatens voters if they don’t vote for Harris.

‘This election is going to be one of the closest in history. Your vote will make the difference,’ Ferrell begins.

He then mocks a voter disagreeing about their vote making a difference. 

‘That means you, Gary. ‘Oh, blah blah blah, I’m just one person.’ No. Shut the f–k up Gary,’ Ferrell says. 

‘Last time, only a few thousand votes kept Trump out of office. And this time, we will hold you personally responsible, Gary’ Ferrell threatens.

Critics took to X, telling the actor to stick to comedy and stay out of politics.

‘Democrats have now resorted to physically threatening people to vote for Kamala. Will Ferrell should’ve stuck to comedy. This isn’t funny at all,’ one user wrote.

‘Will Ferrell is making it REAL tough for me to watch Elf this season,’ another user commented. 

Ferrell joins a list of actors and celebrities who have used their status to endorse Harris in the homestretch of the campaign. 

On Thursday, actors Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Danai Gurira, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany took part in a video endorsement, mocked as ‘new cringe’ for Harris and Tim Walz, that was posted on Ruffalo’s X account.

‘We’re back. Let’s #AssembleForDemocracy. In the #ElectionEndgame, every vote counts,’ Ruffalo wrote, encouraging people to vote for Harris and Democrats.

In the video, they jokingly suggested Harris needed a catchphrase, referencing their past movies.

Bettany remarked, ‘How about ‘I’m down with democracy’? It’s clean and simple.’

‘I’m Kamala Harris and I say down with democracy,’ Cheadle joked, adding, ‘Yeah, together we got to tear down democracy.’

Near the end of the video, he phrased it saying, ‘I’m Kamala Harris, and I am down with democracy.’

Singer Beyoncé introduced Harris at a rally in Houston, Texas.

The final New York Times/Siena College Battleground poll of the 2024 race shows a razor-tight election in the battleground states just days before the election.

Trump leads in Arizona, while Harris has a lead in Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin. Michigan and Pennsylvania are tied between the two candidates, according to the poll.

The poll comes just two days before an election that promises to be one of the closest in recent memory, with the New York Times/Siena poll not being the only one showing tight margins.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick, Michael Lee, and Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report. 

At a time when we’re all deluged with conflicting polls and statistical ties, Donald Trump’s campaign is unusually confident.

The Kamala Harris operation also sees reason for optimism, with news that late deciders are breaking her way by more than 10%. But she still casts herself as the underdog. Her ‘SNL’ appearance doesn’t change that; nor does Trump saying that RFK’s plan to remove fluoride from the water, a major public health advance, ‘sounds okay to me.’

Most media folks, either publicly or privately, believe Trump will win, even as the anti-Trumpers beg their followers to turn out for the VP – such as MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace asking her ex-boss George W. Bush to publicly back Harris.

The climax of the campaign seems built around a gaping gender gap–with Kamala doing far better among women and Trump much better among men. 

The view from the Trump camp is that registration figures favor Republicans, based on mail-in voting, in the battleground states that will decide the race. Nearly half the country has already voted.

Take the crucial commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 2020, Democrats had a 7.5% advantage, and that’s now shrunk to a 3-point edge.

What’s more, just 39% of Democrats who have voted there so far are men, compared to 49% among Republicans.

Democratic strategist Tom Bonier, who appears on MSNBC, says the Pennsylvania electorate is much more Republican, and much more male, than last time.

Harris needs a huge turnout in Philadelphia to carry the state, and numerous news reports say she’s still struggling to win over some Black men.

In Wisconsin, the view from Trump World is that in-person voting (which tends to favor the former president) is outnumbering mail ballots (which lean Democratic). Trump’s strength is among male, white and rural voters. So, as in the case of Philly, Harris must do very well in Milwaukee and Madison to carry the state.

Michigan, which Rep. Debbie Dingell recently told me is a toss-up, remains an enigma, because it doesn’t track party registration. So the ballgame there may turn on how well Harris does in Detroit. 

The Trump camp sees similar advantages in such swing states as Georgia and North Carolina, where public polling is close but would be a bigger stretch for a Harris win. The election really turns on the three Blue Wall states.

Maybe Harris should have picked Josh Shapiro?

In one key state after another, local Black leaders are quoted on the record as saying they’re worried about warning signs in their community:

Politico: ‘The city of Milwaukee is trailing the rest of the state by about 7 percent both in its mail-in return rate and in overall registered voter turnout. It’s a warning sign, even some Democrats privately say, for Harris as her campaign looks to run up the score with urban and suburban voters to overcome Wisconsin’s rural counties.’

Capital B, Atlanta: The turnout of Black voters in Georgia ‘has dropped from more than 29 percent’ on the first day of early voting ‘to about 25 percent…That’s the bad news for Harris…

‘Elected leaders and political observers say Democrats looking for a guaranteed win in statewide office races in Georgia usually need to hit a 30 percent Black turnout rate.’

Charlotte Observer: ‘As of Wednesday, Black voters had cast 207,000 fewer ballots compared with four years ago — a drop of almost 40 percent.’

‘I am worried about turnout in Detroit. I think it’s real,’ said Jamal Simmons, a former Harris aide, told ABC.

A sunnier view is offered by this Politico piece, which says that public polls appear to be undercounting Harris’ support.

The story says that ‘shy Trump voters’ – who don’t want to tell pollsters who they’re supporting–are a thing of the past, given the aggressive nature of his campaign. 

Instead, many ‘forgotten’ Harris voters are missed by the polls, especially Republicans frustrated with their own party: Nikki Haley voters.

Citing a national survey, Politico says 66% of those voting for Haley in the primaries backed Trump in 2016, dropping to 59% four years ago and an estimated 45% this time. ‘Meanwhile, their support for the Democratic presidential nominee has nearly tripled from only 13 percent supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 to 36 percent indicating an intent to vote for Kamala Harris.’

To which I say: Who the hell knows?

We’re at the point now before tomorrow’s election that pollsters are analyzing the polls to figure out which ones are off. And–here comes the cliché – it all depends on turnout. Despite raising a billion bucks, if some of Harris’ potential supporters stay home, that sinks her candidacy.

The scenarios favored by the Trump team rest largely on party registration, not polls that have missed the mark in the last two cycles.

That explains why the former president is more confident, even as he asks his advisers whether they really believe he’s going to win.