Vice President Kamala Harris is making her rounds with media interviews to fire up her base, leading up to a short few months before the election, after a widely positive performance at her first presidential debate last week.
With a growing lead on her opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, Harris met with groups like the National Association of Black Journalists earlier this week. On Thursday evening, she also had a live event in Michigan where an interview with Oprah Winfrey — who endorsed Harris at the DNC — took place. The two-hour "Unite for America" stream centered on the countless grassroots organizations backing Harris, The Associated Press said.
During this media tour, Harris is also reiterating to voters how she is the antithesis of Trump by calling out his incendiary rhetoric at the debate which has led to xenophobic fearmongering around Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. While Trump just survived a second assassination attempt on a golf course in Florida, the former president is also making the rounds, including an appearance on Fox News' late-night show "Gutfeld!" — hosted by Greg Gutfeld.
In terms of appearing as TV guests, both candidates have chosen their corners. Here's some of the latest media speaking points from each side:
Harris
Teaming up with Winfrey on Thursday, Harris' fundraising groups “White Dudes for Harris,” “Cat Ladies for Kamala” and “Latinas for Harris" presented during the small live event. Winfrey reportedly collaborated with the group "Win With Black Women,” which helped draw in thousands of people for a Harris fundraiser immediately after she entered the race. Also, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer alongside celebrities like Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep attended the event with issues like abortion at the center of the conversation, The Washington Post reported.
The journalist and former daytime talk show host's endorsement of Harris is significant — as she has avoided the political spotlight in recent years, as BBC points out — only endorsing a few major presidential races, namely former President Barack Obama's presidential bid.
During Thursday's event, Winfrey pled to audiences watching over Zoom and in the crowd, “I just want to say, for all of you watching who are still on the fence, you’re in the middle. You’re independent as I am,” Winfrey said.
.@Oprah: For all of you watching who are still on the fence, in the middle, independent as I am, or whether you just still don't know what you're gonna do. This is the moment for all decent and caring people who want the best for yourself and other people. This is the moment for… pic.twitter.com/QCHIHF3oyB
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 20, 2024
She stated that “this is the moment” for voters to take a stance. “As my friend and mentor Maya Angelou always said, 'When you know better, you got to do better.' So let’s do better and vote for Kamala Harris.”
In a statement on Tuesday about the event with Harris, Winfrey said she aimed to use the live stream as a motivator to go to the polls.
“What is essential to me is getting people motivated to vote — and that’s my intention in hosting this event. My goal is to get people excited about the privilege and power of the vote," Winfrey said.
Harris, on the other hand, is appealing to a strong coalition of Black voters who are backing her, who Trump is attacking. In an interview on Tuesday, Harris spoke at a gathering for the National Association of Black Journalists. She called out Trump's baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio, stating they were “hateful rhetoric” and “tropes” that had been “designed to divide us as a country.”
“This is exhausting, and it’s harmful,” she said. “And it’s hateful, and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should not have the tolerance for.”
Trump
The former president spent Wednesday evening joking about the second attempt on his life on "Gutfeld!" Just days after the second assassination attempt at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the host joked, "Mr. T, how’s your golf game?"
“Well, I haven’t been thinking about it too much lately . . . I always said golf was a very dangerous game,” Trump said, receiving laughs from the audience.
“It really is, especially if they’re playing with you,” Gutfeld quipped. Then the host asked, “If they had told you that the shooter was there, would you have tried to take him out with your 3-wood?”
“I think so. I think so, if I knew. Actually, the Secret Service did a great job. They saw the barrel of a gun — big gun — and he came out through bushes, and how many people would see that? He really was very exceptional to have done it,” Trump said.
On Thursday, at the same time as Harris' event with Winfrey, Trump is said to be attending an event with prominent Jewish donors before addressing a gathering of the Israeli-American Council. The Republican candidate will be in Washington, D.C. for the event called “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America.”
The event will be hosted by Miriam Adelson, a partial owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino businessman Sheldon Adelson, who was one of the Republican Party’s largest donors, The AP said.
