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.”)
Trump — who questioned if Harris is Black at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual conference — reiterated his doubts around Harris’ race, going on to suggest that “it’s very disrespectful” for the vice president to say that she is both Black and Indian.
The former president alluded to Harris’ policies in vague terms — saying she “destroyed” San Francisco and California — but he continuously went back to personal attacks. While he talked about taxes, abortion and social security, he said Harris was “not smart” at least five times. He also compared her to Hillary Clinton, saying that his 2016 opponent was “far superior.” He also announced that he had agreed to three debate dates, one of which is ABC’s Sept. 10 date, which Harris has also committed to.
His personal attacks on Harris weren’t the only times Trump walked into territory most Republican candidates would rather avoid.
Trump, who became visibly annoyed when he was asked about Democrats’ enthusiasm around Harris, particularly her large rallies, voluntarily turned the conversation to the events on Jan. 6, 2021, touting that he had the “biggest crowd” he has ever spoken to — even bigger than the crowd Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to when he delivered his “I have a dream” speech, Trump falsely claimed.
“Nobody’s spoken to bigger crowds than me,” Trump said. “If you look at Martin Luther King when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not, we had more.”
Trump also left the door open on restricting abortions further — an issue Republicans have been desperately seeking to change the narrative on.
“Those things are pretty open,” Trump responded to a question about whether he would instruct the Food and Drug Administration to revoke access to a prominent abortion medication.
On abortion, Trump also said he would be holding yet another press conference to discuss how he would vote on Florida’s ballot initiative to protect abortion rights, only saying that he thinks the state will lean more “liberal” on the issue. Overall, he said, abortion “isn’t a big factor anymore” in elections.
Republicans have been eager to keep the party’s message focused on immigration, foreign policy and the economy. As NOTUS reported, some in the GOP are worried that turning the debate into a personal contest will not play well for Trump. Trump, however, isn’t heeding that advice.
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.