DULUTH, GA. — Donald Trump asked his supporters at a rally in Georgia to vote for him by early voting or in person on Election Day in a state that will be pivotal in the presidential election.

“Just vote – whichever way you want,” Trump said at an event organized by conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk and the group he founded on Wednesday.

But the rest of the former president’s speech and the lineup that preceded it clearly framed the 2024 presidential election. The Republican candidate insulted Democrat Kamala Harris, while Kirk and other speakers used religious references and called the vice president and his Democratic Party evil.

Kirk called Trump and Harris’ election a “spiritual war,” saying Democrats “represent everything God hates.”

“This is a Christian state. I would like to keep it that way,” Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians who at one point joined Kirk in a deafening chant of “Christ is King!”

Harris, a Baptist, used a CNN town hall in Philadelphia to describe Trump as a fascist, further clarifying the country’s polarized stance less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

Trump’s campaign strategy of encouraging his supporters to consider every method of voting is a turnaround from blaming his 2020 election loss on Democrat Joe Biden on mail-in voting; Number of people who voted early It increased this year. More than 1.9 million voters cast early ballots in Georgia, where Trump lost to Biden by just 11,779 votes four years ago. Voters across the country cast more than 23 million total primary ballots in the 2024 general election. That broke records in many states, partly due to the influence of Republicans embracing early voting at Trump’s direction.

But as the contest enters its final days, allies like Kirk are looking for people who are close to Trump but still opting out of voting.

“You go to everyone you know and ask, ‘Are you voting for Trump?'” Kirk told the crowd. You have to say ”

Kirk, 31, has a big role in this year’s elections; He uses his online presence and the organization he founded, Turning Point Action, to establish himself as one of the nation’s best-known conservatives and a central part of Trump’s operation. The former president has been trying to reach young men through podcasts, social media and influencers like Kirk, with a particular emphasis on courting young men, or the “bro vote.”

The rally, held at Gas South Arena in Duluth, was filled with Turning Point’s signature pyrotechnics. Trump used it to highlight three figures who represent the populist coalition he is trying to build: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran his own presidential campaign this year before endorsing Trump; former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who announced this week that she would join the Republican Party; and former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who has attracted millions of followers with his bold social media presence. He added country music singer Jason Aldean, whose single “Try This in a Small Town” was a response to urban protests.

Carlson sent the crowd into a frenzy by reassuring him that liberals and political elites were the “odd minority” in US politics, while Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters constituted a “kind, tolerant” movement. Carlson called Trump America’s “Daddy” and said Trump’s victory over Harris would mean “Daddy’s house.” And he is very angry!” – while also “waving a big middle finger” to “the worst people in the English-speaking world.”

Later that night, as Trump was speaking, some in the crowd shouted, “Daddy’s home!” he shouted.

Wednesday’s rally was strategically located in a part of metro Atlanta where Trump underperformed in his re-election campaign four years ago. Kirk and Trump are also scheduled to attend a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday evening.

Trump praised Kirk for “working hard” at the rally and other campaign efforts.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump made his own pitch to conservative Christian voters at a faith-focused town hall held at a church in Zebulon, about 50 miles south of Atlanta. He made the dubious claim that Christians did not vote in large numbers.

“When you have faith, when you believe in God, that’s a huge advantage over people who don’t have that,” he said, arguing that Christian voters have been energized in his favor this year.

At the end of what was billed as a “Believers and Ballots” event, Trump came out to address a packed crowd. Hundreds of people gathered in the church parking lot and chanted “USA!” shouted slogans.

Kirk’s Turning Point Beyond His Georgia Job presenting state and local Republican officials He’s in a get-out-the-vote operation in Arizona, Wisconsin and elsewhere. Critics question the group’s claims and its use of an app with minimal protections to secure voters’ personal information. In a recording of a meeting obtained by The Associated Press, a group official declared: “We are now the official arm of the Trump campaign.”

Earlier this week, Forty And Vivek Ramaswamy He took the stage in downtown Atlanta, a decidedly liberal environment where conservatives could hold court with college students. The event was part of Kirk’s “Your Brainwashed Tour,” which stops at college campuses in swing states. Beyond fieldwork, the “Brainwashed” tour became perhaps its most visible presence in the closing months of the campaign.

Within minutes, Ramaswamy and Kirk, a biotech entrepreneur running for the Republican presidential nomination this year, were jousting with Georgia State University undergraduates over their preferences in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Trump and his aides argue that his populist nationalism appeals to young voters fed up with an inflationary economy and rising housing prices.

“I’m definitely voting for Trump because he reflects my values ​​as a conservative and a Christian more than Ms. Harris does,” said Jean Pierre, a 25-year-old student.

Kirk repeated Trump’s misrepresentation that Harris was solely responsible for immigration policy. It further reinforced the lie that 325,000 children were “lost” at the border during Biden’s term in office.

Kirk also defended Trump supporters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify Biden’s election.

Ashli ​​BabbittThe man shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer inside the building was unarmed, Kirk said. He asked rhetorically if his death had happened. george floydThe killing of an unarmed Black man by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020 was acceptable. This provoked jeers and more than a few swear words.

Kirk, who is white, continued: “Black people come last in America, which seems to be the theme of the last 60 years when Democrats have been in power.”

The crowd was largely unresponsive, reflecting the racial and ethnic diversity in Georgia State’s record. Turning Point employees and local conservatives applauded.

Pierre praised Kirk for trying to organize on liberal-leaning campuses. But in the crowd, he seemed vastly outnumbered by students who were there to push back the hosts or simply watch the rowdy debates.

Jason Evans and Tyler Hill showed up in “White Dudes for Harris” outfits.

Hill said: “I’m just here for the show.”

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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.