Harris, Trump barnstorm battleground state Michigan, spar over who has stamina to be president
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US presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigned in the deadlocked battleground state of Michigan on Oct 18.
PHOTOS: AFP
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GRAND RAPIDS/HAMTRAMCK, Michigan – Democrat Kamala Harris raised questions about Republican Donald Trump’s physical stamina to serve effectively as US president as the rivals tore through the deadlocked battleground state of Michigan on Oct 18, with Trump lashing back about the energy he has shown on the campaign trail.
Ms Harris, who turns 60 on Oct 20, pressed the case to raise doubts about the 78-year-old Trump. Age had been an issue when US President Joe Biden, 81, was still in the race, but faded after he dropped his election bid.
On Oct 18, Ms Harris said news reports that former US president Trump was skipping interviews because he was tired, and had passed on the chance of a second debate with her, raised questions about his fitness for office.
“It should be a concern. If he can’t handle the rigours of the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?” Ms Harris, the US Vice-President, told reporters before a rally in Grand Rapids. “That’s a legitimate question.”
Trump has skipped some appearances, but his campaign has not provided reasons.
‘I’m not even tired’
Trump, talking to reporters as he arrived in Detroit, rejected such talk. “I’ve gone 48 days now without a rest,” he said.
“I’m not even tired. I’m really exhilarated. You know why? We’re killing her in the polls because the American people don’t want her.”
Polls in the election’s most competitive states are effectively tied.
In a Fox & Friends interview, Trump also griped about negative TV advertisements on Fox about him and said he would ask Mr Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News parent company News Corp, to ensure such ads are not broadcast until election day on Nov 5.
“I’m going to say, ‘Rupert, please do it this way and then we’re going to have a victory, (because) everyone wants that’,” Trump said.
He visited a campaign office in Hamtramck, where he heard praise from the Detroit suburb’s first Muslim mayor, Mr Amer Ghalib. Trump is seeking support from Arab Americans in Michigan disenchanted with Democrats, Ms Harris and Mr Biden over US support for Israel in the Gaza conflict.
“We all ultimately want one thing. We want peace in the Middle East. We’re going to get peace in the Middle East. It’s going to happen very fast. It can happen with the right leadership in Washington,” Trump said, without elaborating.
In the evening, Trump returned to Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, for a rally after saying on Oct 10 that the rest of the US would turn into Detroit if Ms Harris won.
Ms Harris, after speaking in Grand Rapids, the heart of more conservative western Michigan, was heading east to Lansing and then Oakland County, encompassing suburbs north-west of Detroit, on the night of Oct 18.
The Midwestern state has about 8.4 million voters and would offer 15 Electoral College votes out of the 270 needed to win, which in several scenarios would be a decisive number. Ms Harris and Trump are battling fiercely for the state’s Arab American, senior, union and working-class voters.
On Oct 17, Ms Harris said Trump was “gaslighting” the American public about the deadly attack by his loyalists on the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Public and internal campaign polls show razor-thin margins for both Ms Harris and Trump in Michigan and other battleground states. That is worrying Democrats.
Trump won Michigan by 11,000 votes in 2016. In 2020, Mr Biden beat Trump by 155,000 votes.
Ms Harris is shifting the strategy of her whirlwind campaign to win over more Republicans and men of all races. She is also enlisting popular former first lady Michelle Obama, who will campaign for her in Michigan on Oct 26.
“I understand why people are looking to shake things up,” former US president Barack Obama said at an Arizona campaign event in support of Ms Harris on Oct 18. “What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you.”
Nationally, Ms Harris’ edge has narrowed from a late September lead of 7 percentage points over Trump to just 3 points, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with high food and rent prices still worrying Americans and Trump amplifying fears related to migrants crossing the US-Mexico border with increasingly extreme rhetoric. REUTERS
