Kamala Harris tried one thing new at her rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Monday evening: She put Donald Trump on the massive display.
Halfway via her stump speech, the vp requested to “roll the tape” on brief movies of Trump, that includes a number of latest clips of the previous president talking about “enemies from inside,” suggesting in a Fox Information interview that the army could possibly be deployed on Election Day, and talking in Erie simply weeks earlier when he advised “one tough hour” of policing as an antidote to crime.
The Trump interlude in the midst of an in any other case normal rally tackle from Harris confirmed the vp highlighting the potential risks of a second Trump time period. Her strategy mirrored the “menace to democracy” rhetoric lengthy utilized by President Joe Biden to characterize Trump however that Harris has leaned into much less steadily.
Placing Trump on blast at certainly one of her personal rallies mirrored how Harris seeks to attract sharp distinction with the previous president within the ultimate three weeks of the election — but in addition how she has comparatively few alternatives to take action instantly, because the GOP nominee has dominated out future debates.
“Donald Trump is more and more unstable and unhinged, and he’s out for unchecked energy, that’s what he’s searching for. He needs to ship the army after Americans,” Harris advised the group at Erie Insurance coverage Area in Pennsylvania’s fifth-largest metropolis.
The Monday evening rally marked Harris’ seventh go to to western Pennsylvania however her first to Erie since she changed Biden on the prime of the Democratic ticket in July. The blue metropolis surrounded by crimson within the northeast nook of the state has made Erie County decidedly purple; it was amongst people who Trump flipped in 2016 however misplaced to Biden 4 years later. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who spoke earlier than Harris, characterised Erie as “the last word bellwether county, not simply in Pennsylvania, however within the nation proper now.”
Trump, in the meantime, was on the opposite aspect of Pennsylvania on Monday night. He held a city corridor with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem locally of Oaks in Montgomery County, one of many quickly blueing Philadelphia collar counties the place Trump must claw again votes to win in November.
Talking about Harris, the previous president declared, “We’ve got to beat her. She’s not for this job” and later characterised the vp as “not a wise girl.”
He additionally hammered Biden and Harris over the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 U.S. troops killed and advised the daddy of one of many deceased troopers who attended the city corridor that his administration would dig into what occurred within the “first week” of his presidency.
On inflation and excessive on a regular basis prices, Trump blamed Harris, although he largely replied with meandering solutions about his personal plans, saying he wished to “drill, child, drill” to decrease vitality prices after which dipped into different subjects, such because the border. He additionally highlighted unlawful immigration as one thing that was hitting Black and Hispanic households particularly onerous, whereas saying he’s polling higher with each demographics this cycle.
Trump, who was interrupted by a number of folks fainting within the warmth, finally veered away from the city hall-style viewers questions and turned the occasion right into a kind of live performance, with the previous president directing workers to play “Ave Maria” and others tracks from his rally playlist.
In Erie, in the meantime, Harris ran via her normal stump speech, together with guarantees to signal a invoice restoring Roe v. Wade, scale back prices for center class households and institute an expanded youngster tax credit score, whereas blasting Trump for proposed tariffs that she characterizes as a gross sales tax.
Then she turned to Trump’s rhetoric, pointing to the Supreme Court docket’s ruling on presidential immunity earlier this yr as a motive the stakes of the 2024 election are “even increased” than 2020 or 2016.
“He’s speaking about that he considers anybody who doesn’t assist him or who won’t bend to his will an enemy of our nation,” Harris stated. “It’s a critical challenge.”
The Harris marketing campaign additionally launched a new ad on Monday highlighting Trump’s “enemy from inside” feedback. Harris’ operating mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, equally slammed the previous president’s rhetoric at a rally in Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin, earlier within the day, saying Trump’s phrases had been “a name for violence, plain and easy,” and “fairly rattling un-American to me.”
As Harris spoke in regards to the hazard of a second Trump administration in Erie, saying the previous president would face “no guardrails” if reelected, the sometimes-raucous crowd broke out into chants of “Lock him up.”
The vp, as she usually has, sought to tamp down that refrain.
“The courts will deal with that, let’s deal with November, we could?” she stated.
