Vice President Kamala Harris stood outside the Vice President's residence in Washington, D.C., and launched a fierce attack on her rival for the 2024 White House race, former President Trump.
Harris pointed to critical remarks made by President Trump's former White House chief of staff, retired General John Kelly, in an interview with the New York Times, saying that the former president had become “increasingly volatile and volatile.” “It's happening,” he accused.
The vice president called Trump a “fascist,” referring to Kelly's claim that the then-president had repeatedly praised Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler.
Hours later, on Wednesday night at a CNN town hall in battleground Pennsylvania, Harris doubled down on her charges.
New national poll reveals whether Harris or Trump has the lead in the final round
On October 23, 2024, from the Vice President's Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Kamala Harris spoke about former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's recent comments about former President Donald Trump. He wanted “a general like Hitler had.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Asked if he thought the Republican presidential candidate was a fascist, the vice president said, “Yes, I do.”
He stressed that American voters are “concerned about our democracy and the fact that we don't have a president of the United States who praises dictators and is a fascist.”
President Trump, who has vehemently denied Kelly's claims, hit back at Harris on social media, claiming her criticism was a sign she would lose the election.
The former president claimed that Harris has become “increasingly rhetorical, calling me Adolf Hitler and everything else that comes to mind in her twisted mind.”
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If Harris' criticism that President Trump is “unfit to serve” in the Oval Office sounds familiar, there's a good reason why.
President Biden, who is running for re-election, has made the argument that President Trump poses an existential threat to democracy a central part of his presidential campaign.
In a speech in January, Biden pointed to the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, aimed at overturning Congress' certification of Biden's victory in the 2020 election, and echoed the former president's It spotlighted what it called an “attack on democracy.” Off in an election year.
President Biden (right) and First Lady Jill Biden exit the stage after speaking at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
As he campaigned in the White House for another four years, the president repeatedly claimed that Trump was a “threat to democracy.”
But after the besieged Biden abandoned his re-election bid in July and endorsed Harris to replace him as the Democratic Party's top candidate in 2024, the vice president and his advisers have argued that Biden is against Trump. seems to have abandoned that strategy.
Instead, Harris, a “jolly warrior,” focused on a more upbeat message, pointing out Trump's petty complaints and calling him “a dishonest man.” He made this claim in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in late August.
But as the calendar turns from summer to fall and Election Day approaches, the vice president and his There was a clear change in tone.
“Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unfree, and will do anything to assert unchecked power,” Harris said at multiple campaign rallies in the battleground state of Wisconsin last week. No,” he criticized.
Harris is scheduled to deliver what is being described as a large-scale “closing argument” speech at the Ellipse, just south of the White House and north of the National Mall, on Tuesday next week, one week until Election Day, campaign officials said. .
In this Jan. 6, 2021 photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump is seen speaking at a rally in Washington ahead of the storming of the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin, File)
The campaign focused on the fact that Trump headlined a large rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021. Many of those who attended Mr. Trump's rally later marched to the U.S. capital and joined other demonstrators in storming the building. The campaign views the Ellipse as a symbolic location that they believe will help make their presidential choices clear to voters.
The contrast Harris is trying to draw with the former president is that she and her campaign sought to woo disaffected Republicans who supported Trump's rival, Nikki Haley, in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year. This was revealed during a full-scale press conference held in court.
What the latest FOX News poll shows in the Harris-Trump matchup
Trump continues to have significant influence over the Republican Party, but in what is likely to be a close race, even just a fraction of Republican voters voting for Harris could shift some battleground states. may result in
In recent weeks, Harris has aligned herself with prominent anti-Trump Republicans in key battleground states, including former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris listens to a speech by former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney at the People's Right Town Hall on Monday, October 21, 2024 in Malvern, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A Democratic strategist in Biden's political orbit told Fox News that Harris' change in message comes as the president repeatedly targeted Trump as an existential threat to democracy during the campaign. He said that this shows that he was right.
Trump's campaign claims the new message will backfire on voters.
“Kamala Harris is focused on Donald Trump, and President Donald J. Trump is focused on the American people,” Trump campaign senior adviser Daniel Alvarez said on Thursday's “Fox.” and Friends”. “Our closing arguments are very different than theirs. With Kamala Harris floundering, they're doing their best to see what sticks.”
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a longtime Republican voice and critic of Trump and a prominent supporter and surrogate of Haley in the Republican nomination race, has said he will vote for Trump. ) said the latest attack would not be successful in currying voters.
“You're dealing with someone who is constantly making outrageous statements,” Sununu said of President Trump in an interview on Fox News' “Your World with Neil Cavuto.” “They’re baked into the noise.”
Sununu argued, “The reason the Harris campaign has completely froze up and lost momentum is because they are only talking about President Trump's strange behavior.''
Colin Reed, a longtime Republican strategist and veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, agreed.
“Voters have been hearing versions of this heated rhetoric for the better part of the last decade, and they're starting to ignore it as background noise,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Reid also noted that new criticism emerged after President Trump narrowly survived two assassination attempts this summer, and that many of the former president's allies have criticized the rhetoric of some Democrats as harmful politics. He also mentioned that he is accusing them of inciting the situation.
Reade, who supported former Governor Chris Christie, who was a vocal critic of President Trump, said, “The Biden-Harris administration, which was run on the principle of unity, demonized a man who had repeatedly had attempts on his life.'' It is particularly ironic that the cycle.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show on Saturday, October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is two and a half months after he survived a near-fatal assassination attempt at the same venue. (AP Photo/Julia Demarie Nikinso)
But Reed said, “The bigger challenge is that life was better under the former president than under the current president. Prices were lower, borders were more secure, and 'inflation' was used in economics classes.” “It was a difficult term, not a headache in everyday life.” The Harris campaign was unable to come up with a vision and a positive plan to address these issues, leaving them with no choice but to focus solely on the negative issues surrounding President Trump and hope for the best. ”
He called it “a risky gamble at a time when voters are looking for concrete solutions to real problems.”
Some Democrats also have problems with the new message.
Chris Moyer, a veteran Democratic strategist and communicator, said, “People want to vote for people who are more focused on improving their personal circumstances and who will make their lives more affordable. “I'm worried that the message of a threat to democracy will ring hollow for the vast majority of voters.” Fox News Digital.
“If I were Harris' campaign, I would continue to drive home the message throughout Election Day about what Harris will do to cut costs for voters and win elections,” Moyer said. , she's going to have a dialogue with the top.” Voters who can afford to worry about broader concerns about the fate of democracy are likely already voting for Ms. Harris. ”
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
