Trump sharpens his weapons against new rival Kamala Harris

WASHINGTON

Forced to formulate a new electoral strategy less than 100 days before the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump will take part in two campaign events on Wednesday, with new opponent Kamala Harris in his sights.

 Harris launched a searing attack on Trump Tuesday, telling her biggest campaign rally yet that the momentum was shifting in the White House race and daring the Republican to debate her face to face.

Vice President Harris's trip to Atlanta, Georgia, comes as reenergized Democrats regard the swing state as being in play again, after it looked beyond hope under President Joe Biden before his shock withdrawal from the 2024 election.

The presumptive Democratic nominee is aiming to expand the party's 2024 battleground map and appeal to young Black voters, delivering a firm, 20-minute speech to about 10,000 supporters in a packed arena and pledging Americans "are not going back" to the "failed policies" of Trump.

"Now, the baton is in our hands," Harris said to loud applause. "We have a fight in front of us... And we are the underdogs in this race."

The Republican's race for the White House was thrown into chaos on July 21 when U.S. President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy, backing Vice President Harris as the Democratic nominee.

"The momentum in this race is shifting, and there are signs that Donald Trump is feeling it," she said.

Trump had placed 81-year-old Biden's health at the heart of his political campaign, portraying him as an enfeebled old man.

Now, he faces an entirely different candidate: the country's first Black, woman and South-Asian-origin Vice President, who is almost two decades his junior.

The change in candidate has forced Trump and the Republicans to change their strategy rapidly, and it appears that his campaign is still settling on a line of attack against her.

So far, he has described his rival as "Lying Kamala," "Laughing Kamala" and "Crazy Kamala," among other epithets.

He has also taken sharper lines of attack against her.

In North Carolina last week, Trump falsely accused the U.S. vice president of being in favor of "the execution of a baby," mischaracterizing her position on the wedge issue of abortion.

On Wednesday, Trump will fly to Chicago to participate in a roundtable discussion with African American journalists that will be devoted to "the most pressing issues facing the Black community."

According to his campaign, Trump will explain how he "accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history by implementing America First policies on the economy, immigration, energy, law and order, and foreign policy."

Later in the day, the former president will hold a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a battleground state where he narrowly survived an assassination attempt earlier this month.

Saturday will see him head to Atlanta, Georgia, where he will appear in a campaign event alongside running mate J.D. Vance.

The 39-year-old Ohio senator was once a staunch critic of Trump, but changed his tune to become one of his most vocal supporters.

Since his selection as Trump's running mate, a series of videos of controversial past statements have emerged.

In one of them, Vance mocks "childless cat ladies," suggesting that those without children were less fit to govern as they were "miserable" and had no "direct stake" in the country.

In recent remarks to donors Vance described Harris's entry into the race for the White House as a "sucker punch" for the Republican camp, according to U.S. media.

Harris, who has criss-crossed Wisconsin, Georgia and Indiana in recent days, will be in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday evening to address a gathering of African-American students.