Trump muses about journalists being shot as he claims voter fraud before US election

Former president Donald Trump on Sunday said he would not mind if journalists were shot and repeated claims that Democrats are trying to cheat before the election.

His bizarre remarks came as he and his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, spent the final weekend before the US election visiting the swing states that will decide the outcome, as polls painted a differing picture of who had momentum in the race's final hours.

All eyes were on Pennsylvania, regarded as critical for either candidate to win under America's electoral college system, and on Michigan, where many Arab-American voters have abandoned the Democratic Party over its support for Israel.

At a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania Mr Trump said he "shouldn't have left" the White House after his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. His remarks about journalists being shot at came as he talked about being placed behind ballistic glass at rallies after an assassination attempt in July.

“I have this piece of glass here ... but all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much," he said, to howls of laughter from rally-goers.

It was the second time in recent days that Mr Trump has talked about guns being pointed at people he considers to be enemies. Last week, he suggested former congresswoman Liz Cheney would not be willing to support foreign wars if she had “nine barrels shooting at her".

Mr Trump's campaign sought to clarify Sunday's shooting remarks.

“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within one-quarter of an inch from killing him, something that the media constantly talks and jokes about,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“The president’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the media being harmed, or anything else.”

Mr Trump had already begun spreading misinformation about the voting in Pennsylvania, claiming “fake ballots” and “cheating” as he seeks to sow doubt over any defeat he might face there, in a foreshadowing of potential chaos after polls close on Tuesday night.

Despite no evidence of any meaningful election cheating in the US, he claimed that Democrats in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania "are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing".

According to the final New York Times/Siena College poll before the election, Ms Harris has a marginal lead in Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin, while Mr Trump is just ahead in Arizona. The two are tied in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to the poll, which surveyed 7,879 probable voters in the seven states from October 24 to November 2.

One shock poll in Iowa, a Republican-leaning state, had Ms Harris ahead by three points, but analysts suggested that the survey was an outlier and that Mr Trump would probably carry the state.

Ms Harris on Sunday was due to campaign in East Lansing, Michigan, a college town in an industrial state that is viewed as a must-win for the Democrat.

But many of Michigan's 200,000 Arab Americans are furious that Ms Harris has done little to help end the war in Gaza and scale back aid to Israel. Sensing an opening, Mr Trump visited Dearborn, the heart of the Arab American community, on Friday and pledged to end the wars in the Middle East.

Many members of the Arab American community have endorsed him despite his track record of imposing a travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries.

Mr Trump is due to hold rallies in three smaller cities that could help him galvanise the rural voters who make up an important part of his base. He started Sunday in Lititz, Pennsylvania, before heading to Kinston, North Carolina in the afternoon and ending with an evening rally in Macon, Georgia.

Ms Harris made a surprise appearance on the Saturday Night Live comedy show.

She is struggling to convince voters that she will bring down the cost of living – a top concern after several years of inflation. She has also portrayed Mr Trump as dangerous and erratic and urged Americans to move on from his divisive approach to politics.

“We have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We're done with that,” Ms Harris said in Charlotte on Saturday.

Mr Trump has argued that Ms Harris should be held responsible for the rising prices and high levels of immigration of the past several years, which he has portrayed as an existential threat to the country.

At least 75 million Americans have already cast their ballots, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab, equal to about half of the 160 million votes cast in the 2020 election.

Still, the winner might not be known for several days, as states including Pennsylvania will need time to tally their postal votes.