The Democrat continues to want to mobilize women by promising to restore the federal right to abortion. The Republican promises to put an end to an “invasion” of millions of illegal immigrants and to expel them.
Kamala Harris strongly responded Thursday to Donald Trump on the rights of women and immigrants, two crucial themes of a very tense American presidential campaign, where the Democratic candidate and her Republican rival are going blow for blow. Five days before an election with an unpredictable outcome and potentially violent consequences, the adversaries are engaged in a tight chase across the seven key states.
They were in two of them on Thursday, Nevada and Arizona (southwest), in particular to attract the Latin American electorate. In Las Vegas, the Democratic vice-president was supported by star Jennifer Lopez, facing an enthusiastic crowd chanting “If possible!” (Yes it's possible!), recalling the famous slogan «Yes we can» by Barack Obama.
Restoring the federal right to abortion
Kamala Harris, 60, continues to want to mobilize women by promising to restore the federal right to abortion, facing Donald Trump, 78, accustomed to sexist outings and sentenced in civil court in 2023 in New York to tens of millions dollars in compensation for sexual assault. “We know that this man simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to make decisions about their own lives”she tackled Thursday evening in Las Vegas. “And we know that if he were elected, he would ban abortion nationwide.”
His team circulated on Thursday a passage from a Donald Trump meeting the day before where he mocked his own advisers asking him to stop running in “protective” women. “I’m going to do it whether women like it or not.”Donald Trump replied. Her rival judged these remarks “very insulting”during meetings earlier in the day in Phoenix and Reno.
«Invasion»
Another central theme of the campaign: immigration. Donald Trump, a populist tribune with increasingly authoritarian and far-right rhetoric, once again promised during a meeting in Albuquerque (New Mexico), not far from Mexico, to put an end to a «invasion» millions of illegal immigrants and expel them.
An antiphon repeated in Glendale, Arizona, where he accused immigrants of having caused a wave of crime – which no official statistics show. “Prisons around the world are being emptied to be dumped in our country”he assured, depicting an America overwhelmed by “murderers” and the “drug traffickers”. According to him, the fault lies with Kamala Harris, a leader “stupid as his feet” and whose policy of “open border” with Mexico would have completely failed.
The billionaire continued to fuel the controversy of the week triggered on Sunday in New York by a Trumpist comedian who had described the American territory of Puerto Rico as“Floating Garbage Island”. President Biden responded by calling Donald Trump supporters“garbage”before Kamala Harris tried to correct the situation.
In Las Vegas, Kamala Harris received support from Puerto Rican superstar Jennifer Lopez, who used the controversy to call on all Latin Americans to vote Democratic. “It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that daylaunched the singer. It was all the Latinos in this country! It was humanity and every person of good morals!”
Earlier in Las Vegas, Donald Trump confirmed that he had taken legal action on Thursday regarding an interview given in early October by Kamala Harris on the show «60 Minutes» from the CBS channel. He is seeking $10 billion in compensation for what he says was election interference. According to the complaint, the Democrat responded confusingly to a question about the Biden administration's influence on Israel's war in Gaza, and CBS edited the response to remove the question. «verbal salad».
“Cheating”
In an increasingly tense campaign observed around the world, candidates have for weeks accused each other of fracturing the United States, and polls give them a tie.
Some 65 million Americans have already voted by mail and early. In 2020, 155 million voted for the presidential election, a complex election by indirect universal suffrage.
As the election approaches, concern is growing over a possible violent protest if victory were to elude Donald Trump. Electoral centers in the most contested key state counties, targets of high tensions four years ago, have turned into fortresses, protected by wrought iron fences and metal detectors. Donald Trump, who never admitted his defeat in 2020, has already spoken of “cheating” in Pennsylvania.
