Harris and Trump's election campaign in important swing states – DW – October 22, 2024

Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both campaigned in battleground states on Monday, with less than two weeks left until the U.S. election.

Harris toured a trio of key swing states with Liz Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and two of the most high-profile Republicans to publicly endorse her and seek support from moderate Republican voters.

Trump won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin when he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, but lost all three states to Joe Biden in 2020.

Taking part again on November 5th would all but seal the victory of the Democratic candidate Harris.

What did Harris and Cheney say?

During one of her three “Town Hall” events with Cheney, moderated by a conservative radio host, in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Harris returned to her recent line of attack, questioning Trump's mental stability and fitness for office.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an untrustworthy man, but the consequences of being president of the United States are brutally serious,” Harris told the audience.

She also said that Trump “has been manipulated and obviously can be manipulated by favor and flattery, including by dictators and autocrats.”

Harris said if Trump won next month, Ukraine would likely fall to Russia. Foreign policy is an area in which Cheney often criticizes Trump.

Cheney, meanwhile, said during the event in Royal Oak, Michigan, that she had spoken to several Republicans who were concerned about Trump, who had also said in those statements, “I can't be public.” However, she expressed confidence that “they will do the right thing.”

“And I just want to remind people that if they're at all concerned, they can vote according to their conscience and never have to say a word to anyone,” Cheney said.

Trump fires “war hawk” Cheney and again criticizes hurricane response

Trump downplayed Cheney's appearances in online comments Monday, calling her a “war hawk.”

He accused Cheney, whose father is best known for his role in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during the George W. Bush administration, of being, like her father, whom he described, with “every Muslim country known to mankind.” wanted to go to war “The man who ridiculously pressured Bush to go to war in the Middle East.”

Trump made three stops in North Carolina – normally a relatively safe state for Republicans but an increasingly competitive state that Barack Obama claimed in his landslide victory in 2008 – as he continues to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

He again criticized the federal government's response to the storms, even after his earlier criticism drew rebukes from North Carolina Republicans like Chuck Edwards, who shared the stage with Trump as he made the renewed claims on Monday.

Asked whether his criticism was helpful, after Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees complained that local militias were hindering their work, Trump said he believed “you have to let people know how.” they are doing.”

“If they did a great job, I think we should say so because I think they should be rewarded,” he said. “If they do a bad job, shouldn’t we say so?”

“Central Park Five” announces defamation lawsuit over comments on Trump debate

Meanwhile, at Trump's New York base, the five black and Hispanic teenagers wrongly convicted of raping and killing a jogger in Central Park in 1989 said they would sue Trump over statements he made at the presidential debate last month.

The men, commonly known as the Central Park Five, spent between five and 13 years in prison before being acquitted in 2002 based on new DNA evidence and another person's confession.

Trump falsely claimed during the debate that the men had killed a person and pleaded guilty.

The young men confessed at the beginning of the investigation. They soon said they had done so under duress and, despite being convicted, pleaded not guilty in court.

A Trump campaign spokesman dismissed the defamation lawsuit as “just another frivolous election interference lawsuit from desperate left-wing activists.”

One of the plaintiffs' lawyers denied political motivation and said the men were seeking compensation for further damaging their reputations and for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on Trump.

Trump was vocal about the murder at the time and took out a full-page newspaper ad calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York.

When challenged on the issue in 2019, he refused to apologize or revise comments he made about the group before its exoneration.

msh/jsi (AFP, AP, Reuters)