Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have been ramping up personal attacks on each other as the White House rivals blitzed battleground states 16 days before the election. In Pennsylvania, Trump served fries at a McDonald’s as he sought to cast doubt on Harris’s biographical detail about having worked decades ago at the fast-food chain.
The US vice-president was in Georgia, where she tweeted that Trump was “exhausted, unstable, and unfit to be President of the United States”. Polls show the two locked in a razor-tight race across the country, including in the seven battleground states that could swing the election. Speaking in traditionally Republican-leaning Lancaster County on Sunday afternoon, Trump focused heavily on the economy and immigration – issues his campaign believes give him an edge with undecided voters.
“If you look at the polls, the biggest thing is the economy,” he said. “But I think this [the border] is bigger than the economy… that’s the number one thing people want to talk about. “Earlier in the day, Trump visited a McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he learned to make fries, dunking the wire basket in sizzling oil, and serving meals at a drive-through window.
The restaurant itself was closed to sit-in diners during Trump’s visit. “I like this job,” said the Republican, who is himself fond of Big Macs and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches. He again accused Harris of “lying” about having once worked at the fast-food chain. “I’ve now worked [at McDonald’s] for 15 minutes more than Kamala,” said Trump.
Harris spokesman Ian Sams told the BBC that Trump’s stunt was a sign of “desperation”. “All he knows how to do is lie,” he told the BBC. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.”
The campaign added that the vice-president had worked on the cash register, ice cream machine and fry machine at a McDonald’s on Central Avenue in Alameda, California, in the summer of 1983.McDonald’s placed an ad in the 1983 edition of the yearbook at a local high school, with pictures featuring a couple of students who worked there at the time.
The BBC has spoken to one of the students in the photos, who said he remembers a lot of people who worked alongside him at the restaurant more than 40 years ago, though he did not recall Kamala Harris being one of them. The New York Times, however, spoke to a high school friend of Harris, Wanda Kagan, who said she remembered the now-vice-president working at McDonald’s around that time.
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Trump’s Fiery Offensive
At a rally in Ohio, Donald Trump took aim at the Biden administration’s policies, particularly focusing his attacks on Vice President Harris, who has taken a more prominent role in the campaign in recent weeks. Speaking to a packed crowd of supporters, Trump criticized Harris for what he called “failed leadership” on issues like immigration, inflation, and crime, while casting her as unfit to assume the presidency.
“She’s been an absolute disaster as Vice President,” Trump said to roaring applause. “We’ve got inflation through the roof, our borders are wide open, and crime is out of control, and she’s done nothing but make things worse.”
Trump also accused Harris of being out of touch with working-class Americans, suggesting that her policies have done more to harm than help everyday people. “She’s all talk, no action,” he said. “She’s more focused on woke politics than on making America great again.”
The former president’s supporters have responded enthusiastically to his attacks, with many chanting slogans like “Lock her up!” during his speech. Trump has framed the 2024 election as a chance to “save America” from the policies of the Biden-Harris administration, casting his potential return to the White House as a necessary course correction for the country.
Harris Fires Back
Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is not holding back in her counterattacks. During a campaign stop in Wisconsin, Harris struck a defiant tone, accusing Trump of dividing the country and undermining democracy. Speaking to a crowd of supporters in Milwaukee, Harris framed the election as a battle for the soul of the nation and lambasted Trump for his role in the January 6th Capitol attack.
“Donald Trump wants to drag this country backward,” Harris told the cheering crowd. “He tried to overthrow our democracy once, and now he’s back, spreading fear and lies. But we’re not going to let him win.”
Harris’s campaign has made a point of emphasizing her leadership on key issues like reproductive rights, climate change, and voting access—areas where she contrasts sharply with Trump’s policies. “Donald Trump had his chance, and he failed,” Harris said. “He left us with a broken economy, a pandemic out of control, and a country more divided than ever. We can’t afford to go back.”
Harris also took aim at Trump’s recent campaign tactics, including his focus on personal attacks, calling it a sign of desperation. “He can throw all the insults he wants, but the American people see through it. They know that he’s the one who’s out of touch with what we need to move forward.”
Battleground Blitz
Both Trump and Harris are focusing heavily on swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia—states that were instrumental in deciding the 2020 election. These states, with their razor-thin margins, are once again at the center of the political battleground, and both campaigns are pouring resources into securing victory there.
Trump has been holding rallies almost daily, drawing large crowds and doubling down on his core message of economic populism, anti-immigration, and law and order. His campaign is banking on rekindling the enthusiasm that propelled him to victory in 2016, particularly among rural voters and the working class.
Harris, on the other hand, has been making stops at universities, community centers, and union events, focusing her messaging on coalition-building among young voters, women, and people of color. She has been hammering home the administration’s achievements, such as lowering prescription drug costs and expanding access to healthcare, while painting a stark picture of what a second Trump term could mean for civil rights and democracy.
A Testy Exchange on Policy
The bitter back-and-forth between the two candidates highlights the deep ideological divide between them. While Trump continues to hammer away at issues like inflation and border security, Harris is emphasizing the risks of extremism, reproductive freedom, and climate change. Each is playing to their base, with little common ground between their visions for America.
Polls suggest that the race remains tight, with many voters still undecided in key battleground states. Trump’s supporters see him as a return to strength and prosperity, while Harris’s supporters view her as a defender of progress and equality.
What’s at Stake?
The stakes could not be higher. With the country as polarized as ever, both Trump and Harris are betting on their ability to energize their bases while winning over a narrow slice of undecided voters in critical swing states.
For Trump, this campaign represents a chance at political redemption after his 2020 loss, and a path to reclaim the White House. For Harris, it’s an opportunity to prove herself as a leader who can carry on the Biden administration’s legacy while steering the nation into the future.
As Election Day draws closer, the bitter exchanges between the two candidates are likely to intensify, with each side viewing the other as an existential threat to the country’s future.
Voters in swing states are set to play a pivotal role in determining which vision for America will prevail in this fiercely contested election.
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