PENNSYLVANIA: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he believed Democrat Kamala Harris will be easier to beat than President Joe Biden even as some polls showed her edging ahead in the race for the November 5 presidential election.
Trump, the former president, spoke at a rally on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania, a state looming large in the campaign. Vice President Harris will conduct a bus tour of western Pennsylvania starting in Pittsburgh late on Sunday, ahead of the kickoff of the Democratic National Convention on Monday in Chicago.
“I believe she will be easier to beat than him,” said Trump, referring to her as “radical” and a “lunatic.” Trump has sought to portray Harris as far left on a number of policies. At the rally, he highlighted her previous call for a ban on fracking, an industry important to the state. Harris’ campaign has recently indicated she would not support a ban.
He also continued to attack Harris on personal terms, even as some political analysts say such comments could hurt Trump with moderate voters.
“Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person,” Trump said, adding that he was displeased by the illustration of Harris on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine. “I’m much better looking than her.”
In a meandering speech, Trump repeated his false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, dismissed the threat of climate change and said his plan to impose across-the-board tariffs on foreign goods would not act as a tax on US consumers, an assertion that most economists contest.
Trump said Harris should have done more to tackle inflation and other issues since she and Biden took office. If reelected he said he would sign an executive order directing cabinet secretaries and agency heads to take action to lower prices.
Vice President Kamala Harris is likely to join President Joe Biden on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday as he passes the torch to her as the party’s candidate. Biden will give a prime-time address to the convention on Monday night to make the case for electing Harris .