Harris meets Oprah to ‘Unite for America’ as Trump vows another Muslim ban

Washington: Oprah Winfrey has added her star power to Kamala Harris’ campaign in the key battleground of Michigan, where the vice president continues to face a backlash over her support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

At the same time, her rival for the White House, Donald Trump, doubled down on his support for Israel and anti-Muslim stance with a promise of another Muslim travel ban if he wins.

Weeks after the influential talk show queen gave her endorsement to Harris at the Democratic National Convention, Winfrey headlined a “Unite for America” campaign event to mobilise Americans to vote for the Democratic candidate amid polls showing the race against Trump is neck and neck.

Kamala Harris appears with Oprah Winfrey at Oprah’s Unite for America Live Streaming event.Credit: AP

“I am here because I care about the future of our country,” she told a 400-person studio audience in Detroit as thousands more – from J-Lo and Meryl Streep to grassroots groups such as “White Dudes for Harris” – watched the sit-down interview with Harris online.

But the war in Gaza remains a flashpoint in the election – particularly in Michigan, where hours earlier, the Uncommitted National Movement refused to endorse Harris for president after she declined a request to meet Palestinian American families by September 15 or shift on the US supplying weapons to Israel.

The movement helped mobilise more than 700,000 Americans to vote “uncommitted” or its equivalent during this year’s Democratic primary contests in protest against President Joe Biden, who was then vying for a second term.

A volunteer holds a sign outside a polling station in Dearborn, Michigan.Credit: Bloomberg

Since Biden stepped down, the movement has been urging Harris to demonstrate a tangible shift in her policy on Gaza, where more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

Movement leader Abbas Alawieh said the group was not urging anyone to support Trump or a third party but noted: “Vice President Harris’ unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear statement in support of upholding existing US and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her.”

Trump, meanwhile, spent his evening in Washington pitching to Jewish voters at a campaign event with conservative mega-donor Miriam Adelson, followed by a conference with the Israeli-American Council.

“With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” he said.

The former president vowed to reinstate his infamous Muslim ban, which barred entry to the US from a list of Muslim-majority countries, and “ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip”.

“We will seal our border and bring back the travel ban,” he said. “Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world.”

But Trump’s campaign has been rattled by revelations that the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate competing to be the new governor of North Carolina reportedly called himself a “black Nazi” and defended slavery on a pornographic forum.

According to posts unearthed by CNN, Mark Robinson – whose inflammatory rhetoric has disparaged everyone from women to the LGBTQ community – made the comments on a website message board more than a decade ago. In them, he also referred to himself as a “perv” and said he enjoyed watching transgender porn.

Republican Mark Robinson speaking on the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, in Milwaukee. Credit: AP

Trump has not commented on the matter, but Robinson issued a video denying the claims and vowing to stay in the race.

“Let me reassure you. The things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” Trump said.

The matter is likely to prove sensitive for the presidential hopeful, who is desperate to hold on to North Carolina at this year’s election – a state he only narrowly won against Biden in 2020.

Both sides are also focusing heavily on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – the so-called “blue wall” states that Trump won in 2016 after he wooed working-class voters in regional areas who felt forgotten.

Kamala Harris answers an audience member’s question.Credit: AP

Winfrey’s event was reminiscent of her long-running daytime talk show. With a studio audience watching, she combined interviews with Harris on stage with cameos from celebrities and selected questions from people affected by issues such as mass shootings, unaffordable housing and abortion bans.

Tens of thousands also took part online, including dozens of grassroots groups that have coalesced around the vice president, including “Cat Ladies for Kamala” and “Republicans for Harris”.

During one segment, Harris discussed her push for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks while also saying she was a gun owner “in favour of the Second Amendment”.

“If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot,” she said, laughing. “I probably should not have said that. My staff will deal with that later.”

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