In regards to the previous end 2024 electionVice President Kamala Harris is embarking on a three-nation tour of battleground states to court swing voters – with a particular focus on those who support the former UN Ambassador. Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year.
Harris’ distance was strikingly similar to the foreign policy warnings about Trump that Haley delivered while she was still in office presidential candidate.
“If Donald Trump as president, Vladimir Putin will sit in Kyiv – and know what that means for America and our position in the world,” Harris told Oakland County voters in Michigan on Monday. Claiming Trump would hand over Ukraine to Russia, Harris added, “that’s a sign told the Russian President that he could get away with what he had done. Look at the map. Poland will be next.”
As a candidate in Michigan earlier this year, Haley warned of the potential consequences of Trump’s failure to treat Putin as a threat.
“After taking Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics next,” Haley said. “This is a NATO country that is directly making America war.”
Harris and Haley also stressed the need to support America’s allies, contradicting Trump and Republican views on isolationism that they say will bring the US closer to war.
“Isolation, which is exactly what Donald Trump is doing to get out of NATO and leave our friends,” Harris said Monday. “Isolation is not insulation. It is not insulation. It will not insulate us from harm in terms of our national security.”
Haley criticized Trump in similar terms. “Look at the situation that the Republican Party is in and Donald Trump is advocating — it’s an isolationist approach,” Haley told Michigan voters earlier this year. “America cannot be so arrogant as to think we don’t need friends.”
On Monday, Harris described Trump’s ties to dictators as a threat to democracy, a point Haley also made on the campaign trail.
Trump, Harris said, “as clearly can be deceived by favor and flattery including from dictators and autocrats around the world, and America knows that is not how we stand.”
The former UN ambassador in January said of Trump, “You are not friends with dictators and thugs who want to kill us.” He added, “When I was in the administration with him at the UN, I had to sit him down and tell him to stop this bromance with Putin.”
Harris and Haley may be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but Harris taps into his public views on foreign policy and America’s role in the world to help undecided Republican and independent voters in the suburbs.
In the counties where Harris campaigned in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Haley received tens of thousands of votes in the Republican primaries – even though she dropped out of the presidential race. A senior Harris campaign official said the campaign believed it was an indication of suburban voters’ dissatisfaction with Trump. The vice president has relied on Republicans to help him appeal to those voters, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of Trump who has endorsed Harris and campaign with him this week. Harris also hit the trail with other Republicans and a former Trump aide earlier this month.
In 2020, Joe Biden won Michigan by less than 155,000 votes. In the race against Trump in the primary, Haley won by nearly 55,000 votes in Oakland County, Michigan.
Haley dropped out of the presidential race before the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin primaries, but in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Haley received 9,000 votes, about 24% of the county’s GOP primary vote. President Biden’s margin in Pennsylvania is only 80,000 votes in 2020, and even smaller in Wisconsin – only 20,000 votes. Haley received 9,000 votes in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
While Harris is trying to woo Haley’s former supporters, Haley herself is ready to campaign for Trump, despite warnings about her months ago.
According to sources familiar with the plans, Haley’s team has given the Trump campaign availability dates for potential joint campaign events, and both teams are working to schedule appearances before Election Day.
Last month, Haley told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that she was happy to help the campaign if needed.
“For me, the stark contrast between the administration of Trump and Harris is what led me to say, yes, I have to, you know, I will vote with Trump, and I will speak at the convention.” he said. “Do I agree with his style? Do I agree with his approach? Do I agree with his communication? No. When I look at his policies and how they affect my family and how I’m going to affect the country, that’s where I go back and see the difference.”
In an interview with “Fox and Friends” last week, Trump said “I’m going to do what I have to do” when asked if he would seek Haley’s help, but he reiterated that he “beat her.”
