KAMALA THE CHAMELEON
Trump savages White House rival Biden’s running mate
‘Ready to go to work’
DONALD Trump wasted no time yesterday in attacking a rival who could make history as America’s first black woman to become vice-president.
In the hours after Joe Biden announced California senator Kamala Harris as his running mate for November’s election, she felt the full force of Republican opposition.
A rising Democrat star, Miss Harris, 55, is seen as key to winning over moderate black voters, college-educated women and white suburbanites. With 77-yearold Mr Biden signalling that, if he beats Mr Trump in November, he may only stay for one term, Miss Harris could also become America’s first woman President. Her nomination was seen by some as a safe pick.
It drew plaudits from many and saw the Biden campaign coffers boosted by nearly £9million in just four hours, a daily record for grassroots donations.
Mr Trump, however, insisted ‘the suburban housewife will be voting for me’ and called Miss Harris ‘nasty’. He sought to frame the former prosecutor as someone who lacks her own political identity.
Miss Harris’s campaign for the presidential nomination earlier this year, before she dropped out of the race, unravelled over her changing message and tactics, insiders said at the time. She viciously attacked Mr Biden – but has now hailed him as the man to unify America as President.
But it was the messaging from the Republicans yesterday that proved mixed. Mr Trump’s team and his allies tried to present Miss Harris as the ‘most radical running mate ever’, in the words of Fox News host Sean Hannity.
But the Republican National Committee sought to frame her as insufficiently liberal, declaring: ‘Liberals revolt against Biden, Harris ticket.’
Mr Trump tweeted: ‘Kamala Harris started strong in the Democrat Primaries, and finished weak, ultimately fleeing the race with almost zero support. That’s the kind of opponent everyone dreams of!’
He failed to mention that both he and his daughter Ivanka had previously given thousands of dollars to Miss Harris’ campaign to become California attorney general.
‘Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party,’ senior Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson declared.
On the President’s favourite TV channel, Fox News host Tucker Carlson mispronounced Miss Harris’s name several times, snapping ‘So what?’ when a guest told him it was pronounced ‘Comma-la’.
Mr Carlson claimed there were ‘time-share salesmen you could trust more’ than Miss Harris.
Mr Biden and Miss Harris appeared on stage in Delaware last night for the first time as the team to take on Mr Trump.
The choice of Miss Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, was kept secret until the last moment on Tuesday night, even though she was widely seen as the frontrunner.
Mr Biden had always said his running mate would be a woman and someone he could see taking over in 2024 should he win and become the oldest President in US history.
In footage released yesterday, Mr Biden was seen speaking with Miss Harris by video chat, apparently at the moment he told her of his decision. ‘You ready to go to work?’ he asked.
‘Oh my God. I am so ready to go to work,’ she replied.