Lady Gaga Drums Up Support At Biden’s Closing Campaign Rally

Honking horns, huge American flags and pop superstar
Lady Gaga: on the eve of the presidential election, Joe Biden
brought an air of spectacle to workers’ stronghold Pittsburgh as he
capped a campaign largely curtailed by the Covid-19
pandemic.

“The power’s in your hands, Pennsylvania!” the Democratic White
House nominee thundered late Monday to several hundred supporters
gathered for a drive-in rally in what has become the pivotal state
in Biden’s battle against President Donald Trump.

“It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy,” the
77-year-old added, prompting a crescendo of car horns outside the
stadium that is home to the Pittsburgh Steelers American football
team.

In the biting November cold, Biden took up the clarion call of a
campaign that he launched 18 months ago: “This is a battle for
the soul of America,” he said. “We have to win this.”

Lady Gaga, clad in a white sweatshirt with “Joe” printed on the
front, listened and applauded from her stage.

Minutes earlier she had peeled off her gloves and sat down at a
white piano to give a short but inspired musical warmup to the
Biden headliner.

“Gloves off because it’s a fight — a fight for what you believe
in,” she said before launching into her hit “Shallow.”

The 34-year-old Grammy winner called on the audience to vote for
Biden because “we needed somebody that was going to bring us all
together for this moment, for this very important moment.”

“No matter who wins tomorrow, we’re going to have to do this
together. Tomorrow’s got to be peaceful,” she added somberly, in an
allusion to the tensions that have swelled in the United States
ahead of the poll.

The singer, who once lived in Pennsylvania, has been in this
position before. In 2016, she helped close out the campaign of
Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost in a shocker to Trump.

– ‘End of Trump era?’ –

Dancing in the parking lot was J amie Scafuri, a 26-year-old
hairdresser, who came with friends invited by someone who works for
the campaign.

“We’re hoping that it’s the end of the Trump era,”
Scafuri told AFP. “We’re hopeful. That’s why we’re here.”

These drive-in rallies have become a staple of the Democrat’s
mostly low-key campaign, which has scrupulously adhered to social
distancing and mask-wearing guidelines to guard against the
coronavirus, which has already killed more than 230,000
Americans.

But despite efforts to put on a show at least partly resembling
concert-infused mega-rallies that have traditionally marked the end
of a campaign, the cars parked at distance, sparse spectators and
few journalists allowed to enter makes it clear: the pandemic has
upset the face of American politics in 2020.

“Stay close to your cars!” urged an announcer as fans rushed
forward for the arrival of Lady Gaga, in scenes far removed from
the massive Trump rallies that often bring thousands of
supporters packed together, very often without wearing masks.

But here, Biden’s supporters understand the constraints.

“I feel safe being here around our car with masks on, but it’s a
great opportunity to celebrate life for sure,” Scafuri said.

Biden is “a pro-science, pro-health care candidate, so it makes
sense that he would want to protect his constituents,” added
Scafuri’s friend Katie Soulen, 32, who owns the salon where they
work.

– Trump ‘don’t care’ about us –

Biden is coming full circle with his campaign. The former vice
president launched his White House candidacy — his third, following
disastrous bids in 1988 and 2008 — in April 2019 in this
blue-collar city.

Even then, in the cradle of the American steel industry now
remaking itself as a tech hub, Biden predicted that a victory
against the Republican president would “happen here,” in
Pennsylvania.

Biden has a slight lead in the pivotal state,
which Trump won by less than a percentage point in
2016.

But the polls have tightened in recent days, and after the brash
billionaire’s shock victory four years ago, some Democrats are
nervous.

But Bob Wilson, born and raised “right where we stand” in
Pittsburgh, is confident that Trump will be defeated.

“No, we’re gonna crush him… We’re gonna beat him in every
state,” the 68-year-old retired truck driver, now a union official,
said as he waited for Biden in the large parking lot at Heinz
Field, named after the giant food processing company founded here
in the 19th century.

Trump is “not qualified” and “don’t care about nobody but
himself,” he added.

-AFP

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