Kamala Harris is responding to Democratic panic about her White House prospects by increasing pressure on Donald Trump.
The vice president warned on Monday (14) that the former president was “unstable”, “unbalanced” and in search of “uncontrolled power”, while sending a shock of urgency through his campaign with 21 days to go.
“Watch his rallies. Listen to your words. He tells us who he is and he tells us what he would do if he were elected president,” Harris told a large crowd in Pennsylvania after a weekend in which Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric reached frightening new levels and hinted at the extreme nature of his potential. second term.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, for his part, went even further, suggesting that the former president’s musings on the use of military forces against domestic enemies he labeled “the enemy within” could even amount to treason.
Harris and her team have also aggressively questioned Trump’s mental fitness and ability to serve another term, turning the tables on the Republican nominee who for months has made similar accusations about President Joe Biden.
In another effort by Harris to ease concerns about her seemingly 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 don’t attend.
And in a new ad campaign in the swing state of Arizona, Harris made fresh attempts to win over Republicans alienated by the former president’s behavior but who have yet to make what is for many a painful decision to cross party lines. To that end, Harris also announced that she would sit down for her first formal interview with Fox News, abandoning her previous reticence about unscripted events to create a contrast with Trump, who rarely leaves the conservative media bubble.
The Battle for Pennsylvania
Harris’ new efforts to set the pace in the final phase of the election came as both candidates campaigned in opposite corners of Pennsylvania. The commonwealth’s 19 electoral votes could very well decide who wins the White House, and like a handful of other battlegrounds, it’s a dead heat according to the latest polls.
Harris is entering the decisive phase of her political life. Her actions under the most intense pressure over the next three weeks will be watched by the remaining voters who have not yet made up their minds and may be looking for a reason to choose her. She also needs to energize undecided or unenthusiastic Democratic voters who may not show up on Election Day.
More broadly, the vice president faces one of the most daunting political tasks in decades after taking over for Biden as the Democratic nominee months before the election. She is trying to convince a disaffected electorate that she is a candidate for change despite being part of an unpopular administration, while trying to unseat Trump, who has shown there is almost nothing he won’t do to regain power.
However, Harris’ efforts to secure victory against the former president are being complicated by his refusal to meet for a second debate after her strong performance in their first face-off in September gave a boost to her campaign.
“You heard his words”
In a first for her speech, Harris played a video to her raucous crowd in Erie of Trump’s comment on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he could turn the National Guard or regular military against “the enemy within ”.
“You heard his words,” Harris said. “He’s talking about the enemy inside Pennsylvania…he considers anyone who doesn’t support him or who doesn’t bend to his will to be an enemy of our country.” The vice president added: “Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unbalanced, and he is seeking unchecked power.”
Just before Harris spoke, her running mate revealed 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 governor of Minnesota, said the idea of a president using troops against Americans made him “sickened.”
And the Army National Guard veteran highlighted a comment by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that Trump was “a fascist to the core,” which was chronicled in Bob Woodward’s new book, “War.” Walz added, “Let that sink in and don’t be afraid to say 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’s remarks. “Is it a justifiable use of these assets if they are rioting, looting and burning cities to the ground? Of course. Right?” said the Ohio senator in Minneapolis. “I think the question is: Is it a justifiable use of assets? It depends on what’s really happening.”
The intensification of Democratic rhetoric about Trump comes as Democrats begin to consider the implications of the former president winning a close election and securing a second term that is likely to be even less restrained than his first. Former President Barack Obama set the tone during his own visit to Pennsylvania last week.
Harris suggested in an interview with Roland Martin that Trump had something to hide. “He will not debate me again. I released my medical records, he won’t release his. And you have to ask, why is your team doing this? And it may be because they think he’s just not ready, and inept, and unstable, and shouldn’t 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 physical and mental condition. Like his wife, he noted that Trump had backed out of a “60 Minutes” interview and said, “Obviously, looking at him, listening to him, you can see the degradation before your eyes.”
He added: “He’s a degrading version of an already horrible person, so he just keeps getting worse and worse.”
A critical county that could decide the election
At her rally in Erie, Harris put on an energetic show that seemed like an attempt to ease Democratic anxiety that the momentum she built after taking over for Biden in July had not translated into a clear lead over the former president.
“We will win. We will win,” she insisted with a beaming smile.
Erie County, in far northwestern Pennsylvania, is a miniature study of the broader national strategic battle that Harris and Trump will face over 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 his 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 try to make big margins in rural and farming communities.
The twice-impeached former president appeared at a town hall event in the Oaks, northeast of Philadelphia, with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is a star in the conservative media firmament.
The event highlighted issues such as the cost of living and housing that Trump’s team sees as key to the election. One of the most critical questions for undecided voters in the coming days is whether the pressures weighing on many American families — for example, high food prices — will outweigh concerns about Trump’s extremism and threats to democracy.
Harris wasn’t the only candidate to lean on a vital constituency on Monday. (She revealed a plan to increase access to financing for Black men who want to start businesses and a health initiative to increase screenings for conditions that disproportionately affect the community.) Trump has tried to make inroads with young people who are generally low-propensity voters but who could boost his coalition.
He appeared on the Nelk Boys’ “Full Send” podcast, which has more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube, and spoke with authority about the UFC’s martial arts stars in exchanges that showed the kind of authenticity many voters appreciate. He also appeared to confirm that he would appear on Joe Rogan’s wildly popular podcast in the latest example of how he and Harris are looking to non-traditional media sources to reach Americans who don’t typically vote.
This content was originally published in Analysis: Harris warns that Trump is “unbalanced” in search of total power on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
