Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take aim at Trump saying 'he’s left the US in tatters’

David Gardner13 August 2020

Kamala Harris accused President Donald Trump of leaving the United States “in tatters” in her first appearance with Democrat White House hopeful Joe Biden since being unveiled as his running mate.

Making history as the first black woman and the first person of Indian descent to join a major US party’s presidential ticket, the California senator went straight on the attack against President Trump after joining Mr Biden on the campaign trail.

“He inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden and then, like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground,” she said.

“This is what happens when we elect a guy who just isn’t up for the job. Our country ends in tatters and so does our reputation around the world.”

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris
AFP via Getty Images

She added: “Everything we care about — our economy, our health, our kids, the kind of country we live in — it’s all on the line.

"We have a president who cares more about himself than the people who elected him, a president who is making every challenge we face even more difficult to solve. I am ready to get to work.”

Ms Harris, the 55-year-old daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, said Mr Biden, 77, “takes his place in the ongoing story of America’s march toward equality and justice as the only person who served alongside the first black president, and has chosen the first black woman as his running mate”.

As they shared the podium for the first time in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr Biden said his choice sent a powerful message to young girls.

“This morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up — especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued — today, just maybe, they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way. As the stuff of presidents and vice presidents,” he said.

The choice of VP has energised the presidential campaign and a Reuters/Ipsos poll last night claimed nearly nine out of 10 Democrats approved of Mr Biden’s decision.

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