Donald Trump drew the wrath of his rival Kamala Harris on Friday for threatening one of his supporters, a new verbal escalation in the most aggressive American presidential campaign in the country’s recent history.
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The former Republican president and the Democratic vice-president are battling over undecided voters in key states in the industrial north, Wisconsin and Michigan, in a close race with a completely unpredictable outcome.
While more than 68 million Americans have already submitted their ballots early, one controversy is chasing the other in a climate of extreme tension, as November 5 approaches, and with fears of violence after the election.
Mr. Trump, with his increasingly authoritarian rhetoric, ignited a new controversy: he suggested that the daughter of former Republican Vice-President Dick Cheney (2001-2009), Liz Cheney — she and her father support Kamala Harris — be placed in front of a firing squad, “facing nine guns shooting at her.”
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Donald Trump had described Thursday evening this former Republican parliamentarian as a “radical warmonger” and, at a meeting on Friday in Michigan, he judged that this woman who accuses him of wanting to be a “tyrant” had not “don’t have the guts to fight.”
Kamala Harris immediately judged that this verbal violence from her rival “disqualified” him from returning to the White House.
Relentlessly
The 60-year-old vice president and the 78-year-old former president tirelessly travel through the seven key states.
In these “swing states”, tens of thousands of voters hold the keys to an extraordinary election marked by the emergence in July of Ms. Harris, after the withdrawal of President Joe Biden aged 81, and by two assassination attempts against Donald Trump.
In order to appeal to Michigan’s black American working-class electorate, Mr. Trump asserted without evidence before auto workers at a meeting in Warren that “African-American jobs were at an all-time low (and) that they were all going to migrants.”
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He had stopped before in Dearborn, birthplace of the automobile giant Ford and the largest municipality with a majority of Arab origin.
Objective: court this Arab-Muslim electorate, part of which is turning away from Democrats because of the Biden-Harris administration’s support for the war waged by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
Donald Trump “understands now more than ever (…) our value in winning crucial states like Michigan, Arizona or Pennsylvania,” Bishara Bahbah, president of the Arab-American Association, told AFP. Americans for Trump.
A role for Kennedy
The former president, accompanied by the former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, took the opportunity to announce that this heir to the most famous American political dynasty would occupy an “important role” in the field of Health. he won the election.
RFK Jr, nephew of John F. Kennedy, is a vaccine skeptic known for spreading conspiracy theories.
Ms. Harris continues meetings in Wisconsin and must receive the support of the famous rapper Cardi B on Friday evening in Milwaukee, after having obtained that of Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lopez and even basketball superstar LeBron James.
The Democrat is also seeking to seduce the increasingly large Latin American electorate who is increasingly attracted to Mr. Trump. Ms. Harris must also convince more young black men who may be tempted by the billionaire New York businessman.
This state of Wisconsin, overlooking Lake Michigan, swung for Donald Trump in 2016, then for Joe Biden in 2020, with less than a percentage point each time.
While Tuesday’s election could be even closer, with a delay of several hours or even days before a national result, the Republican’s entourage began to fuel the idea that irregularities were being committed in the voting operations.
“If we manage to keep cheating at a low level, we will achieve a huge victory,” Donald Trump said Thursday evening.
And authorities in Georgia, a key southern state, warned Friday of a fake video showing a Haitian immigrant claiming to have been able to vote multiple times. This 20-second viral clip allegedly emanates from a Russian disinformation campaign, according to federal police and United States intelligence services.
