In a notable shift, Vice President Kamala Harris refrained from mentioning former President Donald Trump by name for the first time in her campaign during a series of rallies in Michigan on Sunday, just two days before Election Day. This marked a strategic pivot for Harris as she sought to close her campaign on a positive note while contrasting her vision for the future with what she characterized as the negative politics of her opponent.
Fox News reports:
Vice President Kamala Harris did not mention the name of her opponent, former President Donald Trump, for the first time at her campaign rallies while hitting stops in Michigan on Sunday, just two days before Election Day.
The vice president ended Sunday with a rally at Michigan State University’s Jamison Field House in East Lansing, where she sought to contrast her optimistic tone with what she has described as the darker message of her Republican opponent.
She said, “We have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division. We are done with that. We are exhausted with that. America is ready for a fresh start, ready for a new way forward where we see our fellow American not as an enemy, but as a neighbor.”
While Harris pursues a message of unification and positivity, it has yet to be seen whether voters believe it, as she’s spent the entirety of her campaign up to this point attacking Trump and in some cases, smearing him with exaggerated and outright fabricated claims, with the most recent example being the lie that he wants to put Liz Cheney and other critics of him in front of firing squads, taking a comment he made suggesting that warmongers should have to serve in the wars they encourage and facilitate completely out of context.
While Harris uses the final days of her campaign to pursue a more optimistic tone, that may be undercut by people in her campaign and close to it continuing to criticize both the former president and his supporters. President Biden, during a virtual event for Voto Latino, made headlines with his comments about Trump supporters, labeling them as “garbage” and following comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes about Puerto Rico during Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally. The White House and the Harris campaign both attempted to spin the comments, insisting that Biden had a stutter and was misheard.
Other figures, including billionaire Mark Cuban, have also weighed in, suggesting that Trump has no strong, intelligent women around him, insulting the many women employed by his campaign, implying they’re all weak and stupid.
With the election just around the corner, both campaigns are ramping up efforts to energize their bases and attract undecided voters. Harris’s strategy of emphasizing positivity two days ahead of the election may fall flat considering the precedent her campaign has set.
