CNN
—
Donald Trump is trying to shatter Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ persona as a transformative force and destroy her personal credibility as a presidential candidate as his novice rival enters the final nine weeks before Election Day.
The former president has made it clear in recent days that he is prepared to launch broader attacks, drawing on the politics of insult that brought him to power in 2016, but his advisers have pleaded with him to focus on voters’ biggest concerns, such as high prices and immigration.
He has seized on foreign tragedies, blaming his vice president for the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and alleging her complicity in the murder of hostages in Gaza. He and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have implied that her mixed race (a ancestry shared by millions of Americans) is evidence of a sinister “chameleon” personality that also explains his shifts in energy and immigration policy. In ugly moments, he has amplified sexual slurs against her on social media. And his dark campaign ads claim she will cut Social Security benefits by welcoming millions of illegal immigrants into the country.
And in a repeat of past campaigns where Republicans have branded Democratic candidates as far-fetched liberals, Trump and his supporters are trying to paint Harris as a communist and a “Bolshevik.” South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has blasted Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, as a “security risk” because he once taught in China. Trump has also begun to suggest the upcoming election may not be “free and fair,” saying in an interview aired Sunday that it would be absurd to indict him for “interfering” with the 2020 election. This and other recent comments have fueled fears that the national nightmare will repeat itself if Trump loses in November and doesn’t concede.
Desperate for support, Trump has toyed with reproductive rights policies in an attempt to close a large gender gap in the polls. But after building a conservative majority on the Supreme Court and overturning constitutional abortion rights nationwide, Trump’s credibility may already be crumbling. Vance also seems to have a knack for alienating female voters, as he did when he likened Harris to a nervous Miss Teen USA contestant.
Trump isn’t just undisciplined and true to himself. His bold attempt to shatter Harris’s expectations also shows the Trump campaign’s frustration that she is differentiating herself from her boss and presenting a fresher alternative than her 78-year-old Republican rival. And Trump is showing there’s little he won’t do to win.
Trump’s denunciation was one of his strongest political statements in years, even by his own standards, and means the next two months are likely to be tough.
The question is whether this barrage of negative attacks is simply succeeding in stoking the existential rage that Trump uses to boost his supporters’ votes, or whether it will begin to erode Harris’ reputation in the battleground states’ narrow margins.
It may make sense for Trump to try everything he can with Harris: in two presidential elections, the former president has never won more than 49% of the national popular vote, either in the so-called blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. So Trump’s chances of winning in November may depend more on destroying the current favorability surrounding Harris and undermining her support among the few persuadable voters in battleground states than on keeping alive any hope of winning over new voters for himself.
But Trump’s actions carry their own risks, and his actions last week, such as the illegal act of smiling and giving a thumbs up during a campaign photo op at Arlington National Cemetery, may confirm Harris’ warning that Americans are yearning for a chance to move beyond the bitterness and turmoil of the Trump era.
Though Harris has brought the race back to a close contest, her campaign knows that Trump remains a big threat. “Make no mistake: the next 65 days will be extremely tough,” Harris campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillion wrote in a weekend memo, even as she argued that the vice president has multiple paths to the White House. “This race will remain extremely close and it will take an extraordinary effort to win over the voters who will decide this election.”
Harris campaigned in Detroit and with Biden in Pittsburgh to mark Labor Day on Monday, reflecting the importance of union members. Blue-collar workers have traditionally voted Democrat, but Trump’s cultural shift in the Republican Party is now appealing to many of them, especially in rural areas. And her appearance in the Steel City with Biden foreshadowed how the lame-duck president could help her campaign in states and voting demographics where he remains popular.
The development comes a week before a crucial showdown between Ms Harris and Mr Trump is scheduled for a debate in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 and is one of the final predictable turning points in the race, which also sees mail-in voting begin later this week.
Trump’s fierce political onslaught is a warning of things to come for Harris, and underscores how difficult it will be to extend the run that saw her surprise candidacy, Waltz’s selection and a successful convention. But the former president’s intensity also signals the failure of earlier attempts to cast Harris in a negative light, which is reflected in favorable polling nationally and in battleground states.
Harris has been criticized by Republicans for lacking policy specifics and reversing her positions on fracking and immigration. But her centrist stances have also appeared to pressure Trump and thwart his efforts to launch a decisive political attack. Her decision to tackle rising food prices and vow to crack down on major supermarket chains may be why she has narrowed the gap with Trump in who is most trusted on economic issues.
The furor over Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week also showed that the former president’s hardline stance could be damaging not only to her but also to Trump.
Trump’s memorial to 13 U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide bombing amid a chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 highlighted one of the Biden-Harris administration’s darkest moments. The vice president took part in Situation Room meetings about the crisis, but because Biden was commander in chief at the time, it is not yet clear whether Trump will be able to hold her personally responsible for the deaths in voters’ minds.
Harris took action against Trump’s Afghanistan strategy, posting on social media that he “disrespected a sacred site for political stunts” by filming a campaign video at the cemetery — part of a pattern of belittling the sacrifices of American soldiers. Trump responded by posting a video in which some of the families of fallen soldiers accused Harris and Biden of participating in the murders of their loved ones and supporting Trump.
The horrific incident demonstrated Trump’s willingness to cross lines that traditional politicians would consider off-limits. Some voters may think Trump is honoring fallen soldiers, while others may agree with Harris that Trump is exploiting Americans who died in foreign wars for political gain.
On other issues, Harris has refused to get drawn into a political fight with Trump that could tarnish her image. For example, in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Dana Bash last week, Harris was asked about Trump’s claim that she “happened to be black” for political reasons. “It’s the same old platitude. Next question please,” Harris replied.
But Harris’ campaign has jumped on the argument that Trump did nothing wrong in 2020. In an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday, the former president said, “Have you ever heard of someone being indicted for interfering in a presidential election? You have a right to do that.”
Harris-Waltz spokeswoman Sarafina Chitica folded his remarks into the campaign’s broader argument that it’s time to leave Trump’s authoritarian instincts behind. “The American people want a new way forward, and they know that Vice President Harris is the tough prosecutor we need to end chaos, fear and division and uphold the rule of law,” Chitica said.
The exchange encapsulates the gamble at the heart of the race’s grueling final stages: Trump is committed to a ferocious attempt to do whatever it takes to oust Harris, while the vice president is betting that his extreme efforts will convince enough voters that he is unfit to return to the Oval Office.