Vice President Kamala Harris had a combative interview on Fox News on Wednesday, October 16 where she tried to defend her record on immigration and make the case that former President Donald Trump is a danger to democracy.

Interviewer Bret Baier talked over Harris frequently as the two sparred over the Biden administration’s record at the border, Biden’s own mental acuity and even Harris’ critique of Trump’s recent suggestion to use the military against critics whom he called "the enemy within."

Of families who had loved ones killed by migrants who entered the country under the Biden administration, Harris said, "Those are tragic cases, there’s no question about that." She rued an immigration system she said had been broken since before Trump’s presidency and said "I’d follow the law" when asked about prior support for things like driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.

Harris tried to argue Trump is a unique threat to democracy and tout her backing from former members of his administration but had a hard time finishing her argument as she and Baier sparred during the 30-minute interview.

With just 21 days to go before the final votes are cast in the 2024 presidential season, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are scrambling to win over and turn out Black voters, women and other key constituencies in what looks to be a razor-tight election.

A group of Republicans is supporting the Kamala Harris campaign in historic Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, where Gen. George Washington launched his forces across the Delaware River in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

'Country over party'

Among those taking the stage was former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who said it's time to put "country over party." Kinzinger said Trump has abandoned Republican values and is a "whiny, weak, tiny man who is scared to death."

Pennsylvania farmers Bob and Kristina Lange also spoke, describing themselves as lifetime Republicans who've had enough. Kristina Lange said, "it's time to turn the page on Trump and on his chaos and the way he divides us."

The Democratic nominee then took the podium. Harris said the Constitution is meant to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, and "is not a relic from our past." She said the Constitution "determines whether we are a country where the people can speak freely, and even criticize the president, without fear of being thrown in jail."

As for Trump, asked what he likes about Harris, Trump calls her a survivor, offering faint praise while noting her early failure in the 2020 presidential nominating campaign.

He was asked during a Univision town hall-style event to name three things about his opponent he likes. Trump said, “She seems to have an ability to survive.”

"Because she was out of the race, and all of a sudden she’s running for president," Trump added. The vice president ended her Democratic primary campaign in 2020 and emerged as the nominee four years later after President Joe Biden dropped out.

"That’s a great ability that some people have, and some people don’t have,” Trump said, adding, "she seems to have some pretty longtime friendships."

'A nice way about her'

"And she seems to have a nice way about her," Trump said, offering an uncharacteristic personal compliment for someone he has described as "stupid" and "incompetent."

Trump also fielded questions about immigration, guns and abortion, including whether he agrees with his wife, Melania, whose says in a new memoir that she supports abortion rights. "Do you agree with her?"

Trump said he encourages Melania to support what she wants to support, and in true fashion, plugged the book. As for the justices he picked for the US Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights, he said it "is what everybody wanted for 52 years."

"This issue has torn our country apart," Trump said, claiming that the country will now "heal."

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are also competing for workers in blue wall states with deep union roots.

Harris is rallying in union halls, standing alongside Michigan's most powerful labor leader, while Trump fires back from rural steel factories, urging middle-class workers to trust him as their true champion. They're making their case in starkly different terms. Campaigning for Harris, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain says the American dream now depends on electing Democrats.

But Harris failed to secure two key union endorsements that went to President Joe Biden, who calls himself the most labor-friendly president in US history. The International Association of Firefighters and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters both declined to endorse anyone. Any break in labor movement unity can have an amplifier effect in a place like Michigan, where most people have a family member or close friend in a union.

Many Midwestern communities once core to the labor movement have shifted to the right as jobs moved overseas. And non-college-educated white voters have been voting more conservatively, concerned about cultural issues involving race and gender.

Trump's Univision event on Wednesday afternoon in Miami will air at 10 pm. Trump is counting on increased Latino support even as he centers his campaign on a darker view of immigration, suggesting migrants are "poisoning the blood" of the nation.