Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump traded barbs about who posed a bigger threat to the country as President Biden spoke to the public about his decision to withdraw from the presidential campaign.
Both Harris and Trump made their cases in public on Wednesday, hoping to win over voters in the United States as the most recent polls indicate a close race. The Trump team derided this as Harris’s short “honeymoon.”
Trump was chastised by Harris for appointing three justices to the Supreme Court “because he intended for them to overturn The Roe Case.”After Biden withdrew from the race, Trump called Harris ‘a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country’ at his first rally.”
The stunning moment in politics and the Democratic campaign, which has been unexpectedly energized by recent upheavals, was highlighted by Wednesday’s three-way montage featuring a lame-duck president, a vice president who was catapulted to the head of the ticket over night, and a freshly wounded former president who was hoping to make a comeback.
From the Oval Office, Biden addressed the country, saying that “passing the torch to a new generation is the best way forward” and that he had entered the race to defend democracy. He declared that he would concentrate on a number of matters during his remaining days in office, including expanding the economy and cutting expenses.
While in Indianapolis, Harris urged thousands of Zeta Phi Beta sorority members to go out the vote in advance of the November election by citing the organization’s long history of supporting Black women. Among the “Divine Nine,” a collection of traditionally Black fraternities and sororities that also includes Harris’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, is Zeta Phi Beta.
She remarked, “Our country needs your leadership once again in this moment.” “I think we have to choose right now between two different visions for our country: one that is centered on the past and one that is centered on the future.” She promised to sign legislation restoring the right to an abortion.
In contrast to Trump, Harris claimed that she would restore the nation by investing in paid family leave, accessible child care, and eldercare. The vice president brought up Project 2025, a conservative agenda-setting vision for the future Republican administration that was proposed by a few individuals from the Trump administration.
“A plan to return America to a dark past” was how Harris described it.
In an attempt to disassociate himself from Project 2025, Trump posted on social media on Wednesday, saying, “I have nothing to do with, and know nothing about, Project 25.”
Later on Wednesday, Trump claimed to have “defeated” Biden and referred to him as “the worst president in the history of our country” in a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“He resigned because he was falling so far behind in the polls—he was behind in each and every one of them and by a significant margin,” Trump stated.
He abruptly changed the subject of his address to Harris, bemoaning the attention that the media was giving her and the fervor of the attendees at her event, saying that “they never mentioned our crowds.”
Additionally, Trump denigrated her as Biden’s “border czar” and connected her to a range of issues, including rising prices and Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
He compared Harris’s opinions on immigration, the economy, and abortion to his own, declaring that Harris’s “California socialism would kill the American dream.”
Trump claimed that his stance on abortion is more popular with voters. He explained, “That’s because she is so radical.” He made the untrue statement, which he has repeated along the campaign trail, that “she wants abortions in the eighth and ninth month of pregnancy.”
According to a virtual nomination process that the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee authorized on Wednesday, Harris would probably have to choose her vice presidential running mate by August 7.
The most recent in a string of events Harris has hosted with an emphasis on Black voters was her statement on Wednesday. Prior to Biden’s announcement, Harris was set to give an address before Zeta Phi Beta.
Polls show that Trump is gaining ground among some Black voters, therefore Harris has been trying to bolster Black support for the Biden campaign.
Black voters have already exhibited signs of greater enthusiasm since Biden announced his decision to withdraw on Sunday and Harris emerged as the likely Democratic contender.
According to the Harris campaign, more than 40,000 women participated in a Sunday night video call with Black women leaders, raising more than $1.5 million. A different call with Black men on Monday night drew close to 54,000 participants and brought in close to $1.4 million for Harris, according to her campaign.
Adrianne Shropshire, the leader of BlackPAC, a Democratic super PAC, predicted that many diverse women who may not have been engaged before will want to figure out how to get involved in a campaign that would make history. “I don’t think Black women will be the only ones channeling that energy. I predict that Black people will be involved.
