Trump sharpens his weapons against new rival Kamala Harris

Donald Trump will address two campaign events on Wednesday, taking aim at new rival Kamala Harris – Copyright AFP/File Alex Wroblewski

Camille CAMDESSUS

Forced to formulate a new electoral strategy less than 100 days before the US presidential election, Donald Trump will take part in two campaign events on Wednesday, with new opponent Kamala Harris in his sights. 

The Republican’s race for the White House was thrown into chaos on July 21 when US President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy, backing Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee.

Trump had placed 81-year-old Biden’s health at the heart of his political campaign, portraying him as an enfeebled old man.

Now, he faces an entirely different candidate: the country’s first Black, woman and South-Asian-origin Vice President, who is almost two decades his junior. 

The change in candidate has forced Trump and the Republicans to change their strategy rapidly, and it appears that his campaign is still settling on a line of attack against her.

So far, he has described his rival as “Lying Kamala,” “Laughing Kamala” and “Crazy Kamala,” among other epithets. 

He has also taken sharper lines of attack against her. 

In North Carolina last week, Trump falsely accused the US vice president of being in favor of “the execution of a baby,” mischaracterizing her position on the wedge issue of abortion.

On Wednesday, Trump will fly to Chicago to participate in a roundtable discussion with African American journalists that will be devoted to “the most pressing issues facing the Black community.”  

According to his campaign, Trump will explain how he “accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history by implementing America First policies on the economy, immigration, energy, law and order, and foreign policy.”

Later in the day, the former president will hold a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a battleground state where he narrowly survived an assassination attempt earlier this month.

Saturday will see him head to Atlanta, Georgia, where he will appear in a campaign event alongside running mate J.D. Vance. 

The 39-year-old Ohio senator was once a staunch critic of Trump, but changed his tune to become one of his most vocal supporters. 

Since his selection as Trump’s running mate, a series of videos of controversial past statements have emerged.

In one of them, Vance mocks “childless cat ladies,” suggesting that those without children were less fit to govern as they were “miserable” and had no “direct stake” in the country.

In recent remarks to donors Vance described Harris’s entry into the race for the White House as a “sucker punch” for the Republican camp, according to US media.

Harris, who has criss-crossed Wisconsin, Georgia and Indiana in recent days, will be in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday evening to address a gathering of African-American students.