PARIS, Sept 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A "Marxist" and a "radical" who wants to
"destroy" America: as Democrats rally around the candidacy of Kamala Harris,
Republicans have begun employing significantly more negative and aggressive
rhetoric than they had against Joe Biden.

An AFP analysis of the language used in nearly 120 hours of televised
speeches and remarks by both parties' candidates and their surrogates, from
May 1 to September 1, reveals the strategies Republicans have adopted to
undermine the Democratic candidate's credibility.

After dismissing President Biden as "crooked," "bad" and "sleepy," Trump and
his supporters now mock Harris as a "border czar," for what they say is her
badly failed work in curbing undocumented migration to the United States.

That nickname has popped up 80 times in rallies -- once every 14 times the
former California senator's name is mentioned.

Republicans have repeatedly accused Harris of an "open border" policy, which
they say allows "millions of illegal aliens" to flood into the country.

The negative rhetoric is much more prominent now -- 30 percent more -- than
it was against Biden before he dropped out of the race on July 21. Trump
supporters appearing on television associate her with negative words like
"crime," "destroy," "suffer" and "bad."

At the same time, Democrats have been using much more positive, enthusiastic
language since Harris succeeded Biden as the Democrats' flag-bearer, with
words like "freedom," "joy," "win" and "care" being used 30 percent more
often on talk shows and 70 percent more in rallies.

- 'Radical left' -

Trump and his surrogates have portrayed Harris as far more radical than
Biden, applying the labels "left" and "radical" to her twice as often as they
did to him.

And since July 21, their use of the term "liberal" in describing Harris has
exploded -- used eight times more in rallies and six times more in talk shows
-- while adjectives like "socialist" and "Marxist," rarely applied to Biden,
have become commonplace in Republicans' vocabulary.

In the United States, the "Red Scare" -- fear of subversion by far-left
elements, including immigrants -- hit its peak in the early 1950s. But years
after the Cold War ended, any hint of communist sympathies remains anathema
among US politicians.

This, presumably, was behind Trump finally settling on "Comrade Kamala" as
his favored nickname for his Democratic rival -- he has used that term at
least 30 times in his rallies.

Through the entirety of Republican remarks analyzed by AFP, "Comrade" and the
name of the vice president represent the seventh-most common pairing of
words.

The two words most frequently linked, not surprisingly, are "Biden" and
"Harris," as Republicans seek to leverage Biden's unpopularity -- even after
he dropped out of the race. The president's name comes up every five or six
times that Harris is mentioned.

By comparison, Democrats are only half as likely to link the names of Biden
and their new candidate.

They describe Harris with words including "leader" and "ready" -- ready to be
president, that is.

Also among the top 20 terms used to describe her are "fight," "freedom" and
"believe" -- reflecting the renewed sense of hope that her rapid ascension
has brought to many Democrats.