HARRISBURG, Penn. (AP) — Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump's supporters and “garbage " and keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
“We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other," the Democratic nominee said.
Harris was holding rallies in a trio of battleground states as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.
She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.
“I am not looking to score political points,” the vice president said. “I am looking to make progress.”
Meanwhile, Biden and the White House rushed to explain that the president was talking about the rhetoric on stage at Trump’s recent Madison Square Garden rally, not Trump’s supporters themselves. Biden did not answer questions about his comments Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Cyprus, but press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he “does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage.”
Harris was introduced at the North Carolina rally by a former Republican voter who previously supported Trump, another example of her campaign's effort to welcome disaffected conservatives who are uneasy about reelecting the former president.
It was a message that Biden threatened to undermine on Tuesday — at the same time Harris was speaking near the White House — when he participated in a campaign call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino.
Biden used the opportunity to criticize the Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees "with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me,” she said.
Her words were an attempt to blunt the controversy over Biden's comments and put some distance between herself and the president, something she has struggled with in the past.
Republicans have seized on Biden’s comments, claiming they were an echo of the time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Trump’s supporters belonged to a “basket of deplorables.”
“We know what they believe. Because look how they’ve treated you,” Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. “They’ve treated you like garbage. The truth is, they’ve treated our whole country like garbage.”
He also said “without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than Crooked Joe’s," using his nickname for the president.
In attacking Biden — and by extension, Harris — Republicans have glossed over Trump’s own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, such as calling the United States a “garbage can for the world” or describing political opponents as “the enemy within.” Trump has also described Harris as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell,” and he’s questioned whether she was on drugs.
Trump has also refused demands to apologize for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally, acknowledging that “somebody said some bad things” but adding that he “can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
Political attack lines have a history of occasionally boomeranging back on people who use them. For example, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now Trump's running mate, once described Democrats as beholden to “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
Vance's 3-year-old comments resurfaced once he became the vice presidential nominee, energizing Harris supporters who repurposed the label as a point of pride on shirts and bumper stickers — much like Trump’s supporters once cheerfully branded themselves as “deplorables.”
On Wednesday morning, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, downplayed Biden’s comments in television interviews.
“Let’s be very clear, the vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this,” he told ABC’s “Good Morning America." “Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end.”
In Harrisburg, Harris parried repeated interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters objecting to her support for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Ours is about a fight for democracy and your right to be heard,” Harris said as one protester shouted. “That is what is on the line in this election.”
She added: “Look everybody has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”
As she waited for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, 35-year-old Liz Kazal said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the election. She’s tried to volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking on doors with her toddler daughter and raising money for Harris’ candidacy.
“You hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Kazal said.
___ Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina; Adriana Gomez Licon in Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa; and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
Will Weissert And Chris Megerian, The Associated Press