US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday indirectly criticized former President Donald Trump, suggesting his opponent in the November 5 election was a “coward” whose politics focused on tearing down his rivals.
The comments came during a campaign appearance in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, before Harris heads to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which begins Monday.
“There's been a kind of perversion over the last few years, I think, which is to suggest that the measure of a leader's strength is based on who they defeat. When what we know to be the true and real measure of a leader's strength is based on who they support,” Harris told a crowd of supporters. “Anybody who sets out to defeat other people is a coward.”
He did not directly name Trump, who at a campaign appearance Saturday in eastern Pennsylvania referred to Harris as a “radical” and a “lunatic.”
Opinion polls have shown Harris will bring new energy to the campaign and close the gap with former President Trump both nationally and in many of the eight highly competitive states, including Pennsylvania, that will play a decisive role in choosing a successor to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Harris, who is Black and of Asian descent, will be the first female president if she wins in November.
He said he had nearly finished writing the speech he will deliver when he accepts the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.
“There will be a lot to do with what I think is a way forward, a new way forward, and involving everyone in that journey,” he told reporters outside a restaurant.
Trump said Saturday he believed she would be easier to beat than Biden, 81, who dropped out of the race last month under pressure from his own party after a disastrous debate with Trump.
Pennsylvania was one of three Rust Belt states, along with Wisconsin and Michigan, that helped power Republican Trump's surprise victory in the 2016 election.
Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, returned the trio to the Democrats in 2020, and Harris aims to keep them.
Sources said Saturday she is likely to join Biden on the convention stage Monday when he passes the torch to her as the party's nominee for president.
Trump's campaign will try to counter-program the convention with a series of events in key states this week. On Monday, he will visit a factory in York, Pennsylvania, where his campaign says it will focus on the economy, and on Tuesday he will visit the county sheriff's office in Howell, Michigan, to talk about safety and crime.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, will travel to Asheboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday to deliver remarks on national security, and on Friday Trump will join Turning Point Action, a group founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, for a rally in Glendale, Arizona, intended in part to highlight efforts to increase turnout.
Trump supporters said they hope he will refocus his campaign on policy rather than the repeated personal attacks against Harris that he has leaned heavily on in the weeks since she emerged as the Democratic nominee.
“President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America, and if they are debated, he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” said Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham. NBCOn Sunday, on the “Meet the Press” program, US President Donald Trump said: “Politics is the key to the White House.”
