Harris looks forward as Trump reflects on the past in his closing arguments before Election Day

With just four days until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have delivered their closing arguments to the American people, and the difference between these two competing visions couldn't be greater.

Harris looks ahead. In her most enduring campaign slogans, she urges Americans to “turn the page” and assures them, “We will not go back.” She promises to enshrine reproductive freedom into law, help first-time homeowners, curb companies that see disasters as an opportunity for profit, and ensuring that people do not face financial difficulties when caring for their loved ones.

“America, for too long we have been filled with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust,” she said in a rousing speech on the National Mall on Tuesday. “It is time for a new generation of leaders in America, and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next President of the United States of America.”

Then there is Trump, whose campaign looks to the past, whether by indulging in long-held grudges or glorifying some of the darkest days in American history. At his hate-filled rally at Madison Square Garden this week, he reiterated that he called his fellow Americans the “enemy within.”

“We're running against something that's far bigger than Joe or Kamala and far more powerful than them, which is a huge, evil, corrupt, radical left-wing machine that runs today's Democratic Party,” Trump said. “They are indeed the enemy from within. But we are fighting against this one.”

Trump has vowed to use a law dating back to 1798 to deport millions of people on a scale unprecedented in American history. He has vowed to arrest his political rivals and pardon those who have tried to violently overturn the peaceful transfer of power. He has fanned the flames of people's basest instincts rather than calling them to confront a cause greater than revenge.

That darkness was highlighted this week when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, standing over a podium decorated with the Trump-Vance campaign logo at her MSG rally, described Puerto Rico — an American territory — as a “garbage island.” Hinchcliffe also made silly comments about the reproductive habits of Latinos and advanced racist stereotypes about black Americans.

While the campaign has strongly condemned the so-called jokes, Trump himself has not yet explicitly apologized.

The comments led to a wave of endorsements for Harris from prominent Puerto Ricans like Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez (and, incredibly, the retraction of an endorsement of Trump by reggaeton star Nicky Jam). Republican candidates for office sought to separate Hinchcliffe's comments from the values ​​of the Republican Party. It didn't take long for the Harris campaign to embed the comments into an ad.

The hate is not just limited to rhetoric; This is reflected in Republicans' short-term efforts to exclude some Americans from the electoral process.

Just on Wednesday, the Supreme Court — including all three Trump-appointed justices — upheld that lie by allowing Virginia to continue the purge of more than a thousand voters on suspicion of not being citizens.

Last week, the chairman of the Lee County Republican Party instructed 1,800 volunteers from a so-called voter protection group: “If there are people who are registered and they're missing information… and they're registered in the last 90 days before the election and they have Hispanic soundings.” Last name, this is probably a suspicious voter.”

In Texas, the League of United Latin American Citizens criticized pro-Trump Attorney General Ken Paxton for targeting Latino activists and officials and even searching their homes as part of an investigation into non-citizen voting that they deemed inauthentic held.

Then there is one of Trump's most insidious plans: deporting 11 million undocumented people in the U.S., a move that would tear families apart and devastate the U.S. economy.

In his closing statement, Trump reminded us who he considers Americans and who he doesn't. Its definition is not really dictated by papers, legal status or place of birth. It is amorphous, determined by what can bring him to power. Once he is given this power, it is possible that the voters of color he is courting will no longer fit his definition of who counts as an American.

Many elections offer voters competing visions of the future. But this one could determine which of two completely different Americas we live in.