Although more than half of Americans point to the economy as a priority when voting in November, the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, has turned the final stretch of the campaign into an ideological offensive against the threat to democracy that her trial represents Republican Donald Trump. The increasingly bitter battle of ideas experienced a peak moment on Wednesday night when, in a meeting with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, the current vice president admitted that she considers the former president “fascist.” His offensive also includes symbolic gestures such as the choice of the place where Harris will give his last rally, according to his campaign: the same place from which his rival harangued a horde of supporters on January 6, 2021, minutes before they stormed the Congress. From there, next Tuesday — a week before D-Day — the vice president will urge the country to “turn the page” to a new era, “away from Trump.”
With her sights set on the undecided – they make up 3% in Pennsylvania, the most important swing state, with 19 electoral votes – and the moderate Republicans, the Democratic candidate did not offer new proposals about her government plans if she is elected president in November. He even put himself in profile on numerous occasions, such as when the moderator of the meeting highlighted the inconsistencies or contradictions that his speech has incurred since 2019, the previous electoral campaign, on issues such as border security or health coverage. Harris also left unanswered the most pointed questions about the Gaza war and Washington’s support for Israel.
On Wednesday, the candidate had the best bone to chew, and so she did: the definition of Trump as a fascist admirer of Hitler who had been served to her, the day before, by John Kelly, the Republican’s longest-lasting chief of staff. Harris elaborated that Trump is “unstable” and “incapable of serving,” that is, properly carrying out the office of president. “If Trump wins,” he said at the meeting, televised by CNN, “he is going to sit there.” [en la Casa Blanca]unstable and unhinged, plotting his revenge and creating a list of enemies,” alluding to recent comments by the Republican about his willingness to resort to the army “against internal enemies.”
Beyond personal attacks – such as the frequent disqualifications of the Republican campaign against her, calling her “criminal”, “bad” or “deranged” – Harris took pleasure in making a robotic portrait of the person she practically presented as the public enemy. number one of the country. “He is a danger to the security and well-being of the United States,” she said when asked by one of the attendees – about thirty, some of whom were declared Republicans – if she believed that Trump is anti-Semitic.
Hours after speaking out in Washington about her former chief of staff’s comments about Trump, Harris provided the broadcast’s golden minute. “Yes, I think he is,” she responded when asked by the debate moderator, network host Anderson Cooper, if she believed that Trump is a fascist, and she did so by citing Kelly and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as sources. , Mark Milley, who has expressed himself in the same terms. “I think we should trust [lo que dicen] the people who know him best on this subject.”
Win over the undecided
Trump’s condemnation as a threat to America’s founding principles is an example of how he is trying to win over the small number of undecided voters—including suburban, educated, and independent moderate Republicans—in the final weeks of the race. . That is why she remembered the more than 400 officials from Republican presidential administrations who support her, especially Liz Cheney, who has campaigned with her, and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. His support, he said, is motivated “by a legitimate fear, based on Trump’s words and actions, that he will not obey his oath to support and defend the Constitution” if he is re-elected.
The Trump campaign did not take a second to counterattack, with a multitude of messages, including those of the candidate, against Harris. Some were a depth charge against the Democratic line, like this one from Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign: “Kamala’s dangerous rhetoric is directly responsible for the multiple assassination attempts against President Trump and she continues fanning the flames of violence, all in the name of politics.” The message fuels polarization, which has reached such a level that President Joe Biden himself – from whom Harris assured that he plans to distance himself when governing, with “a new generation of leadership” – does not rule out the possibility of violence after the elections.
Trump’s reaction on his Truth Social network did not disappoint either. “Comrade Kamala sees that she is losing, and losing badly, especially after stealing the race from corrupt Joe Biden,” he wrote. “So now he’s getting louder and louder, calling me Adolf Hitler, and whatever else his twisted mind comes up with. She is a Threat to Democracy, and is not fit to be president of the United States. And her Polls indicate it!” The capital letters are the usual ones in the writingsof the republican.
The transformation of Harris’ message, from the ode to “optimism and joy” of the first days of her campaign to her descent into the mud in the sprint, also corresponds to the lack of definition in the polls, which predict a close tie. For the most discerning voter, however, especially those who, like those attending the Pennsylvania debate, have not yet made up their minds, the incendiary rhetoric leaves unanswered questions more pressing and practical than verbal skirmishes. Among the few programmatic proposals he outlined, he promised that Medicare — health insurance for those over 65 — will cover home care, an announcement he described as “the new approach” of his “different leadership,” different from Biden’s.
But no matter how much he tried to distance himself from his boss, he presented an identical policy for the Middle East – that the death of Hamas leader Yahia Sinwar is an opportunity to end the war in Gaza -, putting himself especially in profile on a very sensitive issue. for young voters – and which has become the thorn in the side of his campaign – and limiting himself to describing as “inconceivable” the number of innocent Palestinians who have died. Voters concerned about the Gaza war, he stressed, are also concerned about other issues, he argued, including the cost of living and reproductive rights. When asked if she would be more pro-Israel than Trump, she answered generalities about his foreign policy and his affinity with authoritarian figures.
When referring to the immigration crisis—always in terms of “border security” and “illegal crossings”—his new language was clear, more easily understood by Republicans dissatisfied with Trump and right-wing independents who found the former president’s radical tone not convincing. Although she attacked Trump as the embodiment of all possible evils, including his dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric, Harris several times reached out to the Republican Party to jointly legislate and, ultimately, “govern for all Americans,” her goal if elected. “Let’s fix the problem,” he settled the immigration issue, but not without underscoring the need for a large bipartisan bill on border security.