CNN
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Kamala Harris is responding to Democratic panic over her prospects for the White House by turning up the pressure on Donald Trump.

The vice president warned Monday that the ex-president was “unstable,” “unhinged” and bent on “unchecked power” as she sent a jolt of urgency through her campaign with 21 days to go.

‘Look at his rallies. Listen to his words. He tells us who he is, and he tells us what he would do if elected president,” Harris told a large crowd in Pennsylvania after a weekend in which Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric reached chilling new levels and hinted at its extreme nature of its potential second-class position. term.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, meanwhile, went even further, suggesting that the ex-president’s musings about using the military against domestic enemies he labeled “the enemy from within” could even amount to treason.

Harris and her team also aggressively questioned Trump’s mental fitness and ability to serve another term, turning the tables on the Republican candidate who had spent months leveling similar charges against President Joe Biden.

In another effort by Harris to allay concerns about her seemingly stalled momentum, she announced a major new initiative to court Black male voters amid fears that Trump is making inroads into a critical Democratic support base or that they simply won’t come.

And in a new ad campaign in the swing state of Arizona, Harris made new efforts to win over Republicans alienated by the ex-president’s behavior but who are still faced with what for many is a heartbreaking decision to cross party lines. To that end, Harris also announced she would sit down for her first formal interview with Fox News, dropping her previous reticence about unscripted events to create a contrast with Trump, who rarely leaves the conservative media bubble.

Harris’ new attempts to dictate the pace of the election’s endgame came as both candidates campaigned in opposite corners of Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth’s 19 electoral votes could well decide who wins the White House, and like a handful of other battlegrounds, the latest polls say it’s a matter of doubt.

Harris is entering the decisive part of her political life. Her actions under the most intense pressure over the next three weeks will be watched by the remaining voters who are undecided and may be looking for a reason to elect her. She should also energize wavering or unenthusiastic Democratic-leaning voters who may not show up on Election Day.

More broadly, the vice president faces one of the most intimidating political assignments in decades after taking over from Biden as the Democratic nominee months before the election. She tries to convince a disaffected electorate that she is a candidate for change despite being part of an unpopular government, while trying to take down Trump, who has shown that he will not do almost anything to regain power win.

Still, Harris’ efforts to seal the deal against the former president are complicated by his refusal to meet with her for a second debate after her strong showing during their first confrontation in September boosted her campaign.

In a new part of her stump speech, Harris played a tape to her rowdy crowd in Erie that included Trump’s comment on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he could turn the National Guard or the regular army against “the enemy from within.” .

“You heard his words,” Harris said. “He is talking about the enemy within Pennsylvania… he considers anyone who does not support him or will not submit to his will as an enemy of our country.” The vice president added: “Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged, and he is bent on unchecked power.”

Just before Harris spoke, her running mate unveiled the most explicit assessment yet of Trump’s potential threat to basic political freedoms if he wins a second term. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said the idea that a president could use troops against Americans made him “stomach ache.”

And the Army National Guard veteran highlighted a comment by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that Trump was a “fascist through and through,” as reported in Bob Woodward’s new book, “War.” Walz added, “Let that sink in, and don’t be a little bit afraid to say it, because that’s exactly who he is. That’s exactly who he is.”

However, Trump’s vice presidential candidate JD Vance defended his boss’s comments. ‘Is it a justified use of these resources if they cause riots, loot and burn down cities? Of course it is. Right?” the Ohio senator said in Minneapolis. “I think the question is: Is it a justified use of assets? It depends on what actually happens.”

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The intensification of Democratic rhetoric about Trump comes as Democrats begin to consider the implications of winning the ex-president in a double election and securing a second term that will likely be even less restrained than his first. Former President Barack Obama set the tone last week during his own tour of Pennsylvania.

Harris suggested in an interview with Roland Martin that Trump had something to hide. “He won’t argue with me anymore. I have made my medical records public, he will not make his medical records public. And you have to wonder: why does his staff do that? And it may be because they think he’s just not ready, and unfit, and unstable, and that he shouldn’t have that level of transparency with the American people.

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff asked questions about the 78-year-old former president’s mental and physical condition. Like his wife, he noted Trump’s withdrawal from a “60 Minutes” interview, saying, “It’s just clear that when you look at him and listen to him, you can see the humiliation before your eyes.”

He added: “He’s a demeaning version of an already awful person, so it’s just going to get worse and worse.”

At her rally in Erie, Harris put on an energetic show that appeared to be an attempt to allay Democratic fears that the momentum she built after taking over from Biden in July has not translated into a clear lead over the ex-president.

“We will win. We will win,” she insisted with a beaming smile.

Erie County, in far northwestern Pennsylvania, is a miniature study of the broader strategic nationwide battle that Harris and Trump face over the next three weeks. Biden won the county by 1 percentage point in 2020, but the former president carried the county by nearly 2,000 votes on his way to the White House in 2016. The city of Erie is a Democratic stronghold, but the battle between Harris and Trump will be intense among moderate voters in the suburbs and Trump will look to earn huge margins in rural and farming communities.

The twice-impeached former president appeared at a town hall event in Oaks, northeast of Philadelphia, with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a star in the conservative media firmament.

The event spotlighted issues such as the cost of living and housing, which Trump’s team sees as key to the election. One of the most critical questions for undecided voters in the coming days is whether the pressures on many American families – for example from high grocery prices – will outweigh concerns about Trump’s extremism and threats to democracy.

Harris was not the only candidate to hold an important constituency on Monday. (She unveiled a plan to increase access to financing for Black men looking to start a business, and a health initiative to increase screenings for conditions that disproportionately affect the community). Trump tried to make inroads with young men who often have few voters, but who could add something to his coalition.

Appearing on Nelk Boys’ “Full Send” podcast, which has more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube, he talked authoritatively about UFC martial arts stars in conversations that displayed the kind of authenticity many voters love. He also appeared to confirm that he would appear on Joe Rogan’s wildly popular podcast in the latest example of how both he and Harris are turning to non-traditional media sources to reach Americans who often don’t vote.