Donald Trump came under fire on Friday for violent rhetoric against a prominent Kamala Harris supporter, as the candidates held dueling rallies in the battleground state of Wisconsin, four days before the climax of the most volatile US presidential campaign in modern history.
More than 68 million Americans have already voted ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Opinion polls show Trump and Harris are certain to win, with victory depending on who prevails in seven swing states, including Wisconsin.
Both were campaigning in the state’s largest city, Milwaukee.
Trump was holding a rally at the same venue where he celebrated the Republican nomination in the summer and gave a triumphant acceptance speech just days after the 78-year-old narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
Harris – who only entered the race in July after President Joe Biden dropped out amid fears his mental acuity was declining – was to join star rapper Cardi B in the latest series of high-energy rallies.
But ahead of major campaign events, Harris criticized Trump for using “violent rhetoric” when discussing one of his main critics in the Republican Party.
“Trump has suggested that rifles be trained on former Representative Liz Cheney,” Harris told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin.
“It should be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be president of the United States and makes this kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unfit to be president.”
– Guns ‘trained on his face’ –
As the contest draws to a close, Trump has stepped up his inflammatory rhetoric to rile up the base he needs to reach in large numbers.
Wisconsin is part of the Democrats’ “blue wall” across the Midwest, but the region could go either way – and with it the presidency.
Another path to victory could run through the Southern and Western “Sun Belt” swing states, where both Trump and Harris campaigned on Thursday.
At an event in Arizona on Thursday with right-wing influencer Tucker Carlson, Trump called Harris, 60, an “idiot” and Biden a “stupid bastard.”
He also claimed, without evidence, that elections were already being rigged in the biggest swing state, Pennsylvania – reinforcing expectations that, like in 2020, he would refuse to accept the results if he lost. .
But it was his comments about Cheney, once a senior Republican leader and now Harris supporter, that sparked the most controversy.
Citing her aggressive foreign policy views, Trump invoked the image of Cheney, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney who was shot.
Trump said, “She’s a radical pro-war. Let’s set her up with a nine-barreled rifle pointed at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when guns are pointed at her.” are pointed at the face.”
Cheney responded, “That’s how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten anyone who speaks against them with death.”
Harris came forward in his defense, warning that Trump is “a man who regards his political opponents as the enemy, is permanently out for revenge and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.”
Exacerbating tensions, social media is awash with disinformation that officials say is fueled by Russian operatives and amplified by American right-wing influencers — including Trump ally Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and the founder of the X platform. The owners are also included.
Much of Musk’s efforts involve promoting lies about noncitizen immigrants voting.
Trump on Friday specifically stopped in Dearborn, Michigan, the country’s largest Arab-American city, where outrage over Israel’s war in Gaza has driven many Muslims away from the Democratic Party — something Trump is hoping to take advantage of. Are.
After meeting supporters at an upscale halal restaurant, Trump confirmed to reporters that vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would play a “big role” in health care if Trump is elected.
– Jobs Surprise –
Harris is running on warnings about an authoritarian Trump takeover, promising to help the middle class, and pushing against Republican abortion restrictions.
Trump has focused his campaign on stoking fears about immigrant violence and pessimism on the economy.
Economists say the US economy is actually in strong shape with low unemployment and strong growth, shrugging off the traps of the previous Covid pandemic.
The Wall Street Journal, a major daily read by many conservatives, offered a very positive assessment on Thursday, saying, “The next president inherits a remarkable economy.”
However, data released Friday showed job growth in October was much lower, hurting the Democratic message. Economists said the jobs slowdown was a shock, caused by the impact of the hurricane and the strike at Boeing.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
