Kamala Harris seeks to define herself on media, Trump pegs her to Biden policies

With Ms. Harris acquiring a slight lead in several polls this week, her campaign continues to paint Mr. Trump as a danger to the U.S. Constitution and as unfit for office on the basis of his character.

With less than a month to go for the  U.S. elections, Democratic candidate and Vice President, Kamala Harris, has been engaged in an unusual spate of media interviews. Ms. Harris, who has not held a formal press conference since she became the presumptive nominee for her party at the end of July, is racing to let voters get better acquainted with her.  Her Republic opponent, Former President  Donald Trump, is much more of a known quantity. While Ms. Harris seeks to more clearly define her positions,  the other side has  stepped up its efforts to crystallize their definition of her – pegging Ms Harris to the Biden administration’s policies.

In addition to responding to the Harris interviews these past few days, the Trump campaign’s recent emphasis has included making unsubstantiated claims about  Hurricane Helene, which has killed more than 200 people. Mr. Trump and his supporters have claimed that the government has run out of money for relief and that funds are being diverted to migrants rather than hurricane victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s chief  and several Republican lawmakers are among those who have pushed back against these claims.

With Ms. Harris acquiring a slight lead in several polls this week, her campaign is trying to show more of what she stands for, while also focusing  on who she is standing against – by continuing to paint Mr. Trump as  a danger to the U.S. Constitution and as unfit for office on the basis of his character.

 In her appearance on  The View, one of the hosts  said, “When people say they don’t know enough about her, I say, just look at the opponent.” However, there appears to be a sense in the Harris campaign that this will not be enough. Ms. Harris’s media appearances were designed to cater to different segments– including independents, undecided and Republican voters

On the Call Her Daddy podcast, whose listeners are mostly young women, The Vice President spoke about agency and reproductive rights. She did an interview with Howard Stern, whose listeners include married white males;  she appeared with a panel of women on ABC’s The View and  CBS’s  ‘60 Minutes’, which both parties’ candidates have traditionally appeared on for decades.

Last week, Ms. Harris campaigned with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party. This week, she signaled that she had become more moderate in her positions. On ’60 Minutes’ she provided more details about her gun ownership and said, as she has done before, that she had sought “common ground” in backing away from a fracking ban and in adopting more hardline positions  on illegal migration. On ‘The View’ she said she planned to appoint a Republican to her cabinet.

The Trump campaign meanwhile has amped up its linking of Ms Harris to administration policies.

Creating distance between herself and Mr. Biden’s policies might have, however, become harder for Ms. Harris, when she said on The View that she would not have done anything differently from the current President (with the exception of appointing a Republican to her cabinet). 

Mr. Trump, who has previously responded to his opponents with  sexist and personal insults -  called Ms Harris’s statement “Election Defying” as he referred to the “dumb women” on the show. He  also called Mr .Stern a “beta male”.

While Ms. Harris deployed Ms. Cheney, Mr. Trump deployed Elon Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of social media site X. Appearing at Mr Trump’s rally in Butler County , Pennsylvania, last Saturday, Mr. Musk said “the other side [ Democrats ] wants to take away your freedom of speech” , adding that the U.S. Constitution’s   Second Amendment (right to bear arms) was there to protect the First Amendment (freedom of expression).   

Mr. Trump’s campaign and his supporters have argued that Democrats, including Ms. Harris, want to clamp down on the freedom of expression , based on comments Democrats have made in the context of curbing misinformation and hate speech.

Mr. Musk has also taken it upon himself to drive voter registration in favour of Republicans. He announced an offer of $47 to each person who could get a swing state registered voter to sign a petition supporting the First Amendment  and Second Amendment in a swing state.

Mr. Musk recently said in an October 7 interview with Tucker Carlson that if Mr. Trump did not win in November, it would be “the last election”.  According to Mr. Musk, a Harris administration would end the notion of ‘Swing States’ by flooding them with illegal migrants, who would eventually become citizens and vote for the Democratic Party.

Mr .Trump, however, has already suggested that this will be the last election if he does win. Addressing Christians at a Florida event on July 28 he had said,  “In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”

Published - October 10, 2024 09:34 am IST