According to Guancha.net, when the Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump was asked in a TV interview whether he thought there would be chaos on the election day, he gave this response. Trump said he was worried that some "radical left-wing lunatics" might take action, and claimed that "if it is really necessary, the army should be called in" to ensure order. He said: "I think the people from within are a more serious problem. There are some very bad people among us, some mentally ill people, those radical left-wing lunatics." Although foreign immigrants are "people who are completely destroying our country", on election day, it is not "outsiders" such as terrorists or immigrants with criminal records who will cause riots. On the contrary, Trump is more worried about enemies "from within."
Who exactly are the "enemies within" that Trump is referring to? He targets Democrats and others who are targeting him or investigating him, and mentions Adam Schiff by name. Trump emphasizes that Adam Schiff reached a fake agreement with "some bad people", including Hillary, in order to find an excuse for Hillary's defeat in an election that many people believed she should have won (obviously referring to the 2016 US election). Adam Schiff is a Democratic congressman from California who has long been in a state of confrontation with Trump. It can be said that this Democrat has played a significant role in many of Trump's troubles. This explains why Trump always keeps holding on to this person.
It is worth noting that when talking about the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump downplayed any possible threats from his supporters and instead targeted his left-wing political opponents. Bartiromo asked Trump if he was worried about chaos on Election Day, and Trump replied: "No, I don't think so - at least not by the people who voted for me." Although Bartiromo mentioned the Justice Department's arrest and prosecution of an Afghan national who was suspected of planning a terrorist attack on Election Day, and mentioned the possible threats posed by "outside agitators" and undocumented immigrants, Trump turned the topic to left-wing political opponents.
In response, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Waltz both criticized Trump on Monday, trying to portray Trump as a threat to American democracy. Harris emphasized in her speech: "A second Trump term would be a huge risk for the United States. Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and mentally disturbed, and he craves unrestrained power." Harris emphasized that Trump's remarks calling Americans enemies are quite dangerous. She said: "He means that in his view, anyone who does not support him or is unwilling to bend to his will is an enemy of the country. This is a serious problem." Harris also said: "He claimed that he would use the military to hunt down these people. Think about what this means."
In addition, the United States also suffered a disaster. CCTV News reported that on the evening of October 9, local time, the National Hurricane Center of the United States released a message indicating that the Category 3 Hurricane Milton landed 11 kilometers south of Sarasota Bay on the west coast of Florida, USA. Affected by this hurricane, more than 3 million users in Florida have lost power. Prior to this, on September 27, Hurricane Helene landed in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. The heavy rains, floods and strong winds it brought caused at least 236 deaths in the United States. Hurricane Helene became the hurricane with the highest number of deaths in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
At the same time, the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States are arguing over whether the government's disaster relief efforts are ineffective. The hurricane disaster has become a political tool for the two parties' campaigns, and both sides are trying to gain more political capital from it. Many false news related to the hurricane and mutual accusations have made the disaster situation more confusing, and disaster relief work has become a political struggle between the two parties. Not only do the people in the disaster-stricken areas have to endure the pain of displacement, but they are also swept up in rumors and "disaster relief politics", which makes their lives, which have already suffered a heavy blow, even worse.
(New York Times) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used the hurricane to criticize the Democratic government, accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency of improperly allocating millions of relief funds to illegal immigrants. In response to this statement, current President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris immediately refuted it. Harris strongly criticized Trump on a TV show, saying that he fabricated lies to achieve political goals and this behavior aggravated the suffering of the people. (Washington Post) A commentary pointed out that with less than three weeks left before the election, the damage caused by the hurricane may affect the inclinations of voters in key swing states, thus bringing new uncertainty and instability to the political landscape of the United States.
Harris wanted to use this natural disaster to attract attention and increase her presence. She publicly accused Governor DeSantis of not answering her calls. However, DeSantis refuted her without any chance of retaliation, claiming that this was not within the scope of the vice president's authority and that Harris was only doing this to serve the campaign. Biden did not support Harris on this issue, but instead publicly praised DeSantis for "responding properly" and "actively cooperating." This situation caused dissatisfaction among Harris' team, believing that Biden and Harris were not on the same front. At this critical juncture of the election, Biden's "dragging his feet" behavior is obviously quite unfavorable to Harris's election situation.
The rift in American society has been exposed without any cover. (The Hill) mentioned that in the course of American history, whenever a disaster strikes, the public and party leaders usually temporarily put aside their political differences. Political scientists named this phenomenon the "rallying around the flag effect." However, this once-tradition now seems to have become history. When the hurricane disaster struck the United States, it not only failed to unite the two parties in the United States, but instead provided the two parties with new opportunities to fight. In the current United States, the degree of social rift has reached a point where it is almost impossible to repair, and such a serious social rift often indicates that conflicts of interest are more difficult to reconcile. The strong hurricane from Florida, while sweeping through the houses and facilities in its passage, also swept across the American political stage, causing waves in the general election, blowing away the hypocritical disguise of politicians, and pulling down the curtain used by American democracy to cover up its shame.
