policy
HARRISBURG, Penn. (AP) – Kamala Harris urged Americans on Wednesday to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to brush aside President Joe Biden's comments about Donald Trump's supporters and “trash,” ending the give attention to to guage her Republican opponent days of the race.
“We know that in this election we have an opportunity to end a decade of Donald Trump, who has sought to divide us and instill fear in each other,” the Democratic nominee said.
Harris held rallies in three battleground states as a part of a protest rally in the ultimate week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.
She emphasized unity and togetherness as she followed up her closing speech on Tuesday in Washington, through which she laid out what her team described as her campaign's “closing argument.”
“It’s not about scoring political points for me,” said the vice chairman. “I want to make progress.”
While waiting for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, Liz Kazal, 35, said she was “cautiously optimistic” in regards to the election. She has tried to volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking on doors along with her young daughter and raising money for Harris' candidacy.
“You hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Kazal said.
Meanwhile, the White House rushed to elucidate that the president's comment about “garbage” was a reference to the rhetoric of Trump allies, not Trump's supporters themselves. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anyone who supports Trump as trash.”
The controversy began Tuesday — the identical time Harris was speaking near the White House — when Biden attended a campaign call by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden took the chance to criticize Sunday's rally at Madison Square Garden, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of trash.”
“The only trash I see out there is his supporters. “His demonization of Latinos is irresponsible and un-American,” Biden said. “It’s completely contradictory to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“I will represent all Americans, even those who don’t vote for me,” she said.
Her words were an try to defuse the controversy over Biden's comments and put a ways between her and the president, something she has struggled with prior to now.
Republicans seized on Biden's comments, claiming they echoed when Hillary Clinton, because the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Trump's supporters were a part of a “basket of deplorables.”
“We know what they believe. Because look how they treated you,” Trump said Wednesday at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. “They treated you like trash. The truth is that they have treated our entire country like garbage.”
He also said, “Without question, my supporters are far more quality than Crooked Joe's,” using his nickname for the president.
After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for one more rally later within the day, Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting within the passenger seat of a garbage truck decorated with American flags and campaign signs.
“Joe Biden should be ashamed if he even knows what he’s doing,” Trump said.
Travis Waters, 54, who attended Harris' second rally of the day in Harrisburg, shrugged off the furor over Biden's comments.
“Donald Trump has said so much about so many other groups, and I haven’t heard the media show the same outrage,” Waters said.
In attacking Biden — and by extension Harris — Republicans have glossed over Trump's own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, akin to calling the United States a “dustbin for the world” or referring to political opponents as “the enemy within.” Trump also described Harris as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell” and questioned whether she was on drugs.
Trump also rejected calls to apologize for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally. He acknowledged that “someone said some bad things” but added that he “can't imagine that's a big deal.”
Political attack lines have been known to sometimes backfire on individuals who use them. For example, Ohio Senator JD Vance, now Trump's running mate, once described Democrats as “beholden to a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable about their own lives and the choices they've made.”
Vance's three-year-old comments resurfaced when he was named the vice presidential running mate, energizing Harris supporters who used the label as a badge of pride on T-shirts and bumper stickers, much like how Trump supporters once gleefully branded themselves “deplorables.”
On Wednesday morning, Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, downplayed Biden's comments in television interviews.
“Let me be clear: The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone to be a part of this,” he told ABC's “Good Morning America.” “Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric must end.”
In Harrisburg, Harris parried repeated interruptions from pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting her support of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
“We are about fighting for democracy and your right to be heard,” Harris said as a protester shouted. “That’s what’s at stake in this election.”
She added: “Look, everyone has the right to be heard, but right now I'm speaking.”
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