• The final week of the election saw one cycle of outrage after another.
• First, it was a joke about Puerto Rico. Then Biden’s faux pas. And it just went from there.
• Both campaigns seek to create game-changing moments to their advantage.

At the end of a rally in Wausau, Wisconsin, Senator JD Vance of Ohio called on Americans to be tougher on Monday.

“I think we need to stop being so angry about every little thing in the United States of America. I’m just – I’m so over it,” said Vance, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee. “Our country was built by frontiersmen conquering the wilderness. We will not restore the greatness of American civilization if we fret over every little thing.”

Vance was responding to a question about comedian Tony Hinchliffe’s joke that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of trash” at a Trump rally the previous day.

On Tuesday, Vance himself seemed offended, commenting on a clip of President Joe Biden reacting to the Hinchcliffe controversy on “This is disgusting,” Vance wrote. “There is no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”

In the final week of the 2024 presidential election, anger and indignation were the order of the day, with one cycle of outrage flowing almost seamlessly into the next — and both sides doing their best to capitalize on the moment at every opportunity.

Hinchliffe’s Puerto Rico joke sparked the first news cycle (and within 24 hours, a new digital ad from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign). Then came Biden’s own gaffe on Tuesday night (the White House has insisted he was referring to Hinchliffe’s “demonization of Latinos”). Trump seized the moment and climbed into a garbage truck bearing his campaign’s logo in Wisconsin on Wednesday.

But at a rally soon after, Trump, dressed in a garbage truck driver’s bright orange vest, said he would protect women “whether women like it or not,” which Harris and her campaign quickly tried to reinforce by framing the remarks as a Attack on women’s freedom of choice and autonomy.

On Thursday, Trump and his allies got to talking about women when billionaire investor Mark Cuban, a highly visible Harris supporter, appeared on “The View.” When Cuban was asked why Trump didn’t campaign with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, he said that people “never see Trump around strong, intelligent women.” This has since led to a flood of social media posts and comments from female GOP politicians. Cuban apologized and said he unintentionally set himself up for a negative comment.

Therefore, no one followed Vance’s call – not even the Senator from Ohio himself. The motivation for both campaigns to use the outrage in the final days of the election to their advantage is simply too great.

In a statement for this story, RNC spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was “historic” while she met Harris. “Their top lieutenants called half of America ‘trash’ and women who support President Trump weak and stupid,” Kelly said.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s about cutting through the noise

Last week was all about candidates trying to create “breakthrough moments” that would benefit their campaigns, exploiting instances where a candidate or someone associated with them was seen as demeaning to a large portion viewed by the American public.

There’s a lot of noise during a presidential campaign, with candidates (and their surrogates) giving interviews and appearing at rallies virtually every day. For the average voter, especially those who are less engaged, it’s pretty easy to tune everything out – unless there’s a moment when a particular event dominates the headlines, spreads organically to social media and sparks conversations Dining table stimulates.

Some groundbreaking moments are, of course, built into the campaign plan. Historically, candidates have received a “congressional boost” in their polls following their respective nominating conventions, reflecting largely positive coverage on television networks, newspapers and, increasingly, social media.

Debates also provide natural breakthrough moments, as tens of millions of voters tune in to watch the candidates face off. But the last debate was a month ago and the broad outlines of the race have remained relatively static since then.

That leaves each campaign to create its own moments, like when Trump did a photo op at McDonald’s. If that fails, they can try to use other developments to their advantage.

Both candidates tried that this week. Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was intended to spur media coverage of his successes with voters who are not traditionally Republican, while Harris’ Ellipse rally was intended to highlight Jan. 6 and her campaign’s final message.

In both cases, they were eclipsed by secondary moments that their opponents exploited successfully, with Hinchcliffe drowning out Trump’s rally and Biden spoiling Harris’ rally.

Outrage is a powerful motivator in politics, and in recent days both campaigns have tried to maintain that momentum. It’s not hard to see why: Recently, both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have suffered from blunders made late in the campaign, be it Mitt Romney’s “47%” comment in 2012 or Hillary Clinton’s “basket full Regrets.” Comment in 2016.

And in an election where the media ecosystem is more fragmented than before, the virality and “meme” value of social media is particularly important.

This is why Trump donned a bright orange vest and climbed into a garbage truck, and this is why his supporters are responding to Cuba’s comments with a social media campaign. Such moments generate far more attention than the introduction of a policy.

In short: With only four days until Election Day, don’t be surprised if there are another last-minute outrage cycle or two between now and then.