Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump refused to agree to a debate with Democrat presumptive-nominee Kamala Harris on Thursday, saying that it would be “inappropriate” until she is officially nominated.
The country’s first female vice president has enjoyed a groundswell of support from labor groups, ethnic minorities and her own party since announcing her 11th-hour candidacy to replace President Joe Biden as the candidate.
The momentum appeared to catch Trump off guard, as the Republican refused to schedule a debate with Harris, saying on Thursday night that it would be “inappropriate” until she is officially named the Democratic nominee.
Kamala Harris launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump and his “extremist” Republicans as she addressed teachers on Thursday, seeking to rally a key part of the Democratic coalition behind her bid to take on the billionaire for the presidency.
The first union to endorse Harris – the American Federation of Teachers – applauded at their convention in Houston as Harris warned that the country was witnessing a “full-on attack” by Trump’s Republicans on “hard-won, hard-fought freedoms.”
Harris, 59, jumped into the election after weeks of turmoil over 81-year-old Biden, who bowed out on Sunday after a dismal debate performance against Trump accelerated concerns over his mental capacity and persistently low polling numbers.
‘Freedom’
Trump, who at 78 is the oldest presidential nominee in US history, promised he will “not give one penny” of federal funds to schools with vaccine mandates. Every public school in America has such mandates.
The speech came with Harris facing increasing rhetoric from Trump, who on Wednesday called her a “radical left lunatic” and claimed – entirely falsely – that she was in favor of the “execution” of newborn babies.
However, in a promising sign for Democrats, Trump and Harris were statistically tied in a new poll from New York Times/Siena College that showed her narrowing the gap after the survey found Biden behind by six points in early July.
One of the most urgent tasks she will face in the much shorter term is to forge her own political identity before she can be defined by Trump as inseparable from the unpopular Biden.
Moreover, she has begun quickly spending some of the $100 million-plus that she raised in the opening days to tell her personal story and counter Republican characterizations of her as an out-of-touch liberal.
The speech came amid a mushrooming controversy over resurfaced remarks by Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, who singled out Harris as he called Democrats a “bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives.”
Brendan Smialowski, and Frankie Taggart with AFP
