Vice President Kamala Harris’ criticisms of former President Trump and her drawing of connections between his agenda and that of the conservative Project 2025 initiative spurred chants at an Erie, Pennsylvania, rally reminiscent of the 2016 White House race.
Shortly after the crowd erupted in “lock him up” retorts – similar to Trump rallygoers’ reaction to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified communications during the 2016 cycle – Harris played a mashup of clips in which Trump warned of dangers from “the enemy within.”
“The worst people are the enemies from within… those people are more dangerous; the enemy within; than Russia and China. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices,” Trump collectively stated in some of the television clips played.
“You heard his words,” Harris said after the montage. “He’s talking about the enemy within, Pennsylvania. He’s talking about the enemy within our country, Pennsylvania. He’s talking about how he considers anyone who doesn’t support him or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country. It’s a serious issue,” she said.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In recent comments on the matter to Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump spoke about such “enemies,” and quipped that while China and Russia are “dangerous” at times to deal with, “the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside like Adam Schiff.”
Schiff, a congressman from Burbank, Calif., is currently the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate against Republican retired MLB star Steve Garvey.
In Erie, Harris said Trump opened the door to using the military to “go after” groups, hypothesizing that they might include journalists critical of him, election officials he clashes with or judges that rule against his will.
The Democratic nominee said that, therefore, voting for Trump would be a “huge risk for America” and that her GOP opponent is “increasingly unstable and unhinged.”
Reached for comment, the Trump campaign rejected her warnings, expressing that it was the “Harris-Biden administration that weaponized our justice system to go after President Trump with trumped-up charges in an effort to silence their political rivals.”
“If Kamala wants to cry about ‘unchecked’ abuse of power, she should look in the mirror,” said Pennsylvania Team Trump spokesman Kush Desai.
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Meanwhile, Harris’ preceding comments about the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling in Trump’s favor led to the aforementioned “lock him up” chants.
Harris appeared to sidestep any agreement with such expression, telling the crowd, “hold on, hold on,” and advising that they make their voice heard instead at the ballot box.
“The courts will handle that. Let’s handle November, shall we?” Harris said.
“Look, anybody who said they would terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States – never again.”
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Prior to the rally, Harris stopped at a local business, and was greeted upon arrival in Pennsylvania’s only beachfront city by Democratic Mayor Joe Schember and State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-Erie, according to reports.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., offered the warm-up speech, and the Democratic nominee was ultimately introduced by Karen Kalivoda, a retired civil servant and Erie native.
On the other end of the Commonwealth, Trump was participating in a Pennsylvania town hall hosted by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at an exposition center near King of Prussia.