Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump has used particularly abusive language to insult his Democratic rival Kamala Harris as "mentally impaired". "Joe Biden was mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way," Trump told his supporters in the small town of Prairie du Chien in the state of Wisconsin on Saturday (local time).
"She was born that way. And when you think about it, only a mentally impaired person could have allowed this to happen to our country," he said, referring to the particularly controversial issue of migration during the election campaign.
Small US towns like Prairie du Chie were "afraid of migrants", Trump said during his campaign appearance. They would "rape, pillage, steal, pillage and kill the people of the United States of America". Referring to illegal immigrants as "animals", Trump said they were taking jobs away from minorities and union workers. He went on to say, "They will come into your kitchen and cut your throat."
With the racially tinged accusations, which are not supported by any facts, Trump was apparently reacting to a visit by Harris to the border with Mexico the previous day, about which he appeared visibly annoyed. During the visit to the state of Arizona, Harris had demonstrated his determination to implement stricter immigration laws. She said on Friday in the city of Douglas that the USA had a "duty to set rules at our border and enforce them". She takes this responsibility "very seriously".
Immigration policy is a weak point in Harris' record as US President Joe Biden's deputy, according to Republicans. A majority of people say they trust Trump more than her on one of the most important issues for voters ahead of the November election. Her visit to the US border with Mexico was therefore also an opportunity to score points on this important campaign issue.
Trump now complained in Wisconsin that the conservative broadcaster Fox News had also reported on Harris' nationally televised appearance. "They shouldn't be allowed to cover it," Trump said. The right-wing populist attacked the Vice President herself as a "liar".
Polls continue to show close race
Harris, meanwhile, spent Saturday at a fundraiser in San Francisco, California. There, she said Trump was using "the same lame strategy we've been hearing for years." "This election is about two very different visions for our country, and we're seeing that contrast on the campaign trail," she said.
Even though Harris has put her Republican rival on the defensive during the campaign, the polls continue to point to an extremely close race in the presidential election on November 5. In the end, the results from a handful of states, the so-called swing states, are likely to decide the winner of this year's election. Alongside Pennsylvania and Michigan, the swing state of Wisconsin is one of a group of seven US states in which the race is particularly close.