Kamala Harris’ campaign is resorting in its negative publicity to the disqualifications that former members of Donald Trump’s team launch against the former president. Now, you have fresh ammunition. John Kelly, who was his chief of staff, a position almost equivalent to that of a prime minister, has assured in an interview that Trump fits the definition of “fascism” and has warned that the former president could serve as a dictator if he regains power. can. Following those revelations, Harris noted that Trump “is increasingly unhinged and unstable” and said that “it is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler.” The Republican, meanwhile, continues to insult his rival, whom he called on Tuesday “stupid” and “lazy,” an adjective with racist overtones in the United States. The campaign has entered fully into the realm of personal attacks less than two weeks before the elections.
Trump has been using xenophobic and authoritarian language on a recurring basis. He still does not accept the defeat of the 2020 elections and is accused of trying to reverse that electoral result. Many of those who accompanied him in positions of responsibility while he was president have turned their backs on him, including his vice president, Mike Pence. Joe Biden described Trumpist positions in the 2022 campaign as “semi-fascism.” The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, removed the “semi” and said that Trump is “fascist to the core” and the Democratic candidate herself, when asked why it could not be said openly, responded: “Yes, We can say it.”
It was, however, his former chief of staff who developed the idea. In a series of conversations with The New York Times, John Kelly expanded: “If you look at the definition of fascism, it is a far-right authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. “, said. “Certainly, in my experience, that’s the kind of thing that he thinks would work best for running America. The former president is in the extreme right zone, he is certainly an authoritarian, he admires people who are dictators, he has said it. So it certainly falls under the general definition of fascist,” he explained. “He prefers the dictator’s approach to the government,” he stated.
According to Kelly, “Trump never accepted the fact that he was not the most powerful man in the world, and by power, I mean the ability to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted” and commented that “Hitler had done some things.” good too.” The voices of Kelly and Milley are understood as possible sources of information published by TheAtlantic, according to which, in a private conversation in the White House, Trump would have said: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” That approach had already been revealed in 2022.
After these revelations, Harris appeared at his official residence, the Washington Naval Observatory, to attack his rival. “Trump does not want a military loyal to the US Constitution. He wants a military that is loyal to him, personally, that obeys his orders, even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the Constitution,” he said. .
“Trump has repeatedly called his fellow Americans the enemy within, and has even said he would use the US military to persecute American citizens. And let’s be clear about who you consider to be the enemy from within: anyone who refuses to bend the knee or dares to criticize you would qualify, in your mind, as the enemy within, like the judges, like the journalists, like the officials. non-partisan elections,” he continued, before stating that his rival “is increasingly unhinged and unstable.” “We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants power without control. The question in 13 days will be, what do the American people want?” he concluded.
Joe Biden, who is one of those who has most warned about the threat that Trump poses to democracy, returned to the issue during a visit to the Democratic Party headquarters in Concord (New Hampshire) this Tuesday, with a somewhat controversial phrase: “We have to lock him up. Lock him up politically. Lock him up. That’s what we have to do.” The Trump campaign reacted immediately: “Joe Biden just admitted the truth: his and Kamala’s plan from the beginning has been to politically persecute their opponent, President Trump, because they cannot defeat him fairly.” The president’s words serve his narrative in which he presents himself as a martyr.
Trump’s insults
If there is anyone who moves well in the mud of the campaign, it is Trump. The former president descended into vulgarity on Friday at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. He began by talking about the size of the penis of the golfer Arnold Palmer, whose name is given to the airport where he participated: “Arnold Palmer was quite a man, and I say this with all due respect to women. When he showered with other professionals, they left there. They said: ‘My God. “That’s incredible.” But then he launched an attack on Harris: “You’re a shitty vice president,” he said to the delirium of his followers. “Kamala, you are fired, go to hell,” he added.
Trump, in fact, has been in the realm of personal attacks since the beginning of the campaign. “Corrupt Joe Biden became mentally deficient. Sad. But liar Kamala Harris, I honestly think she was born that way. Something’s wrong with Kamala. And I don’t know what it is, but something is definitely wrong with him, everyone knows it,” he said in September in Erie (Pennsylvania). Trump has said of his rival that she is “slow,” that “she has a low IQ.”
This Tuesday he returned to the fray twice. First, at an event with Latinos in Florida: “She’s lazy. “She’s lazy as hell.” For some, using the term “lazy” to describe Harris, who is black and of South Asian descent, has racist overtones, evoking stereotypes that paint black Americans as lazy or inept. Later, during a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, he called Harris a “stupid person” and asked, “Does he drink? Do you take drugs?”
The economy, democracy, national security, immigration and abortion are among the issues that most concern voters, but they are making fewer and fewer headlines. With less than two weeks until the elections, the electoral battle has become a duel full of personal attacks.
