### Campaigns Diverge in Final Push as Harris and Trump Unveil Starkly Different Messages

As the campaign season races towards its conclusion, candidates are striving to deliver compelling final messages to undecided voters. Kamala Harris distilled her major pitch into a speech on Tuesday, contrasting her vision of conventional Democratic governance against a portrayal of Donald Trump as a leader seeking to misuse military power to imprison adversaries.

Contrastingly, the Trump campaign is once again leveraging a more unconventional approach. On Wednesday, Howard Lutnick, a finance industry CEO and co-chair of Trump's transition planning team, appeared on CNN with a provocative announcement. Lutnick revealed plans to involve anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in assessing government health data if Trump is re-elected. Specifically, Kennedy would get the authority to potentially remove vaccines from the market. Kennedy has a controversial history, having promoted discredited theories linking vaccines to autism and been implicated in an anti-vaccination campaign in American Samoa, which tragically resulted in 83 deaths from measles, most of whom were children.

Further amplifying his support for Kennedy, Trump made a troubling pledge during a Thursday event with Tucker Carlson. He proposed assigning Kennedy to roles focused on health and women's health. This nomination is contentious given Kennedy's past, which includes old accusations regarding diaries detailing numerous infidelities and recent allegations of sexual misconduct. The allegations span from claims of sexting with a journalist to a Vanity Fair piece in which a former nanny accused him of inappropriate touching. Kennedy has responded by denying these allegations, either distancing himself from the events or attributing them to his "rambunctious youth."

On the same day, Trump assured that he would "protect" U.S. women "whether the women like it or not." This abrupt promise seems out of step with his focus on appealing to moderate undecided female voters, the very demographic the Harris campaign is intent on winning over in the campaign's closing days.

Trump also used the event to target former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who has criticized him post-Jan. 6 Capitol riots and is now aligned with Harris. He revisited Cheney’s support for the 2003 Iraq invasion, a stance Trump retroactively opposes despite his previous claims of it being a "tremendous success." His remarks edged toward a militaristic critique, framing Cheney as someone who endorses wars she doesn't personally fight in, veering into an alarming scenario.

As the contest narrows, the divergent strategies couldn’t be clearer: Harris is aiming to consolidate support through traditional policy pitches, while Trump continues to captivate and concern with his extraordinary and controversial plans.