Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have intensified their personal attacks as the two White House contenders ramp up campaigning in battleground states, just 16 days before the election.
In Pennsylvania, Trump made a stop at a McDonald’s, where he served fries in an attempt to undermine Harris’s claim of having worked at the fast-food chain decades ago. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Harris tweeted that Trump was “exhausted, unstable, and unfit to be President of the United States.”
Polls show the race is extremely close, particularly in seven key battleground states that could decide the election.
While campaigning in traditionally Republican Lancaster County, Trump focused on the economy and immigration, issues he believes will sway undecided voters. “If you look at the polls, the biggest thing is the economy,” Trump said. “But I think this [the border] is bigger than the economy… that’s the number one thing people want to talk about.”
Earlier, Trump visited a McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he learned how to make fries and served meals at the drive-through. “I like this job,” Trump joked, before accusing Harris of lying about her past employment at McDonald’s. “I’ve now worked [at McDonald’s] for 15 minutes more than Kamala.”
In response, Harris spokesman Ian Sams told the BBC that Trump’s visit was a “desperate” move. “All he knows how to do is lie,” Sams said. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.” The campaign confirmed that Harris had worked at a McDonald’s in Alameda, California, in the summer of 1983, handling tasks such as the cash register, ice cream machine, and fry station.
McDonald’s placed an ad in the 1983 edition of the yearbook at a local high school, with pictures featuring a couple of students who worked there at the time.
The BBC has spoken to one of the students in the photos, who said he remembers a lot of people who worked alongside him at the restaurant more than 40 years ago, though he did not recall Kamala Harris being one of them.
The New York Times, however, spoke to a high school friend of Harris, Wanda Kagan, who said she remembered the now-vice-president working at McDonald’s around that time.
On Sunday, Harris celebrated her 60th birthday and gave an interview to MSNBC, whose host asked her about Trump’s remark at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Saturday that she was a “[expletive] vice-president”.
Harris said Trump’s language “demeans the office” of the presidency. “He has not earned the right” to be president again, she added.
Earlier in the day, she told a congregation of black church-goers near Atlanta, Georgia, to vote against “chaos, fear and hate” – personified, she suggested, by her Republican rival.On Saturday she told a rally in the city that Trump was “cruel”.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX who has been campaigning for Trump, pledged to give away $1m a day to voters who sign his petition backing the US Constitution.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said the plan was “deeply concerning” and that law enforcement should potentially look into the matter. The crowd at Trump’s town hall-style event in Lancaster on Sunday was largely receptive to his remarks.
But one attendee, Jordan Ashby, told the BBC he was undecided and waiting to hear closing arguments from both candidates.
“I truly don’t know yet,” said the Lancaster resident when asked how he would vote.
“I have family on both sides of the fence. It’s a difficult time right now.” Other attendees told the BBC they were attracted by Trump’s vows to secure the US-Mexico border and reduce inflation.
“[Inflation] is what I see a lot of in my daily life, especially with gas prices and affording groceries,” said Brennan Zeyak, an 18-year-old college student voting for the first time this year.
Both candidates will continue making their final pitches on Monday. Harris will on Monday embark on a whirlwind tour of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump will head to the hurricane-stricken town of Asheville, North Carolina, before holding a rally in the town of Greenville.
