Trump hails the 'tissue' as Harris heads to Fox

Kathleen William October 16, 2024

CNN
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Donald Trump is trying to claw his way back to power while Kamala Harris finally dares to go off script as Democrats worry about her campaign.

The Republican and Democratic candidates offered voters an unusually self-reflective glimpse into their characters on Tuesday as they pursued dwindling numbers of undecided voters in their neck-and-neck race that goes down to the wire.

Trump, who had just spent a bizarre half-hour at a town hall on Monday dancing on stage to his campaign soundtrack, made a clumsy attempt to repair his damaged reputation among female voters. “I am the father of IVF,” said the former president, whose conservative majority on the Supreme Court unleashed chaos in reproductive health care.

And in a testy appearance at the Economic Club of Chicago, he made a virtue of his frequent incoherence, describing it as a sophisticated “weave” of multiple ideas that only a political genius would tackle. And he tried to reframe the story of his attempt to steal the 2020 election by declaring that his crowd in Washington on January 6, 2021 was filled with “love and peace.”

Harris also sought a second chance with a key voting bloc cool to her campaign. As she seeks to become the first black female president, she is courting black male voters who were rebuked last week by former President Barack Obama for flirting with Trump. In an interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, the vice president further escalated her attacks on her rival, branding him “weak” for befriending dictators and agreeing with the host that his political creed is linked to “fascism.” should be equated.

While Trump flaunted his expansive rhetorical style, Harris dismissed suggestions that she was being too scripted. “That’s what you would call discipline,” Harris said in the radio interview.

Van Jones responds to Harris' Radio Town Hall with Charlamagne tha God

But as Democrats panic about Trump's possible return to the White House, Harris is beginning to embrace more spontaneous events.

She took the rare step of answering questions on the town hall-style radio show — and got some tough questions about her involvement with the black church and the economic issues facing black voters. On Wednesday, Harris will venture into the lion's den on Fox News, hoping to reach another key group of voters. The appearance on the pro-Trump network is part of their attempt to give Republicans dissatisfied with the ex-president a reason to vote for the Democrats.

With Trump trying to make up for his deficit among women and Harris belatedly trying to shore up support among black men, the fight for the world's most powerful political post looks less like a showdown and more like a battle between two candidates who know , how to mitigate their weaknesses is the key to victory.

With swing state polls deadlocked, the election could come down to a few thousand votes in a few battleground states, leaving both Harris and Trump to seek out people who agree with them but often don't vote.

This election was a story of unexpected events, including a convicted felon who survived two assassination attempts, an aging president who abandoned his bid for a second term a few months before Election Day, and a vice president who launched an eleventh-hour mission to save the country ceded the White House to a rival whom Democrats view as a would-be tyrant.

Polls show where Harris and Trump stand in Georgia

But the extraordinary amount at stake — and the power of democracy — became starkly clear Tuesday when more than 300,000 voters showed up in key battleground Georgia on the first day of early voting, breaking a record. In the Peach State's recent election, high voter turnout would be a good sign for Democrats. But despite Trump's insistence that all voting should take place on Election Day, the GOP has asked its voters to show up early, so it's too early to draw conclusions about who will show up.

Gabriel Sterling — the chief operating officer of Georgia's secretary of state who played a key role in debunking Trump's election lies four years ago — argued that democracy is alive and well in his state. “For those who claimed Georgia’s election laws are Jim Crow 2.0 and those who say democracy is dying … Georgia voters would like to have their say,” he said.

Trump shows his risks and his appeal

In Chicago, Trump demonstrated exactly what he would bring to the Oval Office in a second term, promising an aggressive program to punish countries and companies with draconian tariffs.

He also recalled his wild years as president. He was insensitive to facts, routinely ignored economic logic, and appeared steeped in personal grievances and conspiracy theories.

But Trump also showed why he attracts so many voters who believe they have been failed by an economy run by business elites for their own benefit. He posed as a proud populist and made his interviewer, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, an avatar of the elite business establishment. When the British-born journalist said it was “simple math” that tariffs would increase costs for businesses and consumers, Trump went on the attack, saying: “You've been wrong on this issue your whole life.”

Trump also once again refused to disavow Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom he often deferred while in office. Asked about Bob Woodward's report that he had spoken to the autocrat several times since leaving the White House, Trump said: “I'm not commenting on that. But I tell you it would be a wise thing if I had.”

Woodward recounts what General Milley told him about Trump

The interview was a classic example of Trump mocking the truth and destroying traditional voting conventions. He amassed a barrage of falsehoods and digressions that made him impossible to pin down, and virtually evaded responsibility.

Trump later recorded a Fox News town hall video with female voters, which will air in full on Wednesday. “I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear that question,” Trump said during the event recorded in Georgia. He added: “We really are the party for IVF. We want fertilization and that's all, and the Democrats have tried to attack us on that, and we're even more pro-IVF than they are. So we’re all for it.”

Trump has previously suggested that the government or insurance companies cover the costs of IVF treatments – without providing further details. But Harris and Democrats have warned that a Republican victory next month would jeopardize IVF treatments and other reproductive rights after the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion.

Trump trails Harris in most polls among female voters and desperately needs to narrow that gender gap in the next 20 days.

The vice president faces similar challenges with black men. While this is a cohort that has generally voted Democratic, there have been signs of erosion in recent cycles — a trend that Trump has worked to encourage.

But Harris countered Charlamagne Tha God's “The Breakfast Club,” saying black voters need to think carefully about the future.

“When you vote in this election you have two choices, or you don't vote, but you have two choices if you do, and they are two very different visions for our nation,” Harris said, cautioning as she often does before another Trump presidency would “take us backwards.”

And she went even further than before in categorizing the threat she said was embodied by the ex-president, who suggested over the weekend that he would deploy the military against “enemies from within.” The show's host said that one choice Trump represents is “fascism,” adding, “Why can't we just say that?”

Harris replied: “Yes, we can say that.”