Harris accuses Trump of trying to attack his opponents

Photo: Michael M. Santiago Getty Images via Agence France-Presse At a rally in Erie, Kamala Harris played excerpts of a speech by Donald Trump.

Brendan Smialowski – Agence France-Presse and Sébastien Blanc – Agence France-Presse in Erie and Washington

Published yesterday at 11:46 p.m.

• United States

Kamala Harris tried to appeal to black voters on Monday while issuing a more general warning against the increasingly authoritarian rhetoric of Donald Trump, who is also campaigning in the key state of Pennsylvania.

With three weeks to go until the November 5 election, the race between the American vice president, rallying in Erie (northeast), and the former president, campaigning in the suburbs of Philadelphia, is still tight.

“Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unbalanced, he is seeking unchecked power,” the Democrat said after accusing the Republican of wanting to attack his opponents — including journalists, judges and election officials — who “refuse to bow” to him.

She broadcast excerpts from a speech by Donald Trump, who has further elevated his anti-immigrant rhetoric, accusing the Biden/Harris administration on Sunday of having “imported an army of illegal immigrants” who came “from dungeons all over the world” during an event in Arizona.

He also said that “the National Guard” or even “military” should be called out against the “enemy within” in the United States, “crazy people, extreme lunatics left”.

“That’s one of the reasons why I think so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America, it would be very dangerous,” Harris said Monday.

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Meanwhile, her Republican rival quickly answered a voter’s question in the town of Oaks about his policies to combat inflation, before focusing on his favorite issue, border security.

“Brothers”

The outcome of the election is more uncertain than ever, with the two opponents neck and neck, and the gap appears to be narrowing. In the American indirect election, Pennsylvania will offer a precious windfall of 19 electors to whoever wins.

Two recent polls published this weekend show Donald Trump eroding the very slight lead of his rival, who is struggling to win votes among Latino and black voters.

During her rally, the former California prosecutor thus rolled out a series of proposals presented earlier by her team and intended to directly benefit African-American men.

This program aims to help them launch their small business or a trade, in particular through advantageous loans, but also contains aid for training and apprenticeships, as well as a system of favored access to education professions.

Last Thursday, former President Barack Obama had criticized his black “brothers”, according to him, reluctant to elect a woman for the first time in history American.

Donald Trump rejoiced in Pennsylvania on Monday about poll numbers that were “through the roof” thanks to black and Hispanic voters. “I love it.”

African Americans voted 90% for Joe Biden in 2020, a level that fell to 78% for Kamala Harris, according to a New York Times/Siena College opinion poll. Hence the current charm offensive by the vice president, who will turn 60 next week.

“Poor physical condition”

After attending a religious service on Sunday at a church attended mainly by African-Americans in Greenville, North Carolina, the vice president gave an interview, broadcast on Monday, to a black journalist, Roland Martin.

She repeated her attack formulated in recent days on Donald Trump's lack of transparency about his state of health.

The 78-year-old Republican has refused to release a detailed medical report and has declined the offer of a second televised debate with his rival.

“Why is his team doing this?,” Harris asked. “Maybe they think he's not ready. In bad physical shape and unstable.”

Donald Trump's campaign responded Monday by saying that Harris was in “a state of complete despair … in the face of the hemorrhaging of traditionally Democratic voters.”

The candidate plans to return to Pennsylvania midweek. Her campaign trips will also take her to Michigan, to Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Oakland County, as well as to Wisconsin, to Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay — two other key states to win the election.

In Detroit on Tuesday, she will appear on a show hosted by Charlamagne Tha God, a radio host and comedian who is very popular, particularly among young African-American adults.