Kamala Harris stokes battle of ideas, calling Trump a ‘threat’ to US democracy

Although more than half of Americans identify the economy as their top priority in the upcoming November election, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has shifted the campaign’s final phase into an ideological offensive, targeting what she describes as a grave threat to democracy posed by Republican candidate Donald Trump. The increasingly intense ideological clash reached a peak on Wednesday evening, when, during a town hall with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, the current vice president openly labeled the former president a fascist.

Harris’ campaign has also embraced symbolic gestures, including her choice of venue for the final rally: the same location where her opponent rallied supporters on January 6, 2021, shortly before they stormed the Capitol. From there, next Tuesday — exactly one week before Election Day — the vice president plans to call on the nation to “turn the page” and usher in a new era, “far from Trump.”

Focusing on appealing to undecided voters — who comprise 3% of the electorate in Pennsylvania, the most crucial swing state with 19 electoral votes — as well as moderate Republicans, the Democratic candidate did not discuss policy proposals for her potential administration. She maintained a reserved stance on several occasions, particularly when the event’s moderator highlighted contradictions in her positions since the 2019 campaign on topics such as border security and healthcare. She also sidestepped the most pressing questions on the Gaza conflict and Washington’s support for Israel.

On Wednesday, Harris seized a prime opportunity: the provocative portrayal of Trump as a “fascist” and admirer of Hitler, an assertion handed to her on a silver platter the day before by John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff. Harris leaned into this, describing Trump as “unstable” and “unfit to serve” as president. At the CNN-televised town hall, she said that if Trump wins a second term, he is “going to sit there unstable, unhinged, plotting his revenge, plotting his retribution, creating an enemy’s list,” referencing Trump’s recent remarks about potentially using the military against “enemies from within.”

Beyond the personal attacks — the Republican campaign has frequently called her “criminal,” “evil,” and “unhinged” — Harris seemed to relish painting a portrait of the person she depicted as the nation’s foremost public enemy. “I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America,” she said, when asked by one of the attendees — a group of about 30 people, including some self-identified Republicans — if she believed the former president was antisemitic.

Hours after addressing Kelly’s remarks on Trump in Washington, Harris delivered the event’s pivotal moment. When debate moderator and CNN host Anderson Cooper asked if she considered Trump a fascist, Harris responded, “Yes, I do,” pointing to the insights of Kelly and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, both of whom have expressed similar concerns. “I believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted,” she said.

Winning over undecided voters

Harris’s condemnation of Trump as a threat to America’s founding principles is a sign of how she is trying to win over the small number of undecided voters — particularly moderate, suburban, educated Republicans and independents — in the campaign’s final weeks. To sway this group, she referenced the more than 400 former Republican administration officials who now support her, notably including Liz Cheney, who has actively campaigned alongside her, as well as Cheney’s father, former vice president Dick Cheney. Their support, said Harris at the Pennsylvania town hall, stems from a “legitimate fear, based on Donald Trump’s words and actions, that he will not obey an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States” if re-elected.

The Trump campaign quickly launched a counterattack, with a barrage of messages from various sources, including Trump himself. Some struck deep, such as this statement from Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung: “Kamala’s dangerous rhetoric is directly to blame for the multiple assassination attempts against President Trump and she continues to stoke the flames of violence all in the name of politics.”

The message added to an already polarized climate, which has reached such intensity that even President Joe Biden has not ruled out the potential for post-election violence.

Trump’s reaction on his Truth Social network did not disappoint either. “Comrade Kamala Harris sees that she is losing, and losing badly, especially after stealing the Race from Crooked Joe Biden, so now she is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind. She is a Threat to Democracy, and not fit to be President of the United States — And her Polling so indicates!” he posted.

The shift in Harris’s messaging — from her early campaign’s focus on “optimism and joy” to a more combative approach in the final stretch — reflects the uncertainty in the polls, which indicate a tight race. However, for more discerning voters, particularly the undecided ones at events like the Pennsylvania town hall, the fiery rhetoric leaves unanswered some pressing, practical questions. Among the few policy proposals she outlined was an expansion of Medicare to cover home care, which she described as a hallmark of her “new approach” and “different leadership,” as she attempted to set herself apart from Biden.

Despite her attempts to distance herself from her current administration, Harris proposed an identical stance on the Middle East, suggesting that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar presents an opportunity to resolve the Gaza conflict. On this highly sensitive issue, especially among young voters, she took a notably cautious tone, calling the number of Palestinian civilian deaths “unconscionable.” Harris argued that voters concerned about the Gaza conflict are also focused on other issues like the cost of living and reproductive rights. When asked if she would adopt a more pro-Israel stance than Trump, she responded with general comments on Trump’s foreign policy and his alliances with authoritarian figures.

When addressing the immigration crisis — consistently framed as an issue of “border security” and “illegal crossings” — Harris adopted a tone designed to resonate with Republicans disillusioned with Trump and right-leaning independents wary of his extreme stance. While she portrayed Trump as embodying numerous “evils,” including his inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric, Harris also extended an olive branch to Republicans, emphasizing her desire to collaborate on legislation and “govern for all Americans” if elected. “Let’s just fix the problem,” she stated, referring to immigration, while underscoring her commitment to a major bipartisan bill focused on border security.

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