Harris borrows the rally tactics popularized by Trump

For the first time, Vice President Kamala Harris played a video clip of former President Donald Trump at one of her rallies on Monday, a move popularized by her presidential election opponent.

Speaking to supporters in Erie, Pennsylvania, Harris said Trump was unstable and warned of the dangers she saw in him winning a second term in the White House.

“We know who Donald Trump is,” she said. “He is someone who will stop at nothing to claim power for himself. And you don't have to take my word for it. I've been saying for some time: watch his rallies. Listen to his words. He tells us who.” That’s him. And he tells us what he would do if elected president.

The Democratic candidate then asked her team to “shoot the clip” – a montage of Trump talking about “the enemy within,” which he has referenced in various interviews and rallies in recent weeks.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, the Republican candidate said the threats from China and Russia are lower than those from the United States

“We have some very bad people, some sick people, radical left-wing lunatics. And the National Guard should be able to handle it very easily if necessary, or if it really is necessary, the military,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo.

That quote came at the end of the clip played by Harris, prompting boos from the Erie audience.

Using Trump's own words isn't necessarily new for the vice president. She often quotes him in her speeches and her campaign's TV ads often included clips of the one shown on the big screen Monday night, but this is the first time she has chosen to show him at an in-person event .

The former president has since popularized this tactic during his three presidential campaigns. However, he was not the first to use videos of his rivals.

During the 2004 election, President George W. Bush's team showed clips of Democratic rival John Kerry to portray him as a flip-flopper. Then in 2012, Mitt Romney's campaign showed clips of President Barack Obama's allegedly problematic comments in speeches.

When Trump entered the race in 2016, he used videos as part of his nomination campaign, including clips of Jeb Bush and other Republicans, to discredit them. When he was named the party's nominee, Trump showed clips of Democrat Hillary Clinton, again to show she was out of touch.

With Joe Biden as his opponent in 2020 and early in the 2024 cycle, Trump sought to portray him as mentally incompetent or confused by showing select clips at rallies.

After switching to Harris as the Democratic nominee, the Trump campaign frequently used montages of the vice president's speech as well as interviews with voters dissatisfied with the current administration.

On Monday, Harris appeared to follow that momentum by drawing attention to the former president's comments, branding him “unstable and unhinged.”

“He who vowed to be a dictator on day one if re-elected. That he would use the Justice Department as a weapon against his political enemies. “He who called for the, quote, 'termination' of the Constitution of the United States,” Harris said.

“Look, anyone who says they would denounce the Constitution of the United States should never stand behind the seal of the President of the United States again. Never again. Never again. Never again.”

In a statement sent to Newsweek On Tuesday morning, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung doubled down on his boss's claims.

“President Trump is 100% right – those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the Afghan terrorist arrested for planning multiple Election Day attacks in the United States was,” said Cheung.

“Kamala Harris has already made our country more dangerous by opening the southern border to immigrant criminals who have terrorized, raped and murdered American citizens.”