Presidential campaigning is turning into a battle of the big screens.
Former President Donald Trump often brings a video screen to his rallies. He shows clips of Vice President Kamala Harris making politically inopportune remarks, such as complaints about immigration enforcement or failure to distance herself from President Biden.
Mr. Trump intersperses news clips about illegal immigration and warnings about the Democrats’ “woke” agenda.
Ms. Harris, meanwhile, rolls out footage of Mr. Trump boasting about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and suggesting he would use the U.S. military to punish his “enemy from within,” or political opponents.
Giving their rivals’ words high billing reflects the state of the race and the driving factor of fear in voters’ minds.
“Everywhere you look, the American standard of living is in a free fall,” Mr. Trump said at a recent event in Atlanta. “You are working more hours for less money to afford smaller houses, worse cars, fewer groceries with absolutely nothing left to save.
“Our schools don’t teach. Our cities aren’t safe. Illegal aliens are pouring in by the millions and millions, and we are teetering on the brink of World War III,” Mr. Trump said.
In personal attacks, he calls Ms. Harris a “liar,” “not a smart person” and “grossly incompetent.”
The vice president found that her campaign’s early message of “joy” had a low ceiling. As she seeks to win over reluctant voters, she uses the same scare tactics as Mr. Trump.
She says his “unhinged” behavior led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and calls the former president a threat to the Constitution and families.
“He considers any American who doesn’t support him or bend to his will to be an enemy to our country and, further, he says as commander in chief he would use our military to go after them,” Ms. Harris said at a recent rally. “It is clear Donald Trump is increasingly unstable.”
The Democratic Party nominee has often urged non-Republican voters to watch one of Mr. Trump’s rallies to learn about his plans. Now, she is making voters watch Mr. Trump at her rallies.
Ms. Harris rolled out the video screen for the first time at a recent campaign stop in Pennsylvania, where she showed Mr. Trump complaining about political opponents he considers the “enemy from within.”
In Green Bay, Wisconsin, last week, she showed footage of Mr. Trump saying most people were happy that Roe was overturned and dubbing himself the “father of IVF,” or in vitro fertilization.
“I mean, what does that even mean?” Ms. Harris said. “What is sadly interesting, I think, is that when you listen to Donald Trump talk, it becomes increasingly clear, I think, he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to the health care of women in America.”
In Atlanta, Mr. Trump used clips of the screaming drill sergeant in the movie “Full Metal Jacket” interspersed with clips of Rachel Levine, the transgender admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, celebrating gay pride and men in military uniform donning drag outfits.
Mr. Trump’s rallies often run more than an hour, and he holds the stage like the master of ceremonies in a pro wrestling ring, egging on his crowd.
The videos are just a part of that.
He takes the stage to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and doesn’t start speaking until after the end of the song, which has become a MAGA anthem.
Mr. Trump frequently invites fellow Republican officeholders and members of the crowd on stage. He shouts out to the regulars, including a man in a brick-wall-decorated jacket and a group of women who follow him around the country.
He cracks jokes and mocks Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and liberal ideas. He can also be self-deprecating.
The Republican Party nominee switches between reading from the teleprompter and speaking more extemporaneously about various subjects.
He dubs his delivery “the weave.”
He touts his support from Elon Musk, the union for Border Patrol agents and the Fraternal Order of Police.
He also celebrates his myriad proposals for tax breaks on tipped wages, overtime pay and auto loan interest.
Ms. Harris’ rallies are usually shorter than Mr. Trump’s.
They are more standard and scripted — more pep rally than monster truck rally. She describes herself as the underdog and touches on her background as a prosecutor. She has campaigned with businessman Mark Cuban and anti-Trump Republicans and has events planned with former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.
She has also shown signs of loosening up on stage.
At a recent rally in Wisconsin, Ms. Harris told a group of demonstrators, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally.
“No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street,” she said, triggering applause from the crowd.
She devotes time to her policy agenda, which includes pledges to bring down the cost of living, invest in small businesses, enshrine access to legal abortion and advance national security. She has also promised tax breaks for the middle class, expanded Medicare to cover the cost of senior care and an increased child tax credit.
Her primary focus, however, has been tarnishing Mr. Trump.
She argues that those who have worked closely with him, including former Vice President Mike Pence, say he is unfit to serve.
She said Mr. Trump, if elected, would “sit in the Oval Office plotting retribution, stewing in his own grievances and thinking only about himself and not you.”
“He is only focused on himself. Well, folks, it is time to turn the page,” she said. “America is ready to chart a new way forward, and America is ready for a new and optimistic generation of leadership.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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