Kamala Harris is responding to Democratic panic about her White House prospects by turning up the heat on Donald Trump.
The vice president warned Monday that the ex-president was “unstable,” “unhinged” and out for “unchecked power” as she sent a jolt of urgency though her campaign with 21 days to go.
“Watch his rallies. Listen to his words. He tells us who he is, and he tells us what he would do if he is elected president,” Harris told a large crowd in Pennsylvania after a weekend when Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric reached chilling new levels and hinted at the extreme nature of his potential second term.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, meanwhile, went even further, suggesting the ex-president’s musings about using the military against domestic foes he branded “the enemy from within” could even amount to treason.
Harris and her team also aggressively questioned Trump’s mental fitness and his capacity to serve another term, turning the tables on the Republican nominee who for months leveled similar charges at President Joe Biden.
In another effort by Harris to ease concerns about her apparently stalled momentum, she announced a major new initiative to court Black male voters amid anxiety that Trump is making inroads into a critical Democratic support base or that they simply won’t turn out.
And in a new ad campaign in swing state Arizona, Harris made fresh attempts to win over Republicans alienated by the ex-president’s behavior but who have yet to make what is for many a wrenching decision to cross party lines. To that end, Harris also announced that she’d sit down for her first formal interview with Fox News, dropping her earlier reticence over unscripted events to create a contrast with Trump, who rarely leaves the conservative media bubble.
Harris’ new efforts to dictate the pace of the election’s endgame came as both candidates campaigned in opposite corners of Pennsylvania. The commonwealth’s 19 electoral votes could well decide who wins the White House and, like a handful of other battlegrounds, it’s a toss-up according to latest polls.
Harris is entering the decisive stretch of her political life. Her actions under the most intense pressure in the next three weeks will be watched by remaining voters who’ve yet to make up their minds and may be looking for a reason to pick her. She needs to also energize wavering or unenthusiastic Democratic-leaning voters who may not show up on Election Day.
More broadly, the vice president faces one of the most daunting political assignments in decades, after taking over from Biden as the Democratic candidate months before the election. She’s trying to convince a disgruntled electorate that she’s a change candidate despite being part of an unpopular administration, while trying to take down Trump, who has shown there is almost nothing he won’t do to win back power.
Yet Harris’ efforts to close the deal against the former president are being complicated by his refusal to meet her for a second debate after her strong performance in their first showdown in September gave her campaign a boost.
In a new section of her stump speech, Harris played a tape for her rowdy crowd in Erie featuring Trump’s comment on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he could turn the National Guard or regular military on “the enemy from within.”
“You heard his words,” Harris said. “He’s talking about the enemy within Pennsylvania … he considers anyone who doesn’t support him or who will not bend to his will an enemy of our country.” The vice president added: “Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged, and he is out for unchecked power.”
Just before Harris spoke, her running mate unveiled the Democratic ticket’s most explicit assessment yet of Trump’s potential threat to basic political freedoms if he wins a second term. Walz, the Minnesota governor, said the idea a president could use troops against Americans made him “sick to my stomach.”
And the Army National Guard veteran highlighted a comment by the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that Trump was a “fascist to his core,” which was reported in Bob Woodward’s new book “War.” Walz added: “Let that sink in, and don’t be a damn bit afraid of saying it, because that’s exactly who he is. That’s exactly who he is.”
Trump’s vice presidential nominee JD Vance, however, defended his boss’ remarks. “Is it a justifiable use of those assets if they’re rioting and looting and burning cities down to the ground? Of course it is. Right?” the Ohio senator said in Minneapolis. “I think the question is, is it a justifiable use of assets? Depends on what’s actually happening.”
Intensifying Democratic rhetoric about Trump comes as Democrats begin to consider the implications of the ex-president winning a toss-up election and securing a second term that is likely to be even less restrained that his first. Former President Barack Obama set the tone during his own swing through Pennsylvania last week.
Harris suggested in an interview with Roland Martin that Trump had something to hide. “He will not debate me again. I’ve put out my medical records, he won’t put out his medical records. And you have to ask, why is his staff doing that? And it may be because they think he’s just not ready, and unfit, and unstable, and should not have that level of transparency for the American people.”
In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” second gentleman Doug Emhoff raised questions about the 78-year-old former president’s mental and physical condition. Like his wife did, he noted that Trump had backed out of a “60 Minutes” interview and said, “It’s just obvious by looking at him, listening to him, you can see the degradation in front of your eyes.”
He added: “He’s a degrading version of an already horrible person so he’s just getting worse and worse.”
At her rally in Erie, Harris put on an energetic show that looked like an attempt to ease Democratic anxiety that the momentum she built up after taking over from Biden in July has not translated into a clear lead over the ex-president.
“We will win. We will win,” she insisted with a beaming smile.
Erie County, in far northwestern Pennsylvania, is a study in miniature of the wider strategic nationwide battle facing Harris and Trump in the next three weeks. Biden won the county by 1 percentage point in 2020, but the former president carried the county by nearly 2,000 votes in 2016 on the way to the White House. The city of Erie is a Democratic stronghold, but the fight between Harris and Trump will be intense among moderate voters in the suburbs and Trump will seek to run up huge margins in rural and farming communities.
The twice-impeached former president appeared at a town hall event in Oaks, northeast of Philadelphia, with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is a star in the conservative media firmament.
The event highlighted issues like the cost of living and housing that Trump’s team sees as the key to the election. One of the most critical questions before undecided voters in the coming days is whether pressures bearing down on many American families — for instance, over high grocery prices – will outweigh concerns about Trump’s extremism and threats to democracy.
Harris was not the only candidate tending to a vital constituency on Monday. (She unveiled a plan to boost access to finance for Black men who want to start businesses and a health initiative to increase screenings for conditions that disproportionately affect the community). Trump sought to make inroads with young men who are often low-propensity voters but who could add to his coalition.
He appeared on the Nelk Boys’ “Full Send” podcast, which has more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube, and chatted authoritatively about UFC martial arts stars in exchanges that displayed the kind of authenticity many voters like. He also appeared to confirm that he would appear on Joe Rogan’s hugely popular podcast in the latest example of how both he and Harris are seeking out non-traditional media sources to reach Americans who often don’t vote.
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