Former President Donald Trump tried to move past the controversy over racist comments at his rally at Madison Square Garden, downplaying a major speech Vice President Kamala Harris gave on Tuesday night by drawing attention to one of her biggest political vulnerabilities.
Trump unveiled a new campaign pledge at an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on Tuesday, pledging to seize the assets of drug cartels and gangs to provide compensation to victims. The president invited to the stage a woman whose daughter was murdered in a case in which two migrants have been accused of the murder.
The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign has been dogged by criticism over comments from Sunday’s rally in New York City — particularly a comedian’s labeling of Puerto Rico as an “island of trash” — that threatens to derail Trump’s campaign in its final full week before undermine election day. .
Harris has seized on the incident and again attacked Trump over the comments during an appearance on the radio program The Breakfast Club Tuesday morning, aiming to broaden her reach among both black and Latino voters.
The incident has reinforced Harris’ efforts to try to frame the election as a referendum on Trump rather than her current boss Joe Biden, as she prepares to deliver her closing argument in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening. She will speak from the same spot just south of the White House where Trump gathered supporters on January 6, 2021, before many of them stormed Capitol Hill.
Trump, meanwhile, is heading to the critical battleground of Pennsylvania to campaign, including a rally in Allentown — which has a sizable Puerto Rican population and a sitting mayor who is the first Latino to hold that office in the city.
Here’s everything that happens during the campaign on Tuesday:
Trump promises to seize cartel assets
Trump tried to undermine Harris’ closing argument by portraying the US as a nation overrun by migrants and crime and with a failing economy, summarizing the main themes of his stump speeches. At an event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the former president made a campaign pledge to seize the assets of criminal gangs and drug cartels to “establish a compensation fund to compensate victims of immigrant crime.” ”
“Something has to be done, and we are going to get it done,” he said, highlighting migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and violent crimes where the suspects or convicts are migrants.
Immigration is a major political burden for Harris, and polls show voters see it as one of the most important issues of the campaign.
Trump has sought to draw Harris into the administration’s fight on the issue and has pledged to complete construction of the border wall if elected and carry out mass deportations of illegal migrants.
His advisers have also pushed him to focus on the economy, the most important issue for voters. The Republican candidate, often prone to exaggeration, said Harris has “decimated the middle class.”
Harris campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a phone call Tuesday that the Democratic nominee’s speech will describe her values, lay out her plans for the American people, including how she will cut costs and ease pressure on household budgets. relieve. And she highlighted the location at the Ellipse, calling it “significant” to Harris’ closing message to voters.
“The backdrop of the White House — it’s really a reminder of the seriousness of the job, how much a president can do for good and for bad to shape the country and impact people’s lives,” she said. “But it is also a stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he has used his power for evil.”
Early voting is in full swing across the country and O’Malley Dillon said the campaign is seeing an increased turnout of supporters.
Outreach to Black, Latino voters
Harris on The Breakfast Club show on Tuesday revisited derogatory comments about Puerto Rico, saying she had met with leaders of the Puerto Rican community in the swing state of Pennsylvania to assure them of her commitment to the island, and highlighted economic policies that she promotes and which aims to bring private sector investment to the island.
The vice president is trying to counter the inroads Trump has made among black and Latino voters, especially men, who are reeling from the harsh effects of inflation and broader concerns about economic mobility. And she has enlisted former President Barack Obama to help.
“Black men are no different than any other voter. You have to earn their vote,” Harris said. She pushed back on the story that Black male voters feel like she isn’t speaking out about their concerns.
“The brothers don’t say that,” she said, citing an event at a Philadelphia barbershop where she met “incredible and distinguished men who are leaders in our community, small business and education.”
“Black men in particular who are at the rallies have been telling me lately, ‘Don’t listen to that,’” she added.
Obama has drawn criticism from some prominent black Americans – including The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God – after suggesting that black men were looking for excuses not to vote for a female candidate.
Washington Post controversy
Harris also addressed the controversy over The Washington Post’s decision to stop endorsing presidential candidates, sparking a firestorm that has led to multiple resignations and as many as 200,000 readers canceling subscriptions, according to NPR News. The editorial staff had prepared to support Harris.
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who owns the newspaper, defended the decision, claiming in an op-ed that he made the move to address what he called a “credibility gap” affecting the media, and emphasized that this had nothing to do with his business interests.
The Breakfast Club’s Harris called the decision disappointing, calling it another example of how wealthy interests are aligned with Trump.
“Look, they’re billionaires in Donald Trump’s club. That’s who’s in his club. That’s who he hangs out with, that’s what he cares about,” she said.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was released from prison after serving a four-month sentence for his contempt of Congress conviction after refusing to testify and hand over documents to a congressional committee investigating the riot in the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Bannon said on his War Room podcast that his time spent in prison “gave him power,” calling himself a “political prisoner.” He promised to focus on get-out-the-vote efforts in the final week of the election.
“We have to be maniacally focused on first making sure we’re not just cannibalizing the vote on game day,” Bannon said, pointing to data showing strong early turnout among registered Republicans in some swing states. “The mood on game day will be everything.”
The Republican operative’s comments underscore the uncertainty of making predictions based on early voting data, which shows only a snapshot of the party identification of voters who cast ballots before Election Day, but no information about which candidate is leading.
Bannon will also hold a news conference in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.
Although President Biden hasn’t spent much time on the trail in the final days of the campaign, he traveled to Baltimore on Tuesday to tout $3 billion in grants from the Environmental Protection Agency to fund new and greener equipment at ports.
The awards — including $147 million for Maryland — come after operations at the Port of Baltimore were paralyzed for nearly three months following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.
Biden praised efforts to clear the rubble from the collapse and reopen the port — and he urged lawmakers to approve funding to build a new bridge.
“We will not stop until a new bridge is fully completed,” Biden said, asking Congress to fully fund the project this year.
The president also used the port subsidies to bully Trump, saying the Inflation Reduction Act funds would also cover Puerto Rico.
“I would love to take that guy swimming,” Biden added, but it was unclear whether he was referring to Trump or the comedian at the Madison Square Garden rally who drew criticism for his comment about Puerto Rico.
Tuesday’s visit could also provide a boost for Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who is running against Republican former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan for the U.S. Senate.
Harris is also ramping up her media blitz with plans to do five interviews today ahead of her speech at the Ellipse, according to the campaign.
These interviews include four interviews on state television to reach voters in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh – major metropolitan areas in the northern Blue Wall states that provide her with a critical electoral path to the White House.
The vice president will also attend a Spanish radio interview with Rumba in Pennsylvania to reach Latino voters, including Puerto Ricans.
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, will appear on his podcast for an interview with comedian Joe Rogan on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Rogan, the world’s most popular podcaster, roped Trump in for a three-hour interview last Friday in which the two discussed the Republican candidate’s agenda and delved into a wide range of topics, including aliens and conspiracy theories.
Harris’ team has said that scheduling issues prevented her from appearing on Rogan’s show.
With help from Stephanie Lai, María Paula Mijares Torres and Michelle Jamrisko.
This article was generated from an automated feed from a news agency without any changes to the text.
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