ASTON, Pa. – Less than two weeks before the general election, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, said Wednesday during a town hall in Delaware County that she believes her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, is a fascist who is ” increasingly unstable and unable to serve as president for another term.
She added that people who served under Trump during his term said he had “contempt” for the Constitution.
“And today we learned that John Kelly, a four-star Marine general and his longest-serving chief of staff, recently gave an interview in the last two weeks of the election talking about how dangerous Donald Trump is,” Harris said. . “Honestly, I think he’s calling 911 to the American people to understand what might happen if Donald Trump returned to the White House.”
Harris took just over an hour to answer questions from undecided voters during what was supposed to be a second debate with Trump on CNN, but he declined to appear. Trump was in Georgia on Wednesday and spoke at Turning Point Action Rally.
Trump is storming Georgia just outside metro Atlanta, and Harris is expected to return on Thursday
The talks were moderated by CNN host Anderson Cooper. The questions, he said, came from voters and were not provided or edited by CNN.
The audience included Democrats, Republicans and independents who were undecided and “persuasive,” Cooper said. According to the network, town hall participants were selected by the nonpartisan research organization and CNN producers “working with local and state business groups, civic organizations, religious groups and universities.”
The first question was asked by a Bryn Mawr College student who stated that she was an anti-Trump Republican. She asked how Harris planned to “bridge the political divide” among voters who feel excluded from the polarized political landscape.
Harris said people are “exhausted” by the current political environment “which suggests that America should be pointing fingers at itself, that we are divided as a nation.” She said she would be a president for all Americans.
“I have never in my career as a prosecutor asked a victim or witness of a crime, are you a Democrat or a Republican? The only thing I ever asked was, “Are you okay?” – Harris said. “And I truly believe that the American people deserve their president, not someone who makes decisions based on who voted for him or what is in his personal interest.”
The vice president pointed out reports Trump considered whether Californians voted for him when deciding to send aid during the 2018 wildfires.
“I believe the American people deserve better and deserve a president who is focused on solutions, not sitting in the Oval Office plotting revenge and revenge,” Harris said.
Another audience member asked Harris what she would do about the high cost of groceries. Harris responded that her approach would be “new,” based on her experience as California’s attorney general.
“We will have a nationwide ban on price gouging, which is the practice of companies taking advantage of the desperation and need of the American consumer to raise prices without any consequences or accountability,” she said, adding that it was also crucial to address the affordable housing shortage.
“Democrats and Republicans have not done enough to deal with housing and we need a new approach that includes working with the private sector… to cut red tape, working with home builders, working with developers to create tax incentives so that we can create more housing supply and lower prices.”
Cooper asked Harris how she would go about codifying Roe v. Wade into the Constitution, which requires 60 votes in the Senate, where Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority.
“I mean, we need to look at the filibuster,” Harris replied, echoing comments she made last month on abolishing the filibuster and restoring abortion rights. She recalled Trump’s appointment of three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe in 2022, and said she thought many people opposed to abortion “didn’t intend for it to happen” and were terrified of the consequences total abortion bans in more than a dozen states.
Harris says she will support eliminating the filibuster to restore abortion rights
“I think on some issues we have to agree that you have to put partisanship aside,” Harris said. “I know it’s possible because if you look at the midterm results in so-called red states and so-called blue states, when freedom was on the ballot, the American people voted for freedom.”
On immigration, Harris referred to a bipartisan bill that failed to pass the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Donald Trump found out about the bill and told them, ‘Don’t introduce it, kill the bill,’ because he prefers to focus on the problem rather than fix it,” Harris said. “We must have a secure border and we must have a comprehensive pathway to citizenship, which includes requiring people, hard-working people, to pursue citizenship and to do so in a comprehensive, humane and orderly manner.”
Cooper pressed her on the issue, asking why the Biden administration had not managed the flow of migrants across the southern border through executive action. Harris said the problem ultimately must be resolved through congressional action.
“I think we did the right thing, but the best thing that can happen to the American people is that we are doing bipartisan work, and I promise I will work across the aisle to solve this long-standing problem,” she said. .
When asked what she would do “to ensure that no Palestinians die as a result of American tax-funded bombs,” Harris did not answer directly, but stated that “far too many innocent Palestinians have died. It’s unreasonable.” She added that with the recent death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, “we have a chance to end this war, bring the hostages home, bring aid to the Palestinian people and work towards a two-state solution.”
The Trump campaign criticized Harris for her town hall appearance, calling it a “clinic of lies, slander and radical leftism masked in word salad.” This was intended to rehabilitate her image with the friendliest possible host on the friendliest possible network, but instead it was her biggest implosion yet.”
One viewer asked Harris to provide “more details” about her economic plan. In response, she outlined the highlights of her plan, including tax breaks for tiny businesses and a $6,000 tax credit for parents.
“Part of the problem is that we cannot and will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year, but we must take seriously a system that benefits the wealthiest and does not help working middle-class Americans,” she said.
Harris was also asked how her administration will be different from President Joe Biden’s. Her administration “will not be a continuation of the Biden administration,” Harris said. “I bring my own ideas and my own experience to this role. “I represent a new generation of leaders on many issues, and I think we really need to take a new approach.”
The vice president talked about the sandwich generation, people caring for children and elderly parents, and how she took care of her mother when she was dying of cancer.
Cooper pressed her on why, as vice president, she had not yet introduced appropriate policies. “Much has been done,” she said, “but there is still more to do, Anderson.”
Asked whether she would expand the Supreme Court to 12 justices, Harris did not directly answer “yes” or “no,” but said Americans are “increasingly losing confidence in the Supreme Court, in large part because of the behavior of some members of the court and because that certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision,” she said. “That’s why I think there should be some court reform and we can examine what it actually looks like.”
Another audience member asked Harris to explain why some of her positions had changed, noting that “at Delco we pride ourselves on being authentic.” Harris stated that she would not ban fracking, adding that her experience as vice president showed her that “we can invest in a clean energy economy and still not ban fracking and still work on what we need to do.” , to create more jobs and create up-to-date jobs in the U.S. in a way that is globally competitive.”
Some views about her changing political stance “are, quite frankly, a lot of misinformation,” Harris said. She added that the president should not be afraid of good ideas and should not be carried away with pride “if the perspective requires the use of different points of view to build consensus and maintain a common sense approach.”
Both campaigns have consumed a lot of time and resources in Pennsylvania’s current election cycle, as 19 electoral votes are key to either candidate winning the White House. Trump will be in State College on Saturday, and Harris will be in the Philadelphia area on Sunday.
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