Trump, Harris clash over rhetoric as they battle for swing state votes

 

A general view shows the arena as former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 1, 2024. [AFP]

US Vice President Kamala Harris and election rival Donald Trump traded barbs across battleground states Friday before converging on Wisconsin's biggest city for competing rallies, a dramatic split-screen image in the final days of a volatile presidential race.

With political heat reaching a boil ahead of Election Day November 5, Trump faced criticism for violent rhetoric targeting a high-profile Republican supporter of Harris, who lambasted him for the provocative attack.

More than 70 million Americans have already cast their ballots -- 45 per cent of the 2020 total -- ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Opinion polls show Trump and Harris running dead even, with victory depending on who prevails across the seven swing states.

Both held a full day of campaign events, with Harris attending rallies and visiting a union hall in Wisconsin while Trump stumped for votes in neighbouring battleground Michigan.

"Everything we have been fighting for these past four years comes down to the next four days," Trump told supporters in Warren, Michigan.

Later Friday the rivals rallied just miles apart in Milwaukee, where Trump boomed: "I don't want your money, I want your damn vote!"

The former president was addressing the same venue where he earned the Republican Party nomination over the summer and gave a triumphant acceptance speech just days after surviving an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Harris -- who only entered the race in July after President Joe Biden dropped out amid fears over his declining mental acuity -- was joined onstage by star rapper Cardi B in the latest of a series of high-energy events.

Cardi B, speaking of America's potential first woman president, asked the crowd, "Are we ready to make history?"

Earlier, Harris reprimanded Trump for using "violent rhetoric" when discussing one of his chief Republican critics.

Trump has "suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney," Harris told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin.

"This must be disqualifying. Anyone... who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president."

'True patriot'

Trump has doubled down on his most provocative talking points, seeking to fire up a base he needs to turn out in massive numbers.

Along with Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state prize of all, Michigan and Wisconsin are part of the Democrats' Midwestern "blue wall." But the region could go either way -- and with it the presidency.

The other path to victory could run through Sun Belt swing states, where Trump and Harris both campaigned Thursday.

In Arizona, Trump claimed Thursday without evidence that polls are being rigged in Pennsylvania -- reinforcing expectations that, as in 2020, he will refuse to accept the results if he loses.

But it was his comments about Cheney that stirred the most controversy.

Citing her hawkish foreign policy views, Trump conjured the image of Cheney -- daughter of former Republican vice president Dick Cheney -- being shot.

"She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face," Trump said.

Cheney responded, saying, "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death."

Harris defended Cheney as a "true patriot" and accused Trump of being "permanently out for revenge."

But Trump did not back down, saying Cheney "doesn't have the guts to fight."

Adding to tensions, social media is awash with disinformation that authorities say has been stirred by Russian operatives and amplified by prominent right-wing voices -- including Trump ally Elon Musk, the world's richest man and owner of the X platform.

Much of Musk's effort has involved pushing lies about non-citizen immigrants voting.

'Junk science'

Trump notably campaigned Friday in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the nation's largest Arab-American community, where outrage over Israel's war in Gaza has alienated many Muslims from the Democratic Party.

After meeting supporters at a halal restaurant, Trump confirmed to reporters that vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr would play a "big role" in health care if he were elected.

Harris described Kennedy as a promoter of "junk science and crazy conspiracy theories."

For a few minutes in Michigan, Trump's oratory suggested a traditional rousing speech in a campaign's final days.

"I'm asking you to dream big again," he said in Warren.

But he quickly reverted to type with a sinister take on immigration and falsely branding the Biden-Harris economy a "total disaster."

Economists say the US economy is actually in robust shape, with low unemployment and strong growth.