Former President Donald Trump‘s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaigns are turning to bitter personal attacks against their opponent’s mental and physical capabilities in the final two weeks of the 2024 election cycle.
Age and declining mental facilities plagued President Joe Biden prior to his departure from the November race, but those accusations are still a focal point of the presidential election for both sides of the aisle as Harris, Trump, and their allies argue that their opponent is not fit to serve in the White House.
Both presidential campaigns traveled to battleground states on Tuesday as polling shows the head-to-head race is within the margin of error of each other in several key states that could sway the Nov. 5 contest.
In Greensboro, North Carolina, the former president slammed Harris for not hitting the campaign stump on Tuesday.
“You know, where Kamala is today? They don’t want to tell you,” Trump said. “She’s sleeping. She took a day off. She’s got no energy at all. … Her speeches last for about 15 minutes.”
Later in the rally, Trump reiterated his attack against Harris, claiming, “She’s now sleeping while I’m working my ass off.”
While the vice president was not holding campaign rallies Tuesday, Harris did sit for two interviews with Telemundo and NBC News, and she is gearing up for a CNN town hall on Wednesday, which Trump declined to participate in.
The former president then lambasted Harris over her interview with CBS News’s 60 Minutes, calling it “stupid.”
“She didn’t know where the hell she was going,” Trump claimed. “Does she drink? Is she on drugs?”
More than 600 miles away in Detroit, former President Barack Obama joined Michigan Democrats and rapper Eminem to turn out support. Obama argued that the 2024 election should be one decided by competency and values as well as policies.
“We do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails,” Obama said to the crowd. “America is ready to turn the page.”
Democrats have turned the age narrative on Trump, with Harris showing clips of Trump’s rambling speeches at campaign rallies and calling him “unstable and unhinged” while speaking before voters in Pennsylvania last week.
Harris also claimed Trump was unfit for the White House after he canceled several interviews last week with CNBC, NBC, and the Shade Room, a black-owned media outlet.
“He is ducking debates and canceling interviews,” Harris said Friday at a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “And check this out — his own campaign team recently said it is because of exhaustion.”
“Well, if you are exhausted on the campaign trail, it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world,” she continued.
While the former president is known for lengthy and sometimes unconventional speeches at rallies, Democrats have been quick to point out unusual remarks made by Trump on anything from “the great Hannibal Lecter” to a 12-minute story on the late golf legend Arnold Palmer’s manhood.
“Have you seen Mr. Trump lately? He’s out there just — he’ll give like, 2 1/2-hour speeches,” Obama said. “Just a word salad, you don’t know what the heck he’s saying.”
During the rally, Obama pointed to other comments made by Trump, including his remark last week that Jan. 6, 2021, was a “day of love.”
“Made it sound like Woodstock. Made it sound like Coachella,” Obama said.
“Here’s the point, Detroit: If your grandpa was acting like this, you’d be worried,” the former Democratic president continued. “You’d call up, you call up your sister, your brother, your cousin, you be all like, ‘Let me holla at you. Have you noticed grandpa? He’s acting a little funny.’”
Not to be outdone, Trump slammed Obama’s age and energy levels in Greensboro before the former president appeared onstage in Detroit.
“I’m glad they’re bringing him out. The reason they’re bringing him out because he doesn’t even want to do it,” said Trump. “I think he’s exhausted. I watched him talk. … I think the guy’s exhausted. And I never say a guy is looking old, but he’s looking a little bit older, isn’t he?”
Both Harris, 60, and Obama, 63, are a generation younger than the 78-year-old Trump, who would be the oldest person elected president if he won the election in November.
Ahead of his speech at the Detroit rally, Obama came out and started rapping Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” much to the delight of the crowd. With fervor, he told Michigan attendees to stop booing with regard to Trump and get out and vote.
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“Don’t boo, now, vote. Don’t boo, I’m telling you right now, don’t boo,” Obama said to cheers. “They can’t hear your boos, but they can hear your votes.”
“Get your friends and family, neighbors, coworkers to do the same because if enough of us make our voices heard, we will leave no doubt about the outcome of this election,” Obama continued.
