United States Vice President Kamala Harris stated on Tuesday that the US is “absolutely” ready to elect its first woman president, but downplayed the historic nature of her candidacy, emphasizing that her goal is to move the country beyond Donald Trump’s presidency.
With just two weeks remaining before Election Day, both Harris and Trump are focusing their efforts on swing states, holding rallies and leveraging media appearances to gain an edge in what polls suggest is a close race.
When asked on NBC whether America was prepared to elect its first female president, Harris responded, “absolutely,” but highlighted that her candidacy is more about “turning the page.” She added, “People are exhausted with Donald Trump and his approach, because it’s all about himself.”
Meanwhile, Trump, speaking to his supporters at a rally in North Carolina, presented a starkly different message.
“This election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence, failure, and disaster, or whether we’ll begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” he declared, met with cheers from the crowd. He also repeatedly called Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, “stupid.”
The campaign is being overshadowed by rising tensions and fears of potential violence or Trump’s refusal to accept the election results if he loses, as he continues to dispute his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Harris acknowledged these concerns in her NBC interview, saying her campaign is “of course” prepared for the possibility that Trump might prematurely declare victory before all votes are counted.
Biden, who has played a relatively minimal role in Harris’s campaign, took a jab at Trump on Tuesday by reworking Trump’s 2016 anti-Hillary Clinton chant of “Lock her up.” While visiting New Hampshire, Biden told a small crowd, “We got to lock” Trump up, before quickly adding, “politically lock him up.”
As Trump faces multiple criminal charges while campaigning to succeed Biden, the White House has remained careful not to comment on the Republican candidate’s legal troubles. However, Trump’s campaign responded by accusing Biden and Harris of having a “plan all along… to politically persecute their opponent.”
Already, about 18 million Americans have voted, either by mail or in person, representing more than 10 percent of the total voter turnout in 2020. Some recent polls show Trump, who at 78 is the oldest nominee in U.S. history from a major party, with a slight lead, though all results remain within the margin of error.
Regardless of the outcome, the 2024 election is poised to make history. Voters will either elect the country’s first woman president or its first convicted felon to the White House.
Harris, 60, has enlisted the support of two of her party’s most influential figures, Barack and Michelle Obama, to campaign for her. At a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, the former president attacked Trump with renewed vigor, urging voters, “Don’t boo, vote!”
Later that day, rapper Eminem added star power to Harris’s campaign by introducing Obama at a major event in Detroit, to which Obama humorously responded with a reference to the rapper’s hit song, “Lose Yourself.” “I don’t usually get nervous, but I was feeling some kinda way following Eminem,” Obama joked before reciting some of the song’s lyrics.
Meanwhile, Trump has increasingly leaned into conspiracy theories while campaigning, often targeting migrants and his political rivals.
Speaking to Latino leaders in Florida on Tuesday, he said, “As president, you have tremendous — it’s called extreme power. You have extreme power. You can, just by the fact, you say, ‘Close the border,’ and the border’s closed.”
In response, the Harris campaign has intensified its focus on Trump’s mental and physical fitness for office, attempting to sway moderate Republican voters. Adding to the criticism, former Marine General John Kelly, one of Trump’s top aides during his presidency, confirmed to The New York Times that he considered Trump to be a fascist.
She said, “Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Additionally, Joe Rogan, host of one of the most popular podcasts in America, announced that his interview with Trump will be released on Friday.
Non-traditional media outlets, including podcasts, have played a crucial role in this election, helping candidates reach targeted demographics, such as young women and Black men.