Vice President Harris played clips of former President Trump during her rally in Erie, Pa., arguing to her supporters that he is dangerous for the country.
“Here tonight, I will show you one example of Donald Trump’s world view and intentions. Please roll the clip,” she said and pointed to a screen, watching along with rallygoers for a 40-second mash-up of her rival’s comments.
The clips included Trump saying, “the worst people are the enemies from within” and calling for “one really violent day, one rough hour.”
She also highlighted her GOP rival’s recent suggestion that they use the National Guard or the military on Election Day to combat what he described as potential chaos from people who aren’t his supporters.
“We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics and… it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary, by the military,” he said Sunday during an appearance on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged and he is out for unchecked power, that’s what he’s looking for,” Harris said at the rally in the critical swing state. “He wants to send the military after American citizens.”
She stressed in her remarks that the former president is calling Americans enemies, labeling his rhetoric as dangerous.
“He’s talking about that he considers anybody who doesn’t support him or will not bend to his will an enemy of our country. It’s a serious issue,” she said. “He’s saying, he is saying that he would use the military to go after them, think about this.”
“We know who he would target because he has attacked them before. Journalists whose stories he doesn’t like. Election officials who refuse to cheat by filling extra votes and finding extra votes for him. Judges who insist on following the law instead of bending to his will,” the vice president continued. “This is among the reasons I believe so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America and dangerous.”
She tried the strategy of playing Trump clips at her rally for the first day of her blue wall blitz, which involves three days in Michigan, two days in Pennsylvania and a day in Wisconsin, with multiple stops on each visit.
Harris mentioned that Erie County, which President Biden won in 2020 and Trump won in 2016, is considered a bellwether for how the Keystone State votes.
Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), also criticized Trump at a rally in Wisconsin earlier in the day, saying he “crossed a line” by saying he would use the National Guard or military on Americans.
“He crossed a line that, I have to tell you, in my lifetime, I would have never imagined because we know our history,” he said.
Trump’s campaign has stood by his remarks.
“President Trump is 100% correct — those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the terrorist from Afghanistan that was arrested for plotting multiple attacks on Election Day within the United States,” campaign spokesperson Stephen Cheung said in a statement Monday.
