Trump calls Kamala Harris 'radical left lunatic' in first rally since Biden bowed out

WASHINGTON: US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jul 24) attacked his new Democratic rival Kamala Harris as the "ultra-liberal driving force" who should be held responsible for the Biden administration’s policies on immigration.

Trump addressed a North Carolina rally three days after President Joe Biden abruptly dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Harris, his vice president, who has pulled in broad support across the Democratic Party and revitalised its election campaign.

Trump tried to quash some of that momentum in an aggressive speech at the rally, his first since Harris' emergence changed the race. "She is a radical Left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets elected," he said.

Trump routinely uses insults in attacking his opponents and made clear he planned to ignore advice that he take a softer line. "I'm not gonna be nice!" he told his cheering supporters in Charlotte.

Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, would become the first woman elected president if she prevails on Nov 5.

Trump's rally began two hours before Biden, 81, addressed the nation from the Oval Office to explain why he dropped out of the race under mounting pressure from fellow Democrats.

As his campaign signalled earlier this week, Trump focused his attack on Harris around the immigration issue.

"As border czar, Kamala threw open our borders that allowed 20 million illegal aliens to stampede into our country from all over the world," Trump said.

"I will terminate every single open border policy of the Biden-Harris administration and we will seal the border and we will stop Kamala Harris invasion without delay," the former president said.

Biden put Harris in charge of working with countries in Central America to help stem the tide of migration, but she was not given responsibility for border security nor was she named "border czar".

Trump also touched on abortion, an issue that Democrats had long seen abortion rights as a winning issue for them.

"When you compare my position on abortion to that of Kamala Harris, my position is eight points higher in the polls. And that's because she is so radical," he said.

Harris has served as point person for the Biden administration on the issue of abortion, which is expected to become even more central to the campaign with her at the top of the ticket.

"PASS THE TORCH"

Biden's decision to bow out followed a disastrous June debate with Trump that exacerbated questions about his ability to win the election or to serve another four years if he succeeded.

“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation,” Biden will say, according to excerpts of his planned address released by the White House.

Biden plans to say that he intends to focus on his work as president in the six months left in his term.

"That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families and grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights – from the right to vote – to the right to choose,” according to his prepared remarks, outlining some themes that Harris is expected to build her campaign around.

The president returned to Washington on Tuesday afternoon after isolating with COVID-19 at his home in Delaware, where he made the announcement that he was ending his campaign.

NOMINATION PLAN

The Democratic National Committee's rules committee agreed on Wednesday on a plan to formally nominate Harris as soon as Aug 1 - before the party's Aug 19-22 convention in Chicago - with Harris picking a running mate by Aug 7.

Earlier on Wednesday, the 59-year-old vice president called on a rally of more than 6,000 Black women in Indianapolis to help her revitalise the Democratic campaign.

Harris spoke at an event in Indianapolis hosted by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, which was founded at Howard University, the historically Black college she attended. She hopes to tap sororities' multi-generational network of Black women - who played an important role in Biden's 2020 victory - to deliver strong voter turnout for Democrats again in November.

"I thank you. And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again," Harris said.

Trump, coming off a triumphant week in which his party unified around his presidential bid after a failed assassination attempt two weekends ago, has had to watch as Biden's sudden departure from the race shifted the narrative and sparked a surge of attention toward Harris at his expense.

Harris and Trump are closely competitive, public opinion polls showed this week.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday showed Harris with a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Trump, 44 per cent to 42 per cent. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS showed Trump leading Harris, 49 per cent to 46 per cent. Both findings were within the polls' margins of error.

Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a memo made public on Wednesday that Democrats would aim to compete in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, opening up a map that in the final weeks of Biden's campaign had appeared to be more focused on the Midwest.

"This race is more fluid now – the vice president is well-known but less well-known than both Trump and President Biden, particularly among Dem-leaning constituencies," O'Malley Dillon wrote.

The Harris campaign on Wednesday said it has raised US$126 million since Sunday, with 64 per cent of donors making their first contribution of the 2024 campaign.