Superstar Beyonce provided the latest shot of stardust to Kamala Harris's White House campaign on Friday, as the vice president and rival Donald Trump courted voters with just 11 days to go in a neck-and-neck election.
Taking the stage with her Destiny's Child co-star Kelly Rowland, the Grammy-winning diva introduced Harris to over 20,000 roaring supporters in the Texas metropolis of Houston, Beyonce's hometown.
"It's time for America to sing a new song," Beyonce said, urging voters to show up.
While the superstar did not perform any hits, her presence brought even more attention to Harris's rally, which focused on abortion restrictions in Republican-led states.
Beyonce said she was not there as a celebrity but as "a mother who cares deeply about the world... a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies."
Texas is not one of the handful of battlegrounds that are expected to decide the presidential election, or where the Democrat and her rival would normally be campaigning in the home stretch.
But Harris is banking on her star-studded show — which also featured 91-year-old country legend Willie Nelson — to bring abortion to the forefront of voters' minds in the final days of campaigning.
"We are 11 days out from an election that will decide the future of America, including the freedom of every woman to make decisions about her own body," Harris said.
Podcast delays rally
While Harris was in Houston, Trump was in Austin, taping a three-hour interview with "The Joe Rogan Experience," the United States' most popular podcast.
The friendly discussion veered around various topics, including UFOs and secret files on the assassination of president John F Kennedy, but rarely got into policy details and wholly avoided the issue of abortion, according to a video of the chat released Friday evening.
Rogan did not say he was backing Trump, and even expressed hope that Harris would also visit.
The ex-president however prodded the comedian to follow in billionaire Elon Musk's steps and publicly endorse him.
"You cannot be voting for Kamala. Kamala. You're not a Kamala person," Trump said.
Trump's follow-on rally, in battleground Michigan, was delayed for several hours over the taping, with many attendees departing before the president even showed up.
Harris and Trump locked horns earlier Friday over accusations that the Republican ex-president has been running as a "fascist."
The two camps traded barbs over claims by Trump's longest-serving White House chief of staff, echoed by Harris, that Trump is a "fascist" who cannot be trusted with power again.
Republican leaders in Congress attacked her over that characterisation, in a statement revealing they had been briefed on "ongoing and persistent" threats to Trump, and accused Harris of encouraging "another would-be assassin" after he survived an attempt on his life in July.
'Garbage can'
Half the country agrees with Harris that Trump is a fascist, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll of registered voters, and she hit back at an impromptu news conference.
"The truth is that some of the people closest to Donald Trump, when he was president... have been very clear about the danger and the threat that (he) poses to America, and the fact that he is unfit to serve," Harris said.
"The American people deserve to hear that, and know about that, so they can make a decision."
Trump described the United States as a "garbage can for the world" for a second time this week while giving remarks in Austin — the latest in a string of inflammatory comments on immigration.
The race is a dead heat, according to polls. A New York Times/Siena College survey released Friday showed Trump and Harris tied at 48% each.
Both candidates have sought to broaden their support by sidestepping newspapers and the big TV networks in favour of podcasts and YouTube shows consumed by uncommitted young voters who could make the difference.
Trump hopes to woo Rogan's massive audience. "The Joe Rogan Experience" was the world's most listened-to podcast on streaming giant Spotify in 2023 and has 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Harris is banking on the issue of abortion to help sell her message that Trump is a threat to Americans' freedoms.
"Texas, what is happening across this state and our country is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of it," Harris said, describing the agony of several women who were forced to travel out of state for emergency medical care.
"Please know, no one is protected if there is a Trump national abortion ban."
November's presidential election will be the first held after a 2022 US Supreme Court ruling overturned nationwide protection of abortion.
AFP