As Democratic candidate Kamala Harris continues to rise ahead of the November US presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump continues to react harshly. Local media outlets have highlighted Trump’s words and actions, which are “obsessed” with the size of the crowds mobilized, and reported that he is “frustrated” with Harris’s rapidly increasing approval ratings.
However, some say that candidate Harris is enjoying the ‘honeymoon effect’ because she has not yet been properly tested. Attention is being paid to whether she will be able to overcome the obstacles of being a ‘woman’ in addition to being a ‘black’ candidate in the actual presidential election.
● Trump claims, “Harris crowd photo manipulated with AI”… Media: “Trump is lying”
On the 11th (local time), candidate Trump posted on his TruthSocial SNS, claiming that candidate Harris manipulated crowd photos using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to make non-existent supporters appear to be there. The photo he was referring to was taken on the 7th when candidate Harris landed at an airport near Detroit, Michigan. The Harris camp stated that approximately 15,000 supporters gathered at the scene at the time.
Trump wrote on social media, “It looks like there was a huge crowd of 10,000 people there, but there was no one there,” and “This is a fake image manipulated by AI, and Kamala is a cheater.” He added, “This was uncovered through a tip from an airport worker,” and “The reflection on the outside of the vice president’s plane also shows no one there.”
But the media immediately reported, “Trump lied.” The New York Times (NYT) said, “The crowd that day was witnessed by thousands of people and news outlets including the NYT,” and criticized, “Trump’s obsession with large crowds has reached new heights.” CNN said, “Photos and videos of the event, including footage captured by our cameras, easily refute this far-right conspiracy theory.” The Washington Post (WP) reported, “The event that day was live-streamed,” and “15,000 people filled the hangar and poured onto the runway.”
The Harris camp immediately counterattacked Trump’s “overkill.” Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, who was also pictured at the event that day, mocked him, saying, “I’m honored that the person who created the AI image included me on stage.” Harris’s running mate, Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, received cheers from supporters when he said during the campaign, “Not everyone cares about crowd size.”
The Washington Post criticized Trump for “repeating unfounded claims, repeating unfounded rumors as fact, and spreading conspiracy theories, especially when he feels politically threatened,” adding, “He has made 35,730 false statements during his term.”
●Republican Party: “Harris’s popularity is a honeymoon effect – avoiding the media and suffering verification damage”
Trump’s claim of “AI manipulation” was made right after a NYT poll the previous day showed Trump trailing Harris by 4 percentage points in three battleground states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). Trump had previously been sensitive to numbers, saying, “When 1,000 people show up for a Harris rally, the media goes ‘crazy’ about how ‘big’ it is, but when 100,000 people show up for my rally, they don’t even report on it.” Foreign media analyzed, “Trump is feeling frustrated as the effect of the ‘assassination attempt’ that rallied supporters just a month ago has disappeared without a trace.”
Trump’s anger grew even more when Harris declared on the same day, “If I’m elected, I won’t tax tips from service industry workers.” This was because this was a pledge she had made. The Trump camp created the hashtag “#CopyCatKamala” and criticized her, saying, “She has no ideas and just steals from Trump.”
In relation to this, even the progressive media in the local area is pointing out that “there is no opportunity to know what kind of policies Harris has.” The AP pointed out that “even after candidate Harris entered the presidential race, she did not give any interviews and avoided reporters’ questions.” It means that the Harris camp is not properly demonstrating her abilities and is only watching the Trump camp ‘self-destruct.’ The NYT commented that “the presidential campaign is increasingly being conducted in the form of a performance in front of a sympathetic audience,” and that “the audience only watches and listens and does not ask questions.”
“(The recent popularity) is because of the honeymoon phase,” said Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. “She hasn’t been questioned by the press yet, and it’s hidden in her record, but she’ll have to answer those questions someday.” Trump responded, “She’s not smart enough to hold a press conference.”
Although Harris is on the rise, there are doubts about whether she can overcome the barrier of being a “black woman” in the actual presidential election. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a black man, expressed concern in an interview with the New York Times, saying, “Sometimes black men tend to think that supporting a black woman as a leader is not showing the power of black men.” The New York Times saw this trend as a small but decisive factor in Harris’s victory in November. According to the AP, only 6% of black women voted for Trump in the 2020 election, while 12% of black men chose Trump.
New York = Correspondent Im Woo-sun [email protected]
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2024-08-12 22:35:53