Donald Trump labelled Vice President Kamala Harris a “crazy liberal” while she vowed to overcome his “baseless lies” as the two attacked the presidential campaign on Saturday just 100 days before election day.
Trump gathered supporters in Minnesota on Saturday evening after addressing a bitcoin conference in Tennessee, aiming to turn the historically Democratic midwestern state into a battleground state.
“This November, the American people are going to reject Kamala Harris’s crazy liberal extremism by a landslide,” the Republican told the crowd gathered at the hockey arena.
He immediately took aim at several positions Harris adopted during her 2020 Democratic primary campaign, some of which she later walked back, such as her desire to ban fracking or make sweeping changes to the criminal justice system.
Calling Harris a “radical left wing lunatic,” Trump also criticized her and President Joe Biden’s records on illegal immigration, inflation and crime — all of which had seen significant surges during his tenure but have returned to historical averages in recent months.
In his 90-minute speech, the popular billionaire also reiterated pledges to conduct the “largest deportation effort” in U.S. history and end taxes on tips, while repeating baseless allegations that his 2020 election defeat was “rigged.”
Meanwhile, Harris held a fundraising event in Massachusetts on Saturday with celebrity guests including singer-songwriter James Taylor and cellist Yoyo Ma.
“We’re behind in this race, but this is a people-powered campaign,” he told the crowd at the event. His campaign said it would raise $1.4 million.
“Donald Trump is telling some lies about my record. And some of the things he and his fellow candidates are saying are just bizarre,” he said.
The Harris campaign has adopted the word “weird” as a new term to describe Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.
His attacks, repeated Saturday, included the accusation that Harris wants to legalize the killing of newborn babies — a falsehood that stems from the vice president’s strong support of abortion rights.
Harris has made her advocacy on the issue a centerpiece of her campaign against Trump, whose three conservative Supreme Court nominees in 2022 have helped erode the national right to the process.
Trump on Saturday thanked all six conservative justices by name “for the wisdom and courage they showed on this longstanding, very controversial issue.”
Harris, a former California prosecutor, also challenged Trump to a debate after his campaign said this week that he would not agree to a previously scheduled televised face-off with Biden on Sept. 10.
“I hope he will reconsider it, because we have a lot to talk about,” he said.
‘Mined, Molded, Made’
Trump, 78, is now the oldest major party nominee in history and is struggling to contend against a candidate two decades younger than him, as he faces 81-year-old Biden, who has been plagued by concerns about his physical frailty.
On Saturday, he addressed the cryptocurrency industry, which he has previously called a “scam.”
Trump’s appeal has been welcomed by crypto enthusiasts, who said China or other countries could take over the reins of the fast-growing sector that feels it has been treated harshly by the Biden administration.
He enthusiastically stated, “If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, produced, and manufactured in the United States.” He called for the United States to become the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Trump also vowed to return to outdoor rallies on Saturday, two weeks after he was wounded in an assassination attempt at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
He has made the shooting incident a key part of his campaign, telling supporters that he “took a bullet for democracy.”
Harris, seeking to become the first female president in US history, has been tasked with mounting a swift campaign against her opponent, who has been in a near-perpetual re-election position since he became president in 2016.
Her late bid for the White House has taken an early lead. Polls previously showed Biden trailing Trump, but Harris is now practically neck-and-neck.
He has received endorsements from Democratic heavyweights, including Biden himself and, more recently, Barack and Michelle Obama.
Toriana Parrish, 34, was among the crowd welcoming Harris upon her arrival at Westfield Airport in Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon.
“I wanted to show that there’s power in numbers. I wanted to show my support,” she said.
“We are in support of him and we want him to make this country what it needs to be.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
