Donald Trump Can’t Keep to Republicans’ Message on Kamala Harris

Trump again questioned Harris’ race, suggested she was only doing well because she was a “woman” and voluntarily touted the crowd size he spoke to on Jan. 6, 2021.

Donald Trump talks.
Donald Trump held his first press conference since Kamala Harris picked her running mate. Alex Brandon/AP

As the Republican Party pushes candidates to avoid personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris and stick to policy, its own leader, Donald Trump, is doing exactly the opposite.

“It’s about policy. It’s not about her,” Trump said in his first press conference since Harris became the Democratic nominee, immediately adding, “I think she’s incompetent.”

When asked why he thought Harris was rising in the polls, the former president said it was because “she’s a woman” who “represents certain groups of people.” (At another point during the conference, Trump said that “it’s possible” that he “won’t do as well with Black women” in the polls, but his support from white men, at least, is “through the roof.”)