As the Democratic National Convention has been in full swing in Chicago since Monday, Donald Trump is desperate to divert the spotlight from his new opponent, Kamala Harris, by multiplying attacks against her and press briefings throughout the week in several key states of this electoral campaign.
On Monday night, hours before the political grand mass was set to take off at the United Center in Chicago, the populist visited a small business in York, Pennsylvania, to talk economics. It was an opportunity for him to once again define the Democrat as a “communist” threat hanging over the country, repeatedly calling her “Comrade Kamala.” He claimed in passing that the vice president’s father, a distinguished professor of economics at Stanford University, is a “Marxist professor” who taught his daughter well.
“I wonder if [les démocrates] “They knew that when they overthrew Joe Biden and staged their coup,” he said, repeating a wild accusation that sought to deny the legitimacy of Kamala Harris’ candidacy, which followed Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race on July 21. The vice president was officially sworn in to carry her party’s colors Tuesday night, amidst ecstasy and excitement, by thousands of delegates from across the country gathered in Chicago.
“I wonder if they knew where she came from, what her ideology was. But you could see it a little bit through this nutcase,” Trump continued, referring to his opponent’s father.
Since Sunday, Donald Trump has continued to attract attention. On his social network, he has posted several images generated by artificial intelligence and suggesting that he has received the support of Taylor Swift and the singer’s fans in his new race to take over the keys to the White House. In 2020, Swift supported Joe Biden’s candidacy and rejected Trump’s radical conservatism. He also posted a doctored image showing Kamala Harris speaking at a political rally under flags of the former Soviet Union.
“It’s a circus, a clown show,” said Samir Qaisar, a Revolutionary Communist Party USA activist who came to protest Monday outside the Democratic National Convention as part of a coalition of political and social groups. “Kamala Harris is anything but a communist. She’s pro-capitalism, pro-Wall Street, pro-Israel — she’s American imperialism personified. Trump is making our job harder with his disinformation by confusing people.”
From Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon, the populist stayed the course by once again mocking Kamala Harris’ laughter and portraying her as an inert politician in the face of rising crime in the United States. This trend, however, seems to exist only in Republican statements: after peaking under Donald Trump’s administration, crime has been falling in the country since 2022, according to the latest FBI data, and is now at its lowest in nearly 50 years.
Childishness
“There’s a sense of panic among Republicans about our growing movement,” said Conner Brumley, a young delegate from Kentucky who met on the floor of the Democratic convention. “My generation is exhausted by this polarization, this anger, this populism… We’re entering a historic moment for democracy, and they’re worried about it. We have a former president who was convicted of criminal charges and who continues to spew hate, lies, and attacks the foundations of democracy. Do we really want him to represent us?”
The question seems to be being asked by several Republicans, who this week decided to converge on Washington to show their disapproval of a party under the thumb of Donald Trump, by now supporting the candidacy of Kamala Harris.
On Monday night, at the opening of the convention, Rich Logis, a former Trump supporter who introduced himself as a “full-fledged member of MAGA,” the name of the movement created by Donald Trump, came to denounce him in a video message, accusing him of having “betrayed the country” by his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, it was the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, Republican John Giles, who spoke in support of the vice president, preceding former Republican representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a strong critical voice of the ex-president, and Geoff Duncan, who was lieutenant governor of Georgia when Mr. Trump sought to reverse the result of the 2020 election in that state. The latter two have confirmed their presence in Chicago this week.
To this chorus of defections to the Democrats, retired conservative U.S. appeals court judge J. Michael Luttig added his voice in recent days by saying he would vote Democratic for the first time this year. “In the 2024 presidential election, there is only one political party and one presidential candidate who can stand as the defenders and protectors of American democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law,” the man, appointed to the post under George Bush Sr., wrote in a public statement. “Accordingly, I will vote without hesitation for the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris.”
These plate movements are worrying several of Donald Trump’s allies, who last week asked him to talk more about politics and to limit personal attacks against his Democratic opponent.
“I want our campaign to lead us to victory,” former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said on Fox News. “But we’re not going to win by comparing crowd sizes. We’re not going to win by talking about Kamala Harris’ race,” a recurring theme in Donald Trump’s public statements. “The American people are smart. We have to respect their intelligence,” she added.
On Wednesday, the former president will continue his offensive against the Democratic National Convention by going to speak about national security at a rally in North Carolina alongside his running mate, JD Vance, before hitting the road to Arizona on Thursday to cultivate fear of immigration, which his party is very good at exploiting.
This report was financed with the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-
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