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Harris: Will 'Represent All Americans' 10/31 06:09
Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to "stop pointing fingers at
each other" as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden
about Donald Trump's supporters and "garbage " and keep the focus on her
Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to "stop
pointing fingers at each other" as she tried to push past comments made by
President Joe Biden about Donald Trump's supporters and "garbage " and keep the
focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
"We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a
decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of
each other," the Democratic nominee said.
Harris held rallies in a trio of battleground states as part of a blitz in
the closing week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North
Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.
She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech
Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the "closing
argument" of her campaign.
"I am not looking to score political points," the vice president said. "I am
looking to make progress."
As she waited for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, 35-year-old Liz Kazal
said she was "cautiously optimistic" about the election. She's tried to
volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking
on doors with her toddler daughter and raising money for Harris' candidacy.
"You hope for the best and plan for the worst," Kazal said.
Meanwhile, the White House rushed to explain that the president's comment
about "garbage" was a reference to rhetoric from Trump allies, not Trump's
supporters themselves. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden "does not
view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage."
The controversy began Tuesday -- at the same time Harris was speaking near
the White House -- when Biden participated in a campaign call organized by the
Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden used the opportunity to criticize
Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as
a "floating island of garbage."
"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His
demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American," Biden said.
"It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been."
Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to
Raleigh that she disagrees "with any criticism of people based on who they vote
for."
"I will represent all Americans, including those who don't vote for me," she
said.
Her words were an attempt to blunt the controversy over Biden's comments and
put some distance between herself and the president, something she has
struggled with in the past.
Republicans seized on Biden's comments, claiming they were an echo of the
time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of
Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables."
"We know what they believe. Because look how they've treated you," Trump
said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. "They've
treated you like garbage. The truth is, they've treated our whole country like
garbage."
He also said, "Without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than
Crooked Joe's," using his nickname for the president.
After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for another rally later in the day,
Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting
in the passenger seat of a garbage truck festooned with American flags and
campaign signs.
"How do you like my garbage truck?" Trump said as he took questions from
reporters.
"Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he's even doing,"
Trump said.
Travis Waters, 54, who attended Harris' second rally of the day in
Harrisburg, shrugged off the commotion over Biden's comments.
"Donald Trump has said so much about so many other groups and I don't hear
the media having the same outrage," Waters said.
In attacking Biden -- and by extension, Harris -- Republicans have glossed
over Trump's own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, such as calling
the United States a "garbage can for the world" or describing political
opponents as "the enemy within." Trump has also described Harris as a "stupid
person" and "lazy as hell," and he's questioned whether she was on drugs.
Trump has also refused demands to apologize for the comment about Puerto
Rico at his rally, acknowledging that "somebody said some bad things" but
adding that he "can't imagine it's a big deal."
Political attack lines have a history of occasionally boomeranging back on
people who use them. For example, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now Trump's running mate,
once described Democrats as beholden to "a bunch of childless cat ladies who
are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made."
Vance's 3-year-old comments resurfaced once he became the vice presidential
nominee, energizing Harris supporters who repurposed the label as a point of
pride on shirts and bumper stickers -- much like Trump's supporters once
cheerfully branded themselves as "deplorables."
At each of Harris' rallies, she was confronted by pro-Palestinian protestors
objecting to her support for Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
"We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out," Harris said
during one interruption in Madison.
Then she added, "Everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I'm
speaking."
The crowd roared in approval, drowning out another group of protestors who
unfurled a banner saying "No Funding for War Crimes."
With just days to go before the end of the campaign, many of Harris'
supporters were on edge. Holly Meyer, 65, said she was nervous as she attended
the Madison rally.
"But I'm also optimistic," she said. "People just seem to be energized by
Vice President Harris."
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