Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the ABC daytime talk show and Howard Stern’s radio show before “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” later Tuesday. Former President Donald J. Trump’s virtual town-hall event was postponed.
Vice President Kamala Harris, in a blitz of interviews on Tuesday, pitched a proposal to help people raising children while also caring for aging parents and denounced former President Donald J. Trump, calling some of his statements “surreal” and saying he was too friendly with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
On “The View,” Ms. Harris said the former president’s willingness to spread false information during the response to Hurricane Helene showed how he “really lacks empathy on a very basic level.” A couple of hours later, on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, she faulted Mr. Trump over a new report that he had sent Covid tests to Mr. Putin for his personal use at the height of the pandemic. Her interview with Mr. Stern was also one of the most revelatory she has given about herself as a person.
Tonight, CBS will broadcast her taped appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” where she cracked a beer with the host and again condemned Mr. Trump over his ties to Mr. Putin. She asked the late-night audience to remember the frantic early Covid response: “You remember how many people did not have tests and were trying to scramble to get them?”
The appearances come as a new national Times/Siena poll shows her with a slim lead over Mr. Trump, whose virtual town hall on health with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former independent presidential candidate and vaccine skeptic, was postponed because of the approach of Hurricane Milton.
There are 28 days until Election Day. Here’s what else to know:
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Walz on Electoral College: Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota suggested at fund-raisers that he backed switching to a national popular vote. His spokesman clarified that this was not the position of Kamala Harris’s campaign.
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Trump and Putin: The episode with Covid tests that Ms. Harris referred to came from a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward. The book also describes Mr. Trump secretly speaking with Mr. Putin as many as seven times since leaving office, even as he was pressuring Republicans to block military aid to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders.
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Anti-trans ads: Mr. Trump and other Republican candidates across the country have spent tens of millions of dollars on ads about taxpayer-funded gender transitions in prisons and about transgender women and girls in sports. The strategy — also tried, mostly unsuccessfully, in the 2022 midterms — is a sign that Republicans believe they have found a potent third message for 2024, along with inflation and immigration.
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A pro-Palestinian shift: Uncommitted, a national group of activists that emerged from primary-season voters protesting President Biden’s Middle East policy, took a big step toward encouraging its supporters to back Ms. Harris. The video stopped short of an open endorsement of the vice president but said another term for Mr. Trump would be worse than a Harris victory.
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Home care for seniors: Ms. Harris unveiled a plan to expand Medicare to provide home health care to older Americans, who often need the help of the “sandwich generation” — those supporting their parents while also raising children of their own. Her campaign said the program would be paid for by the savings achieved through expanding Medicare drug price negotiations.
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The Times/Siena poll: The new poll found that voters were more likely to see Ms. Harris, not Mr. Trump, as a break from the status quo. While the poll shows some solid advantages for Mr. Trump, the results suggest Ms. Harris is making gains, if small ones, on questions about temperament, trust and change that can be critical in a presidential race.