Republicans urging Donald Trump to tone down his personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris are facing a formidable challenge: Vice President Kamala Harris herself. According to a report from The New York Times, the Harris campaign is about to make a move seemingly designed to provoke the former president.
On Tuesday night, Harris will hold a rally at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the very arena where Trump accepted the Republican Party’s nomination just last month. The New York Times noted, “Ms. Harris’s choice of venue is the latest in a series of aggressive moves that seem designed to get under Mr. Trump’s notoriously thin skin.”
The selection of this particular venue is significant, given Trump’s well-documented obsession with crowd sizes, a key element of his 2016 campaign success. The Fiserv Forum, with its 18,000-seat capacity, is in the heart of Milwaukee, the most populous city in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Should Harris manage to fill the arena, it could provoke Trump into repeating his often-controversial claims, such as the idea that artificial intelligence is behind reports of her crowd size, according to the Times analysis.
Neither the Harris nor Trump campaigns offered comments to The New York Times on the event. However, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) predicted that Trump’s response would be swift and pointed. “Trump is perhaps the most thin-skinned person ever to run for president,” Boyle told the Times. “So he’s fairly easy to bait and knock off message.”
While Harris is set to rally in Milwaukee, Trump will be campaigning in Howell, Michigan, a town with a history of extremism and ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Just last month, white supremacists reportedly gathered there, chanting “We love Hitler. We love Trump.” This location choice further highlights the stark contrast between the two campaigns.
The New York Times suggests that Harris’s decision to hold her rally at such a symbolic venue is part of a broader strategy to unsettle Trump, who is known for his sensitivity to perceived slights. As the campaign heats up, it remains to be seen how Trump will respond to Harris’s bold move, but it’s clear that both sides are preparing for an intense showdown in the weeks ahead.