As Vice President Kamala Harris gears up for her 60th birthday and a tight showdown with former President Donald Trump, her campaign has notably taken on a harsher attitude.
Harris traveled to Michigan on Friday, where she held multiple campaign events and targeted Trump. The vice president attended a rally Saturday alongside recording artist Lizzo in Detroit, where she wore a “Detroit Vs. Everybody” shirt gifted to her earlier this week.
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Later on Saturday, Harris will head to Georgia for a rally in Atlanta featuring city legend Usher. The vice president made “Joy” the resounding message of her campaign’s early months, but as she remains neck-and-neck with Trump in both national and battleground polls, her campaign messaging has shifted more toward attacking Trump directly.
Harris and allies, including former President Barack Obama, have begun giving Trump the treatment Republicans gave Joe Biden, namely by accusing him of having a decline in energy and flat-out telling voters he’s too old to be president.
“His team is saying that he is suffering from exhaustion. That’s the excuse,” Harris said to reporters in Michigan on Friday, accusing the former president of beginning to turn down podcast appearances, scale back his campaign travel, and decline to take part in another presidential debate.
“You know, look, being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world,” she continued. “And so we really do need to ask ourselves — if he’s exhausted from being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”
Trump and his campaign have adamantly rejected the accusations, with the former president calling Harris a “loser” for the allegation and slamming her for skipping the 79th annual Al Smith charity dinner.
However, that has not stopped leading Democrats from running with the strategy. Obama echoed her rhetoric against Trump during his rally in Arizona on Friday.
“Have you seen him lately? I mean, he’s out there — he’s given two, two-and-a-half hour speeches, just word salads. You have no idea what he’s talking about,” the Democrat said.
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“You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this. No, I’m not joking,” he added. “We do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guard rails. We have had enough of arrogance and bumbling and bluster and division. America is ready to turn the page.”
Harris’s actual birthday is Sunday. She will attend service at a Baptist church in Stonecrest, Georgia, before heading back on the trail.