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A fortnight before the American presidential election, in a campaign that is becoming more virulent by the day, Kamala Harris is redoubling her efforts on Monday to appeal to moderate conservatives at a time when the momentum seems to be shifting slightly in favor of her Republican rival.
The vice president is making a lightning tour of three key states in the east of the country – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – in the company of former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, a fierce opponent of Donald Trump.
For his part, the former president is in North Carolina (southeast), another key state in the election, badly hit by hurricane Helene at the end of September and where his supporters are spreading false information about government aid.
Today’s target for Kamala Harris: suburban areas in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, particularly where former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley had successfully taken votes from the former president during the Republican primary.
In Malvern, Pennsylvania, speaking of her desire to “turn the page,” she said Mr. Trump’s dominance of American politics since his surprise election in 2016 had driven Americans “against each other” and had “exhausted” the country.
And she warned voters: “In many ways, he’s an unserious man. But [if he’s elected], the consequences will be extremely serious.”
An argument supported by Liz Cheney who explained that her support for the vice president had not been a “difficult choice to make” as a politician, but also “as a mother.” “I know how quickly democracies can collapse,” she said.
“My opponent has made a point of admiring dictators and autocrats around the world,” continued Kamala Harris. “If Donald Trump were president, Vladimir Putin would be sitting in kyiv.”
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Photo: Brendan Smialowski Agence France-Presse US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two upon arrival at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 20, 2024.
A Billion Dollars
Democrats are throwing all their might into the battle to support their candidate, who has been running for just three months against Donald Trump, who has been campaigning for two years. According to official figures released Monday, Kamala Harris’ campaign team spent $270 million in September compared to just $78 million for the Trump camp.
And the vice president, who turned sixty on Sunday, has raised more than $1 billion since she entered the campaign in July, after President Joe Biden withdrew, according to the New York Times, an unprecedented amount for a quarter of a campaign.
But this financial advantage struggles to translate into electoral capital. According to the polls, the two candidates remain neck and neck, but some recent surveys seem to show a slight advantage, although still within the margin of error, in favor of Donald Trump.
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Xenophobic rhetoric
The Republican candidate, 78, said Monday that the Democrat was not “qualified to run,” even calling her “a threat to democracy.” “It’s hard to believe there are undecided voters,” he added.
From Greenville, North Carolina, he again focused on immigration, “the number one issue,” “even ahead of the economy,” according to him.
Unleashing his xenophobic rhetoric, he promised that with his victory “the migrant invasion will end and the restoration of the country will begin.”
“I will save every American city that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious, bloodthirsty criminals in prison or we will expel them from our country,” he declared.
Verbal violence
Earlier, speaking from Swannanoa, a small town ravaged by the hurricane Helene, Donald Trump repeated his false accusations that the federal disaster response agency had spent its funds “on illegal immigrants.”
On the ground, “everything still looks like a war zone, I don’t have a better word to describe” the situation, Shelley Hughes, a local resident who supports the Republican, told AFP on Friday.
The second deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States in more than half a century, Helene left at least 240 dead in the southeast of the country, including at least 124 in North Carolina.
In recent days, the Republican candidate has also stepped up his verbal violence against his rival. “You need to tell Kamala Harris that you've had enough. […] You're a shitty vice president, the worst, you're fired. Get out of here,” he told his supporters on Saturday.
The vice president also toughened her tone against Donald Trump, whose behavior she says “debases” the office of president.