Harris blasts Trump’s ‘enemy from within’ comments at Pennsylvania rally
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ms Kamala Harris was planning to show clips of Trump's rallies at her own rally on Oct 14 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
ERIE, Pennsylvania - Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Oct 14 slammed Donald Trump for his ominous comments about “the enemy from within” the US and threat to deploy the military domestically, in a renewed effort to paint her Republican opponent as a threat to democracy.
In a rare move at her own campaign rally in the political swing state of Pennsylvania, the US Vice-President showed a clip of Trump telling his supporters “those people are more dangerous – the enemy from within – than Russia”.
Ms Harris, 59, has recently pressed Trump to release his health records, as she has, and knocked him for meandering tangents and focusing on fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter.
“A second Trump term would be a huge risk for America, and dangerous. Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” she told the crowd in the city of Erie after playing the clip.
She went on to say that Trump poses a danger because he believes those who do not agree with him are the enemy.
Trump in recent rally speeches has hinted darkly about facing “an enemy from within”
In an interview on Oct 13 on the Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures, host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump if he was expecting chaos on election day, and he appeared to suggest the military could be deployed against citizens.
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump said. “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical-left lunatics.”
He added: “It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
Trump would not be able to give orders to either National Guard or active-duty military units on election day on Nov 5 because he is not president.
Ms Harris’ trip to Pennsylvania on Oct 14 is her 10th to the battleground state since she became the Democratic candidate in July. The state’s 19 electoral college votes will be pivotal to the election outcome.
Her trip to Erie was scheduled to include a stop at a black-owned small business, as her campaign is concerned about slipping support from black voters.
She unveiled new policy proposals aimed at black men on Oct 14 that include forgivable small business loans and access to a new legal recreational marijuana industry.
The Harris campaign and Democrats – including former president Barack Obama – have expressed deep concern about whether black men will turn out in numbers seen in past elections and whether they will support Ms Harris or Trump.
Over a quarter of young black men say they would support Trump in the election race, according to a September poll by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People), the nation’s largest civil rights organisation. President Joe Biden got about 80 per cent of the black male vote in 2020.
The new slate of policy proposals is part of Ms Harris’ effort to make a direct pitch at black men and make them a more central part of her campaign in the final stretch. Reuters was first to report the plan.
The policies include one million loans that are fully forgivable of up to US$20,000 (S$26,200) to entrepreneurs in underserved communities, and a promise to legalise recreational marijuana and help ensure black entrepreneurs have access to the new industry.
Other Harris proposals include boosting access to the cryptocurrency industry for black Americans and launching a national health equity initiative focused on black men that addresses diseases like sickle cell anaemia, which disproportionately affects the community.
If elected, Ms Harris would be the second black president and first black woman and first person of South Asian descent in the office.
The policy roll-out came a day before Ms Harris was expected to be interviewed by Charlamagne tha God, an influential critic of the Biden administration whose nationally syndicated radio show is popular with black millennials. REUTERS
