At one time, one got the impression that the ongoing race towards the 2024 US presidency was a foregone conclusion in favour of former President Donald Trump, who kept increasing his support among the voters, particularly after the failed assassination attempt on his life and the incumbent President Joe Biden’s failure to make any headway after his abysmal show in his debate against his Republic opponent.

Following Biden’s withdrawal from the race and his endorsement for the nomination of his Vice President Kamala Harris, the fight has gathered pace once again, and it is now really on. The Vice President is giving Trump more than just a run for his money and the former President has had a tough week as his Democratic opponents seem to be turning the tables.

Around a week ago, Trump was riding high, but now he is facing what is being described as a vibrant, younger rival who is hitting the ground. It was only a few days ago that Harris launched her presidential campaign on behalf of the Democratic Party following Biden’s departure from the race. However, she has enjoyed near-unanimous support from her party. Following the most recent endorsements by former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, she is now assured of the Democrats’ nomination to challenge Republican Trump for the Presidential election in November.

The Obamas’ endorsement of Kamala Harris follows a string of high-profile politicians who endorsed her for the nomination. In a statement, the former President and his wife expressed their support and commitment to doing everything they could to get her elected President.

Obama told her that he and his wife couldn’t be prouder to endorse her and would do everything they could to get her through the coming election and into the Oval Office.

Michelle Obama also told her it was time for them to rally around her candidacy. “This is not on you, it’s not just on you and Doug, it’s on all of us … We’ve got to register, we’ve got to vote … So, let’s all roll up our sleeves and make it happen,” she told her. So far, no other candidate has thrown their hat in the ring to oppose the Vice President.

The Associated Press tracker has reported that, of the roughly 4,000 Democratic delegates, Harris has the support of more than 3,000 and is the overwhelming frontrunner to secure the nomination. Democratic Party rules permit delegates to change their minds until an official vote, at which point they are bound. The party would hold a virtual roll call ahead of next month’s party convention in Chicago.

Kamala Harris accuses Trump of backpedalling on a debate

Meanwhile, a confident Kamala Harris has maintained that she was ready to debate Trump and confirmed her participation in the debate on ABC News, which had been scheduled when Joe Biden was still the presumptive nominee. Harris said the voters “deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage.” Not so the Republican nominee. He had planned a second debate with President Joe Biden in September, a couple of months before the presidential election, but has now decided not to schedule any discussions with the Vice President.

Trump’s campaign spokesperson said it could be “improper to schedule things with Harris” because she has not yet been formally announced, while his campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, followed up with another “excuse” that it would be “inappropriate” to commit to a debate before the Democratic National Convention next month. Observers believe these are just excuses not to face Harris.

If Trump agreed to face her, the Vice President said she was ready to debate Trump in September and accused him of laying the groundwork to get out of it. She told reporters, “I am ready to debate Donald Trump. I have agreed to the previously agreed-upon September 10 debate. He agreed to that previously. Now it appears he’s backpedalling, but I’m ready. I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage.”

When President Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Harris, whom an irate Trump called “a Radical Left Democrat”, he reportedly took issue with the debate he’d agreed to months ago. Then he said that any debate, if agreed upon, “should be held on Fox News (known for its wholehearted support to Trump) rather than “a very biased ABC”, which he also described as “among the absolute WORST in the business”.

Trump posts fake photo of Mike Tyson and thanks him

Sometimes, you get surprised to read about the lengths some politicians in the US get up to to steal some publicity. Donald Trump is quite a master at this. However, he is usually found out and then loses face. One such incident was reported by HuffPost earlier this week when he took his friendship with boxing icon Mike Tyson much too far by tipping his hat to the boxer who is “on the mend” after suffering a medical emergency. Trump shared a fake photo of the boxer expressing his support for the former President.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared the phoney picture that featured Tyson rocking a shirt that reads, “If You Don’t Like Trump, Then You Probably Won’t Like Me… And I’m OK With That”. Trump wrote: “Thank you, Mike!”. Huff Post claimed that “Tyson has never posted a picture of him wearing such a shirt” and that the picture that Trump shared was an altered screenshot from a video Tyson posted in March that shows the boxer wearing a “Sign the contract, big boy” tee — apparel he’s selling ahead of his match against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in July.

Trump and the disabled

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) emphasised the dangers of another Trump presidency by slamming the former President for alleged remarks in which he dismissed the lives of disabled Americans. Duckworth said that the former President’s nephew Fred C. Trump III, who has a disabled son, recounted a conversation he says he had in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic with his uncle in which Trump said disabled Americans “should just die”.

The conversation reportedly occurred after a meeting with advocates, doctors, and White House staff to discuss how to mitigate and address challenges faced by disabled people, their families, and caregivers in housing, medical spaces, and other areas of daily life.

Concerns

Finally,  in another report by HuffPost, the former president told Christians at a conservative event in his latest rally in Florida to vote “just this time”. He told them, “It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine,” and claimed they “won’t have to do it anymore” after the election in November. He continued, “Get out. You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”

Since Kamala Harris’ endorsement, Trump and his team have been turning their attacks on her. They have been hammering and criticising her, attacking her work on the borders and mocking her by mispronouncing her name as Kahm-a-la. She is being called all sorts of names, including a radical, a bum, and even worse. Trump called her “the most incompetent, unpopular and far left vice-president in American history” and that he “couldn’t care less” about her. But now, talking with Fox News Digital, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy expressed the concerns he has with how Republicans are framing their criticisms of Vice President Harris.

Main photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI