Kamala Harris on Thursday criticized Donald Trump for “very offensive” comments about women and said his misogyny has no place in 21st century America, just days before the election.
With each candidate looking for even the slightest advantage, they took their knife-edge White House race to Western battleground states, focusing on immigration and wooing Latinos five days before the polls closed on Nov. 5.
At one of three stops in the West, Trump addressed supporters in the border state of New Mexico and painted a dark picture of immigration, saying migrants are “spurning violent killings across America.”
There is no evidence of a migrant crime wave in the United States.
As the Democratic vice president and the Republican former president chase each other through seven swing states that decide the election, Harris is delivering a more upbeat message with her final stop of the day at a star-studded rally in Las Vegas. , where she was introduced by pop maven Jennifer Lopez.
Harris took aim at Trump’s comments when he said at Wednesday’s rally that he wanted to “protect” American women “whether women like it or not.”
He described the comments as “offensive to everyone”.
‘Yes we can’
In Las Vegas, she slammed Trump as a man who “doesn’t respect women’s freedom or women’s intelligence to be able to make decisions about their own lives.”
“And we know that if elected, he would ban abortion nationwide, restrict access to birth control, jeopardize IVF treatment and make it mandatory for states to monitor women’s pregnancies. Listen to this.”
Since the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal rights to abortion in 2022, reproductive rights have served as a rallying cry for Democrats — and a kind of Achilles’ heel for Trump. .
Polling for this year’s election shows a wide gender gap, with female voters leaning toward Harris, and Trump receiving more support from men, so abortion could play a decisive role in the outcome.
Trump’s three stops were characterized by his now-usual stream of insults, which included Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Harris.
“He destroyed our economy,” Trump said, referring to the period that, contrary to his criticism, saw strong US growth, low unemployment and increased consumer confidence, despite voters’ concerns about high prices. Is.
In what was billed as an interview with right-wing provocateur Tucker Carlson, Trump again got personal, calling the vice president “a man with a low IQ… dumb as a rock.”
Carlson, who once messaged a colleague that he hated Trump “passionately”, gave a warm introduction to the former president, saying he would proudly vote for him.
‘I like Hispanics’
Trump is betting that disappointment over the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policy will swing the border state of Arizona back in his favor, since Biden defeated Trump there in 2020.
However, her appearance in New Mexico was shocking, given that polls showed Harris would carry the state. Yet he attracted Hispanic voters there.
“I like Hispanic people. They’re hard-working people,” Trump said. said Trump, who faced protests from Puerto Ricans after a warm-up speaker made racist remarks at a rally earlier in the week. “And they’re hot – sometimes they’re very hot, if you want to know the truth.”
On Thursday night, J.Lo became the latest person of Puerto Rican heritage to take a dig at Trump.
“He reminded us who he really is and how he really feels,” she told the cheering crowd.
“It wasn’t just the people of Puerto Rico that were angry that day, okay? Every Latino person in this country, anyone with humanity and decent character was angry.”
Latinos have traditionally aligned more with Democrats, but recent polling shows a noticeable trend toward Republicans.
In Nevada, Trump also confirmed he is suing US television network CBS for $10 billion over an interview Harris gave this month on its flagship news show, “60 Minutes”.
According to the complaint, Harris gave a confusing answer to a question on the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, and CBS edited the answer to cover “word salad.”
Trump – whose own rhetoric has at times been overshadowed by the press in a way that some have dubbed an “amendment” – has called it “election interference fraud.” CBS has denied the allegation.
The latest New York Times/Siena poll shows Harris with 52 percent support among Hispanic voters, while Trump has 42 percent.
More cat-and-mouse campaigning is underway Friday in Wisconsin, where both candidates will hold rallies in Milwaukee.
About 63.5 million Americans have cast their ballot early, more than 40 percent of total 2020 voting.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
