As the campaigning for the US Presidential Elections intensifies with less than two weeks remaining for the polling date, both candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris fired strong barbs at each other.
Former President Donald Trump, during his campaign in Pennsylvania, lashed out at Vice President Harris, claiming that if elected she would “guarantee” the United States would enter World War III and would be ineffective in dealing with global leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Hill reported.
“To make her president would be to gamble with the lives of millions of people. She would get us into a World War III guaranteed because she is too grossly incompetent to do the job,” Trump stated.
He added that people’s “sons and daughters will end up getting drafted to go fight for a war in a country that you’ve never heard of.” He vowed to prevent World War III, claiming the country has “never been so close” to it.
Trump reiterated that conflicts like the one following the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel wouldn’t have occurred if he were president.
On the other side of the campaign, former First Lady Michelle Obama campaigned for Vice President Harris in Michigan on Saturday (local time), where she sharply criticised Trump, highlighting what she perceives as a ‘double standard’ in the presidential race, The Hill reported.
“I gotta ask myself: Why on earth is this race even close? I lay awake at night wondering, What in the world is going on?” Michelle Obama told a rally in Kalamazoo.
An early supporter of Harris after President Biden’s exit from the race, she further underscored the stark differences between the two presidential candidates while warning of the consequences of a second Trump term.
“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” she stated.
“I hope that you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behaviour, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do, y’all,” the First Lady added.
Her comments come as polls show Harris and Trump in a tight race, with Harris slightly ahead nationally but tied in Michigan. Obama expressed her hope that voters contemplating supporting Trump–or abstaining from voting–will “snap out of whatever fog we are in” before Election Day, as reported by The Hill.
The Kalamazoo rally marked Michelle Obama’s first campaign appearance for Harris, coinciding with the start of early voting in Michigan. Former President Obama has also been actively campaigning in key states and appeared with Harris for campaigning in Georgia on Thursday.
The presidential elections are scheduled for November 5.
(With agency inputs