Trump escalates gendered personal insults against Harris, defying GOP pressure
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump escalates gendered personal insults against Harris, defying GOP pressure
The Republican nominee also stoked Democrats’ rift over Israel by baselessly claiming Harris passed over Gov. Josh Shapiro to be her running mate because he is Jewish.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump fixated on Vice President Kamala Harris’s appearance in terms he acknowledged were offensive, rejecting pressure from GOP allies to emphasize policy differences over personal attacks.
He appeared to take exception to a Wall Street Journal column that listed Harris’s appearance as one of her political assets, saying, “I am much better looking than her. I’m a better-looking person than Kamala.” He also said he mistook an illustration of Harris on the cover of Time Magazine for the actresses Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor.
In other recent remarks, Trump suggested Harris’s appearance would undermine her with world leaders, saying they would view her as a “ play toy ” and declining to specify why. House Republican leaders have advised lawmakers to stop attacking Harris based on her identity, but Trump has brushed off advice from Republican allies, including former rival Nikki Haley , to avoid personal attacks of the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I’m entitled to personal attacks,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I have to do it my way.”
Trump’s continued focus on Harris’s gender and race comes as the Democrat has opened a gaping lead with female voters. A new New York Times-Siena poll found Harris ahead of Trump by 14 percentage points with women in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, where Trump and President Joe Biden were tied with women in May. In Pennsylvania, women backed Harris 54 percent to 41 percent, while men supported Trump, 49 percent to 42 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll this month.
Trump has a long history of insulting the appearance of women rivals and critics, including 2016 Republican candidate Carly Fiorina and the adult film actress who accused him of a sexual encounter, Stormy Daniels. A New York jury convicted Trump in May of covering up hush money payments to Daniels.
On Thursday Trump acknowledged the newfound challenge of running against Harris since she replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee last month. “This is a different kind of a race,” he said. “All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody that’s going to destroy our country.”
At times in Saturday’s speech, which lasted almost two hours, Trump sounded nostalgic for running against Biden. “I spent $100 million fighting Joe Biden. They told him he couldn’t win,” he said, baselessly accusing Biden of hating Harris for succeeding him on the ticket. He then seemed to catch himself by adding, “She’ll be easier than him.”
Trump repeatedly described Harris as a “lunatic” and mocked her laugh. “As soon as she laughs, the election’s over,” he said.
Elsewhere in Saturday’s speech, Trump attempted to inflame Democratic divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza by baselessly accusing Harris of passing over the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her running mate because he is Jewish.
Shapiro was one of three finalists who had a personal interview with Harris over the first weekend in August, before she announced her choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. His interview included questions about his position on Israel, which emerged as a concern among some progressive activists. He also faced criticism from teachers unions over his support for school vouchers, The Washington Post reported .
After his interview, Shapiro told Harris’s team that he was struggling with the prospect of leaving his current position, a person familiar with the matter told The Post. Shapiro has denied antisemitism had any impact in the decision, and a campaign official told The Post the most important factor in Harris’s decision was her personal rapport with Walz.
Trump’s campaign and many Republicans feared Shapiro because of his dominant popularity in his home state, which they view as likely to decide the electoral college. Once Walz was chosen instead, many Republicans were quick to point to Shapiro’s faith as the supposed reason.
Trump has baselessly accused Harris, whose husband is Jewish, of disliking Jewish people. He repeated a refrain in Saturday’s speech that Jewish Americans who vote Democratic should “have their head examined.” Many American Jews object to being stereotyped as single-issue voters on Israel, which reminds them of an old antisemitic trope questioning their loyalty to this country. But similar comments from Trump were met with enthusiastic applause during a speech to Jewish supporters at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday.
In Saturday’s speech, Trump veered from one topic to the next over almost two hours, dwelling on the June 27 presidential debate against Biden, illegal immigration, and a story about negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron during which Trump imitated Macron’s French accent.
Trump took exception to his speeches being described as meandering. “They’ll say he was rambling,” he said. “I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy, you know, really smart. I don’t ramble.”
In the speech, Trump defended his proposal to impose tariffs on China and other countries. Trump falsely described tariffs as a tax on those countries; in reality tariffs are paid by domestic consumers.
“A lot of people like to say, ‘Oh, it’s a tax on us,’” Trump said. “No, no, no, it’s a tax on a foreign country.”
Trump’s appearance in Wilkes-Barre comes as both campaigns are heavily focused on the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Harris and Walz plan a bus trip on Sunday near Pittsburgh; Trump will return to Pennsylvania on Monday. According to The Post’s polling average , Harris is now leading Trump by two points in the state.
Tags
Who is online
442 visitors
" He also said he mistook an illustration of Harris on the cover of Time Magazine for the actresses Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor."
What a clown.
Does he EVER look in a mirror?
The way he mocks her laugh, how anyone can mock someone with a healthy sense of humor, has anyone ever seen this freakshow psychopath laugh?
Chris Sununu is on tv this morning begging for Trump to stick to the issues. He joins the now long list of Republicans begging him to "change".
It is so pathetic and pitiful. Trump couldn't care less what Chris Sununu thinks about anything.
He couldn't care less what anyone thinks about anything and you don't tell the malignant narcissist what he should or should not do.
The more they tell him to stop attacking her, he doubles, triples, quadruples down.
The same Chris Sununu that practically guaranteed that Trump would not be nominated. Listening to that guy makes me ill.
He is a total Trump lackey that pretends otherwise.
He does, but he sees Adonis
and probably a fully clothed emperor, and what he can't see, is ever so evident to so many, including say you and I, and as his mutated campaign malignancy is no less benign, there is the certain sense, Trump is falling behind, and i'm pretty sure by the time November arrives or bust, ole Camala be leaving him in her dust, as he can't be swept away fast enuff to satisfy i, he has been a drain on this country, and all due to ther power addicted Republican fools who refused to dispose of him when they had the option, so sorta fitting, they'll be left to rebuild after the toll Trump has taken on the party of Law and Order Christians that used to hate Putins' Russia and Lil' Kims NK, now I see them defending the Putin invasion and general way...? Like WTF happened that Putin became a good guy to the Republican Party ?? All due to Hannity , punks from Fox, and Trump the ass kissin wanna B dick tater twot grabbin back stabbin insurrectionist collaboratin Cult liter quart cheater sheep bleater clown who can't go down, fast enough for all of US, cause what a catastrophic calamity he has been, and he will be, a has been, and he will begin to ever so m,uvh more begin to freak, as the polls show just how weak, he has become, so, this coul;d also be fun, to watch the demise of a POS who deserves a slow painful way out the door, and back to quart some more, and with any luck, off to prison to pay his debts to society that he never could or would b 4
Trump is "better looking" than Harris in the narrow sense that MAGA women who wear "Trump you can grab my pussy" t-shirts get the hots for him.
Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all? it isn't you Trump.
Trump made yet another speech where he sounded like a lunatic. How is that working out for him?
A new Ipsos/ABC poll today shows Harris with a 5 point lead nationally. That is nothing to sneeze at.
Trump is such a fool, it's going to take a NATION of fools to elect him. IMO if he really wanted to win legitimately, and not go down screaming "It was fixed" he should have dumped Vance and put Haley in his place. Now I'm thinking that if the Republican Party wants to succeed it should put Nikki Haley in Trump's Place.
This is America: Fool Central
That is what the GOP should have done. It is now too late.
But the current GOP insanity will be resolved. If Trump loses big —especially if he drags down other Rs in the process— that should be enough to trigger an epiphany within the GOP. Trump will finally be gone (and quite busy with his many lawsuits) and there will be a major league struggle for power between the losing, irrational MAGA contingent and those who did not drink the KoolAid.
My hope is for the GOP to hit rock bottom in November because that would be the quickest way for the GOP to finally discard its Trump parasite and actively seek to heal itself.
We are stuck with two major parties. Thus we need them to both have similar strength to effect a partisan check & balance (since the parties have successfully found ways to counter most of the constitutional checks and balances).
just jotted something along similar lines above, cause I also believe he will go down and drag the GOP down where they belong for enabling this clown
Very logical. But are they smart enough to do the right thing?
Chances are good that if the GOP crashes and burns something better will emerge from the ashes. After all, how much worse could it get than to have a major political party operate as a cult blindly following a demagogue who continually spews an alternate reality he has created?
If Trump is elected then just watch and see, but safely from some distant and undisclosed location. We are on Trump's Shit List!
I wouldn't worry so much about things you have no control over--it isn't healthy.
Yes, a phoenix could arise from the ashes.
Sure hope so, now if we could only get Kamala to join him!
We now have a choice between a young, energetic, positive, presidential individual (Harris) and an old vindictive curmudgeon (Trump). One of them will be PotUS.
Which of the two is better for this nation?
Without a freaking doubt. Clowns in general aren't good for the country, but damn, as long as it is some other clown rather than Donald Trump, eh?
Tell me something new, please.
I don't think either is good for the country and can not, in good conscience, support someone who isn't.
Who would you support?
Do you ever tire of asking the same question so many times?
Are you expecting a different answer from me or something?
No. I think we all expected you to deflect. Just as we all likely expect you to claim 'I did not vote for them' after the election.
Then the constant repeat is senseless.
Sorry to disappoint you in that regard.
There is always some sort of chance you and others may actually be right.
But if I didn't vote for either of them, wouldn't it be accurate and truthful to say so?
Tex, I'm never not disappointing inn the 'right' you do possess as in to disappoint, so diss a point in out you have not been present as of late on this site unseen, where have you been Tex,
Texas ?
I found myself in Texas years ago. Then I lost myself
Next thing I know, I find myself at the lost and found myself lost, athe lost and found...
Tex, have you ever found yourself
lost, at the lost and found...?
[✘]
[✘]
Fools will be electing the next President.
May God have pity on us--whichever clown wins.
Do I detect a chink in the armour there?
Looks? Donald is 78 years old and has a wack 'hairdo.' Of course, his beautician does the best job ever!
David please don’t ever call a woman beautiful, because that will be the end of your political because that will be the end of your political career.
IIRC, Trump himself has called a woman beautiful— he called Taylor Swift beautiful.
It was a failed attempt at manipulation.
(I don’t have time now to look for the link but I will do it later).