In a CNN city corridor, Vice President Kamala Harris confronted robust questions on her coverage method from voters, whereas additionally providing her the chance to share a number of introspective moments.
Voters on the Oct. 23 occasion within the Philadelphia suburb of Delaware County pressed Harris on why her administration didn’t act sooner to curb unlawful immigration, what she deliberate to do to restrain inflation and the way the U.S. would stop Palestinian civilians from struggling in a war-torn Center East.
Harris a number of occasions warned voters of the danger of former President Donald Trump’s return to energy, together with her most distinguished public voicing of the concept that Trump is a fascist.
Moderator Anderson Cooper requested Harris, “Do you suppose Donald Trump is a fascist?”
Harris responded, “Sure, I do.”
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At one level, an viewers member requested, “What would you do to make sure not one other Palestinian dies attributable to bombs being funded by U.S. tax {dollars}?”
Harris responded that “far too many harmless Palestinian civilians have been killed. It is unconscionable.” However she mentioned she sees “a chance” with Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar, the architect of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist assault, to “finish this battle, deliver the hostages house, deliver aid to the Palestinian folks, and work towards a two-state resolution the place Israel and the Palestinians in equal measure have safety, the place the Palestinian folks have dignity, self-determination, and the protection that they so rightly deserve.”
Trump, who declined CNN’s invitation for a city corridor, rallied supporters at an occasion hosted by Turning Level Motion in Duluth, Georgia.
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Cooper drew Harris out on a few private reflections, together with the grief she felt when her mom handed away from most cancers greater than a decade in the past and her religion.
Harris recalled that when she heard the information that President Joe Biden would surrender the Democratic nomination, she “instinctively understood the gravity of the second” and sought out religious steering from her pastor, Rev. Amos C. Brown of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco.
“There’s part of the scripture that talks about Esther, ‘such a time as this,’ and that is what we talked about,” she mentioned. “And it was very comforting for me.”
Listed below are fact-checks of a few of what Harris mentioned within the city corridor.
Speaking Trump
Trump referred to as People “the enemies inside” — “he is speaking about journalists, judges, nonpartisan election officers.”
It’s true that Trump has used the “enemies inside” language. In a Fox Information interview Oct. 13, Trump mentioned he believes “the enemy from inside” would trigger Election Day chaos and steered that, if it’s an issue, the Nationwide Guard or army could be used towards them.
Pressed on whom he identifies as “the enemy,” Trump has named main Democrats and others who disagree with him. On Oct. 21 in Pennsylvania, Trump closed a rally by repeating his evaluation of evilness.
“They’re so unhealthy and admittedly, they’re evil,” Trump mentioned. “They’re evil. What they’ve completed, they’ve weaponized, they’ve weaponized our elections.”
“The previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees has mentioned (Trump) is ‘a fascist to the core.’”
Harris accurately characterised feedback that retired Gen. Mark A. Milley made to writer Bob Woodward in his new guide “Conflict.”
Milley, who served as Joint Chiefs of Employees chairman beneath Trump, advised Woodward that Trump is “a fascist to the core” and “probably the most harmful particular person to this nation.”
Milley’s feedback echoed that of one other high-ranking Trump administration official, retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of workers.
In an Oct. 22 report, The New York Instances quoted Kelly saying a definition of fascism “precisely described Mr. Trump.”
Economic system and taxes
“A part of (Trump’s) plan is to place in place a nationwide gross sales tax of not less than 20% on on a regular basis items and requirements, and that, by economist estimates, unbiased economists, would price you, because the American shopper and taxpayer, an extra $4,000 a yr.”
Trump has talked about elevating tariffs throughout the board by 10% to twenty%, so the 20% determine Harris cited is on the higher finish of what Trump has mentioned. Tariffs are additionally not technically a part of the tax code, however their impact on customers can be comparable by costing them more cash.
The $4,000 determine Harris cited is on the higher finish of unbiased estimates.
Two estimates we discovered broadly assist Harris’ $4,000 quantity. Two others present a smaller — although nonetheless important — impression, within the $1,700 to $2,600 vary.
“It’s the case in the US of America that billionaires, on common, pay much less taxes as a proportion than academics and firefighters and nurses.”
This speaking level typically repeated by Harris and different Democrats is unsuitable.
Below present regulation, the 25 highest-earning billionaires paid a 16% tax price on common, estimates present, whereas the highest 1% of taxpayers paid a median price north of 25.6%.
Greater than 91% of households incomes from $50,000 to $100,000 a yr — the class that features most academics, firefighters and nurses — paid efficient tax charges of 15% or much less, typically a lot much less.
Abortion and the Supreme Courtroom
Texas’ abortion regulation gives “for jail, for all times for well being care suppliers” and a few state legal guidelines “make no exception, even for rape or incest.”
Harris criticized Trump over strict abortion legal guidelines which were enacted in states throughout the nation because the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, saying legal guidelines like Texas’ threaten well being care suppliers with “jail for all times” and that some states “make no exception, even for rape or incest.”
That is appropriate. The penalty for violating Texas’ abortion regulation, which is an outright ban, may embody life in jail, a high quality of $100,000 and lack of a medical license.
Texas’ regulation, which incorporates an exception for the lifetime of the pregnant lady, is certainly one of 9 U.S. states that doesn’t permit exceptions for rape or incest. The others are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee.
“There isn’t any query that the American folks more and more are shedding confidence within the Supreme Courtroom.”
The latest Gallup knowledge, for September 2024, confirmed 44% approval of the Supreme Courtroom, which is near an all-time low since Gallup has been asking this query in 2000. Disapproval stood at 51%, which is almost the very best throughout that interval.
Disapproval is being pushed by the views of Democrats. The courtroom’s approval ranking has nosedived amongst Democrats because the justices overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, hovering round 10 factors under its earlier low.
Republicans at present have a 56% favorable ranking for the courtroom, which is above common for the previous quarter century.
Immigration
“How a lot of that wall did he construct? I feel the final quantity I noticed is about 2%.”
That is correct for brand spanking new wall building, however doesn’t consider alternative. The U.S.-Mexico border is roughly 2,000 miles lengthy. Trump’s administration constructed 52 miles of latest major border obstacles — the primary obstacle folks encounter in the event that they’re attempting to cross the southern border with Mexico — the place there have been none earlier than. That barrier can block entry for folks on foot or for autos.
The Trump administration constructed 458 whole miles of major and secondary border obstacles, U.S. Customs and Border Safety knowledge exhibits. The bulk had been replacements of smaller, dilapidated obstacles.
“As of as we speak, we now have minimize the move of immigration by over half.”
That is supported by fiscal yr 2024 knowledge. Border Patrol encounters with migrants on the southwest border peaked in December 2023 — at about 250,000. In September, the most recent month out there and the top of fiscal yr 2024, there have been about 54,000 encounters, a 78% drop, U.S. Customs and Border Safety knowledge exhibits.
Encounters check with events when the immigration officers cease somebody on the border; a single particular person might be stopped greater than as soon as and counted greater than as soon as, and encounters don’t imply that the particular person is let into the U.S.
