Harris is trying to win over Republicans dissatisfied with Trump by visiting Midwestern suburbs

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Kamala Harris joined Liz Cheney on Monday to make a bipartisan appeal to Republican voters worried about Donald Trump, describing the former president as a malign force who must be removed from American politics.

The Democratic vice president said at an event in suburban Philadelphia that Trump has “used the power of the presidency to demean and divide us” and “people are exhausted by it.”

“People all over the world are watching,” Harris said. “And sometimes I worry a little bit about whether we as Americans really understand how important we are to the world.”

Cheney, a former congresswoman from Wyoming, said her background as a conservative means she prioritizes the Constitution over her political party and she is concerned about handing over foreign policy to a “completely unpredictable, completely unstable” Trump.

“Our opponents know they can play Donald Trump,” she said. “And we can’t afford to take that risk.”

Trump has often tried to portray Harris, a native of deep blue California, as a radical liberal, but she struck a moderate tone in her appearance with Cheney.

Harris promised to “invite good ideas from everywhere” and “cut red tape,” and she said “there should be a healthy two-party system in the country.”

“We need to be able to have these good, intense debates about substantive issues,” Harris said.

“Introduce!” Cheney replied.

“Let’s start there!” Harris said as the audience clapped. “Can you believe that’s an applause line?”

Harris had two more events with Cheney on Monday, all three in the counties won by Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination.

Her next stop is Oakland County in suburban Detroit and her third stop is Waukesha County outside of Milwaukee.

With just two weeks to go before the presidential election and a dead heat, the Democratic candidate is seeking the support of all possible voters. With her campaign she wants to convince those who have not yet decided Mobilize all Democrats who are considering suspending this issueand select voters in areas where support for Trump may be waning.

A few votes here and there could lead to an overall victory. In Waukesha County, for example, Haley won more than 9,000 primary votes even after she dropped out of the race. Overall, Wisconsin went for President Joe Biden by just 20,000 votes in 2020. In-person early voting in the state begins Tuesday.

Cheney says she supported Harris because of their concerns about Trump. She lost her House seat after co-chairing a congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. That is when a violent mob of Trump supporters broke into the building and bloodied law enforcement in a failed attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.

Trump attacked Cheney on social media on Monday, calling her “stupid as a rock” and accusing her of being a “war hawk.”

Cheney is not the only member of her party to support Harris. More than 100 former Republican officeholders and officials joined Harris last week in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, not far from where General George Washington led hundreds of troops across the Delaware River to a major victory in the Revolutionary War.

At a rally there, Cheney told Republican voters that the patriotic choice was to vote for Democrats.

As the election approaches, the vice president has become more focused on Trump’s lies surrounding the 2020 election and his role in the violent mob’s failed efforts. She says Trump is “unstable” and “unhinged” and would undermine democratic norms if he gets a second term in the White House.

“I believe that Donald Trump is an untrustworthy man,” she says at her rallies, “and the consequences if he ever returns to the White House are brutally serious.”

Trump’s campaign has sought to downplay the violent confrontation on January 6, claiming it was “a day of love from the perspective of millions.”