Republican Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance says Vice President Kamala Harris has come down with a case of Trump copycat syndrome.
On a campaign swing through Michigan, Mr. Vance said Ms. Harris is so intent on tricking voters into thinking she has always backed some of former President Donald Trump’s popular policies that she might even start dressing like him.
“I’ve heard that her debate in just a couple of weeks, she is going to put on a navy suit, a long red tie, and adopt the slogan ’Make America Great Again,’” the U.S. senator from Ohio said. “But we are not going to let the American people forget that Kamala Harris is the candidate of American decline.”
Mr. Vance said Ms. Harris backed supporting disastrous policies that fed inflation, rolled out the welcome mat to illegal immigrants and drugs and shipped American jobs overseas.
“As much as Fake Kamala wants to pretend that she now agrees with Donald Trump, we have to remind her she is the vice president right now,” he said.
The Washington Times reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
Mr. Trump stunned the political establishment in 2016 after his focus on illegal immigration, trade imbalance and jobs shipped overseas resonated with blue-color voters across the Rust Belt. He broke through the Democrats’ blue wall with narrow victories over Hillary Clinton in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Four years later, President Biden flipped the states back into the Democratic column, and voters in those states could decide the election again this fall.
Mr. Vance’s appearance in Michigan came days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his Independent presidential bid and endorsed Mr. Trump.
It was the latest shakeup in a tumultuous race in which voters have watched Mr. Trump survive an assassination attempt and Ms. Harris replace Mr. Biden atop the Democratic ticket.
The constant action contributed to the fluid nature of the race, which is now a neck-and-neck contest between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump across the battleground states.
Meanwhile, Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are scheduled to meet on the debate stage for the first time on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia.
It will mark another possible turning point in the tight race.
Looking to zap the Harris momentum, the Trump campaign has sharpened its attacks, asking voters to question how she can vow to fix the nation’s problems when she has been riding shotgun with Mr. Biden since 2021.
“You have been vice president for three and a half years,” Mr. Vance said Tuesday. “What the hell have you been doing during all of that time?”
They have also harped on the copycat theme, pouncing on reports that suggest she has moved toward Mr. Trump on immigration and his call for stopping restaurant tips from being taxed.
“I am not sure this is a woman who knows what she actually believes,” Mr. Vance said. “She is just the cog in the wheel of a very corrupt system.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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