() – Donald Trump is conjuring up a vision of an extreme new term in the White House that would transform America and shake the world.
And Vice President Kamala Harris has just three weeks to avoid it, as she fights to regain momentum in a tight race until Election Day.
The Republican candidate is escalating the most toxic anti-immigrant rhetoric in modern American history, warning that foreigners with “bad genes” have “invaded” the country after falsely claiming that Haitian immigrants who are here legally eat pets in Ohio. At a rally in Arizona this Sunday, Trump baselessly suggested that if Harris were elected, “the entire country will become a migrant camp.” In Colorado, two days earlier, he again promised to “begin the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States,” promising: “We will close the border. We will stop the invasion of illegals into our country. We will defend our territory. “We will not be conquered.”
And this weekend he stepped up his threats against his political opponents, saying on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he could turn the military against the “enemy within.” The former president, who incited violence to try to stay in power after the 2020 elections, also he said at a rally on Saturday that a provocateur exercising the right to freedom of expression should “be eliminated.”
In another preview of how he might use presidential power to satisfy his personal and political whims, Trump threatened this weekend to withhold federal disaster aid to Democratic-run California while falsely accusing Harris and the president Joe Biden to do the same with Republican districts affected by hurricanes.
Trump also said CBS should lose its license because he criticizes its editorial decisions regarding a Harris interview on “60 Minutes” in which she refused to participate. Meanwhile, Trump allies expressed concern about how a new administration might deal with big business by threaten to cancel Deloitte’s federal contracts after an employee apparently leaked Sen. JD Vance’s private messages critical of the former president.
And new details are emerging of the former president’s genuflection before foreign tyrants like Vladimir Putin after the Kremlin confirmed that Trump sent covid-19 tests to a Russian authoritarian who is a sworn enemy of the United States during a pandemic that he frequently downplayed.
History indicates that Trump doesn’t always act on everything he says, but his past behavior suggests his threats should be taken seriously.
and a Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents substantial immunity suggests few impediments to imperial executive power.
The increase in the Republican Latino vote is due to Trump’s myths and lies: Professor Laird W. Bergad
Trump’s deepening extremism is increasing the already enormous pressure on Harris. And a phalanx of senior Democratic leaders, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obamaare asking voters in key states, especially the Black and Latino voters Harris needs, not to let Trump come back.
The vice president sharpened her attacks on Trump this Sunday during a rally in North Carolina, criticizing him for not having published his medical history (just after issuing his own medical report) and for refusing to meet with her in a second debate and to be interviewed by “60 Minutes”.
“He’s not being transparent with voters… It makes you wonder why his staff wants him to hide. “You have to wonder if they are afraid that people will see that they are too weak and unstable,” he asked.
Fears are growing among Democrats that the euphoria over Harris’ entry into the race in July, her successful convention in August and her debate performance the following month have not yet translated into a decisive lead over Trump.
There is no clear leader in ‘s latest average of national polls, which includes tied polls from CBS, ABC and NBC released this Sunday. Even if Harris were to lead in national polls, there are fears that, like Hillary Clinton before her, she could win the popular vote but fall short in the Electoral College.
The tight race three weeks into the presidency shows that while Trump is an aberration from traditional presidential candidates, he offers something that millions of Americans want. Republicans maintain that the Harris-Biden policies caused a spike in inflation that the White House tried to downplay for months. Trump cites the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan to argue that the current White House is seen as weak around the world. And after failing to address the political ramifications of immigration early in Biden’s term, Democrats offered Trump a big break on a critical issue.
The close race also suggests that, despite Trump’s brazen extremism, Democrats have failed, for the third consecutive election, to present a candidate and a message that gives them any confidence about the outcome of the election. While progressives and moderates may be horrified by the authoritarian leadership Trump proposes, he is winning on what voters consistently say is the No. 1 election issue: the economy. In the ABC News/Ipsos poll, for example, 59% say it is getting worse, even though the labor market is strong, inflation is far from its highs and interest rates are falling.
At a time when the country is so moody, Harris’ vice presidency is a burden. And his failure, in a recent interview with the program “The View” on ABC, when proposing even one thing he would have done differently than Biden is a misstep that Trump will exploit until election day. Harris spelled out policies to help people buy and rent homes, to ease the cost of health care and to revive a bipartisan border bill that Trump rejected. But it remains difficult in his interviews to find a compelling reason for his campaign. Trump’s promise to deport immigrants, burn America’s trade competitors with tariffs, and fix a world that is spiraling out of control seems forceful by comparison, even if it is extreme.
Still, Democrats looking for reassurance might note that Trump tops out at 48% or lower in most polls. This implies that her usual ceiling in national elections remains in place, while Harris may still have room to grow. In the NBC News poll, 10% of voters said they might change their minds. And what the network called a “strip” had not yet been claimed. In states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, even late shifts in support could be decisive.
The final composition of the electorate will also be crucial. Will Harris’s emphasis on abortion rights, for example, generate a higher-than-expected turnout among women voters that could confound pollsters’ forecasts? Can he stop his opponent’s gains among black and Hispanic voters? Or will Trump tap into a new support group among Americans who agree with him on many issues but rarely vote?
He Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik he believes the election is a 50-50 race and that Harris stalled in the last 10 days while Trump gained some ground. He told political director David Chalian on the “ Political Briefing” podcast that the presidency may depend on which candidate ultimately presents himself as an agent of change.
The Trump campaign published a memo this Sunday stating that that question had already been answered. “She cannot convince voters that she is ‘the agent of change’ in the race, that she will be better on the economy, inflation, immigration, crime or improving people’s financial situation.” , the memo said. “The bottom line is that voters say President Trump will do a better job.”
But Sosnik said the campaign “will really come down to Harris whether she can withstand the pressure and scrutiny and whether she can create a permissions structure for people who don’t want to vote for Trump but are worried about Harris.” He warned: “They don’t feel like she’s given them enough reasons to vote for her… she’s not doing it right now.”
Harris’ task is complicated by the lack of opportunities to confront Trump directly. The former president, who spent weeks criticizing her for avoiding the press, rarely strays from his comfort zone of conservative media and Fox News, where he enjoys adulation rather than interrogation. He is avoiding a second presidential debate against Harris and walked out of an interview on “60 Minutes” before criticizing the vice president’s performance on the show. And whereas in 2016, when Trump rallies were hard to avoid on cable TV, they now rarely receive full coverage outside of conservative media, meaning many voters may not appreciate his extreme and increasingly disjointed
Obama seemed taken aback during a campaign appearance for Harris in Pennsylvania last week at Trump’s continued appeal to millions of voters. “There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks of anyone but himself,” Obama said. “Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to an end.”
But Trump, despite his two impeachments, his criminal conviction and his attempt to destroy democracy to stay in power, is back within reach of the presidency with a more radical agenda than before.
Sen. Chris Murphy has been sounding the alarm in recent days with a series of increasingly frenetic posts on criminals of the world,” Murphy wrote that such rhetoric presages “a dystopian country” with open-air prison camps and the rule of law suspended. “We cannot allow this to happen. “His vision of America is not America,” the Connecticut Democrat added.
Her post underscored what Harris represents to those who fear the very real prospect of Trump’s return.
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