Kamala Harris on Wednesday said Donald Trump was "increasingly unhinged," and called her US election rival's reported praise for Adolf Hitler "incredibly dangerous" as campaigning intensified ahead of the November 5 vote.
The Democrat's fierce criticism came as she headed to must-win Pennsylvania to face voters' questions in a town hall and as Trump campaigned in battleground Georgia.
With the tight election going down to the wire, both candidates are on a mission to persuade the sliver of American voters who remain undecided in the home stretch.
In a dramatic campaign season, the latest twist was revelations by Trump's longest-serving chief of staff, retired US Marine general John Kelly, about the Republican's admiration for the Nazi dictator and his military in World War II.
Kelly told The New York Times that Trump had remarked that "Hitler did some good things too" and that instead of the US military he "wanted generals like Adolf Hitler had."
Harris was quick to respond, delivering a statement outside her vice presidential residence in Washington.
"It's deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans," she said.
"All this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is."
With Trump's rivals raising concerns about his willingness to honor American democracy, Kelly also repeated his warning that he believes his ex-boss "certainly falls into the general definition of fascist."
Harris said "Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails."
Trump's camp hit back, saying Harris is "desperate because she is flailing, and her campaign is in shambles.
"That is why she continues to peddle outright lies and falsehoods that are easily disproven," Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
When asked whether President Joe Biden agrees with Kelly's assessment that Trump is a fascist, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre was unequivocal.
"Do we agree about that determination? Yes we do," she said.
- Obamas hit campaign trail -
Harris, 60, touched down in Pennsylvania ahead of a Wednesday prime time CNN town hall-type meeting near Philadelphia.
She made an unannounced stop at the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, where the Democrat fist-bumped employees and took selfies with patrons.
"Knock wood, God willing, we are going to win," she said to cheers.
Pennsylvania is a coveted prize for the candidates, and Harris and Trump have made repeated appearances there and across other swing states.
The Harris camp has also confirmed that Michelle Obama will join her at an event Saturday in battleground Michigan, the former US first lady's debut campaign stop with Harris.
It will follow Harris's first campaign appearance with former president Barack Obama, on Thursday in Georgia's largest city Atlanta, as part of a major Democratic get-out-the-vote effort across swing states.
Veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen is set to kick off the event with a concert.
Trump held his own town hall Wednesday in Georgia, which the 78-year-old Republican won in 2016 and then narrowly lost to Biden four years later.
The Republican waxed nostalgic about his Make America Great Again movement when he addressed an energized crowd outside the event.
"In many ways it's sad because we're down to 12 days," he told cheering supporters. "We've been doing this together for nine years... It's just been an amazing thing."
Some 25 million Americans have already voted by mail or in person, reportedly a far higher number than the same period four years ago.
Nevertheless Trump told Fox News on Wednesday he still felt "very mixed" about early voting, even though he confirmed he himself would do so in Florida.
Harris's sudden entry into the campaign in late July shook up the country, which was expecting a rematch between Biden and Trump, now a felon convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to a porn star.
Since Biden's shock withdrawal, the Trump-Harris race has been one of the tightest in American history.
Past opinion polls have underestimated backing for Trump but also failed to predict the level of support for Democrats.
While Trump hammers home his promises of a migrant crackdown and economic good times after a period of high inflation, the Harris campaign has targeted his mental and physical fitness for the Oval Office while she courts moderate Republican voters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
