As presumptive United States Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris’ campaign gains momentum, the Republican contenders have gone on the offensive.
Donald Trump, and his running mate, JD Vance, teamed up on Saturday to campaign in Minnesota, a state that hasn’t backed the party in 52 years.
Vance called out the vice president at the joint rally, for questioning his loyalty to the country.
In a short video released on Wednesday, Harris had said that Vance would be “loyal only to Trump, not to our country” and be a “rubber stamp for [Trump’s] extreme agenda.”
“I’d like to ask the vice president, what has she done to question my loyalty to this country? I served in the United States Marine Corps. I went to Iraq for this country,” said Vance on Saturday.
“And my running mate took a bullet for this country. So my question to Kamala Harris is, what the hell have you done to question our loyalty to the United States of America?”
Trump took things a step further, describing Harris as “evil”, “sick” and “unhinged” and saying if she became president, “the American dream is dead”.
He spoke for more than an hour and a half to cheering crowds holding signs supporting police and calling for the deportation of migrants in the country illegally.
And Trump continued a pattern of escalating attacks against Harris on immigration and crime, describing her as a “crazy liberal” and accusing her of wanting to “defund the police”.
“She has no clue, she’s evil,” Trump said, suggesting as vice president, Harris had failed at her tasks related to the border.
“Kamala Harris’ deadly destruction of America’s borders is completely and totally disqualifying for her to be president. You can’t have a person like this as president,” he said.
Harris has been on a whirlwind week of campaigning since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
A series of polls have shown that it took her just a few days to erase the lead Trump had enjoyed when Biden was his rival.