 "Kamala Harris with Stevie Wonder at a church event in Jonesboro, Georgia on Sunday. AP")
With just a few weeks left for the 2024 US presidential contest, Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated her 60th birthday on the campaign trail on Sunday. The Democratic presidential nominee rallied Black voters in Georgia with “souls to the polls” events at two community churches.
While Harris was celebrating her birthday with her supporters, her Republican rival Donald Trump doubled down on his provocative rhetoric referring to Democrats as “enemies from within”. The two candidates have been campaigning aggressively and attempting to shore up support in key states before the November polls.
During her address at the congregation of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Harris focused on how religious experiences in her youth in Oakland, California, influenced her politics. The vice president emphasised that her policies are all about embracing compassion.
Stevie Wonder serenades Harris on her birthday
The vice president hinted that the country would be “in chaos” if Trump came to power. “When we come across our brothers and sisters in need, let us, as the Good Samaritan, see in the face of a stranger, a neighbour, and let us recognize that when we shine the light in moments of darkness, it will guide our feet into the path of peace," the 60-year-old politician said at the start of her address.
“And let us remember that while weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. What kind of country do we want to live in – a country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice?” she added. She went on to urge people to vote and make their voices known.
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More Shorts“The great thing about living in a democracy is that we, the people, have the power to answer that question. So let us answer not just through our words, but through our actions and with our votes.” Harris said.
Later in the day, the vice president was joined by famous artist Stevie Wonder during a rally at the Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro. While in Georgia, Harris is scheduled to tape an interview with the civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton, which will be broadcast on MSNBC.
Trump calls Democrats ’enemies from within’
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump doubled down on his previous comments in which he referred to Democrats as “enemies from within”. During an interview with Fox News, the former president noted that “radical left lunatics … the enemy from within … should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military” – before singling out Pelosi and Schiff.
The Harris campaign responded to Trump’s remarks by referring to him as “angry and unstable”. “Even in his Fox News safe space, Donald Trump cannot help but show himself as the unhinged, angry, unstable man that he is – focused on his own petty grievances and tired playbook of division,” Ammar Moussa, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson, wrote in an email.
“This is precisely why his handlers are hiding him from major mainstream interviews and refusing to let him debate again. They don’t want the country to see this candidate in decline,” he added.
With inputs from agencies.