Vice President Kamala Harris made a splash with her T-shirt in Detroit on Saturday.
The words “Detroit vs. Everybody” were written on the black shirt she wore under a gray blazer as she addressed hundreds of campaign volunteers in the Western International High School gymnasium. The outfit was a clear nod to former President Donald J. Trump, who last week disparaged Detroit, one of the nation’s largest black cities, portraying it as a harbinger of decline for America’s future under Ms. Harris. It was a reaction.
In brief remarks to the audience on the first day of early voting in the city, Ms. Harris implored her supporters to reject Mr. Trump’s divisiveness and insults.
“We support the idea that the true measure of a leader’s strength is not who he defeats, but who he lifts up,” she said, adding that her campaign is a kind of “grit” He said he was looking for “grit.” The excellence of “the people of Detroit.”
“He spends all his time talking about himself and mythical characters and not talking about workers and you and uplifting you,” Harris added.
Trump attacked Detroit during remarks at an economic forum in the city on October 10, earning widespread scorn from Democrats and fodder for Harris’ campaign ads. “If she were your president, our entire country would look like Detroit,” he had warned about Harris.
Black voters, especially black men, were less enthusiastic about Harris than Democratic candidates in the last election, and Trump is trying to take advantage of that. The Harris campaign has recently stepped up its outreach to black voters, unveiling an economic policy agenda designed specifically for black men. Turnout in Detroit could determine the race in Michigan, one of the nation’s top swing states, where polls show a close race.
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