Former President Trump on Wednesday unleashed a torrent of attacks on Vice President Harris in his first rally since President Biden announced he would not seek reelection, making Harris the likely Democratic nominee in November.
Trump spoke to supporters in North Carolina three days after Biden announced he was ending his candidacy in the face of mounting pressure from Democrats for him to step aside. The former president blasted Harris over immigration and inflation and sought to portray her as a “radical-left lunatic.”
“As you know, three days ago we officially defeated the worst president in the history of our country, crooked Joe Biden. He quit because he was losing so badly in the polls. He was down in every single poll and down by a lot, so he quit,” Trump said.
“So now we have a new victim to defeat. Lyin’ Kamala Harris … the most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history,” he added.
Trump repeatedly mispronounced Harris’s first name as he described her as “more liberal” than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), called her the “border czar” for her assignment of addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, and called it a “joke” that she went to Europe days before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
He accused her of lying to the public “to cover up Biden’s mental fitness” to suggest she “can’t be trusted” and is “unfit” to lead. Trump mocked Harris’s recent move to spotlight her record as a prosecutor compared to his legal problems, including civil judgments and criminal charges.
The former president highlighted a series of positions Harris took during her 2020 presidential campaign, including her backing of Sanders’s “Medicare for All” bill and her support for banning fracking.
Throughout the rally, Trump called Harris “crazy,” “a very bad person” and “unhinged.”
“I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot. I became nice,” Trump told the crowd. “And when you’re dealing with these people, they’re very dangerous people, you can’t be too nice. So if you don’t mind, I’m not going to be nice. Is that OK?”
A Harris campaign spokesperson called Trump’s speech “unhinged, weird, and rambling.”
“But the American people won’t be fooled or distracted – the choice this November will be Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide and give himself unlimited, unchecked power; or Vice President Harris who is fighting to protect freedom and ensure every American gets a fair shot,” Harris spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
Trump and his allies had made little secret of their desire to see Biden remain in the race, especially after his disastrous June 27 debate performance. Polls had consistently shown Trump leading in most battleground states that will determine the outcome in November.
A handful of polls have been conducted since Biden stepped aside and Harris quickly consolidated support among Democrats, all showing a close race between Trump and Harris.
A Marist poll found Trump with 46 percent support and Harris with 45 percent support nationally, with about 9 percent of respondents undecided. With third-party candidates included, Harris and Trump are tied.
A CNN poll found Trump ahead of Harris, 49 percent to 46 percent support in a head-to-head match-up, a closer race than the survey had found in a Trump-Biden contest.
Trump’s own pollster predicted Harris would likely see a polling bump in the wake of her ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket, but argued the fundamentals of the race were unchanged.
Harris has generated significant enthusiasm since earning Biden’s endorsement and locking down the support of enough delegates to become the likely Democratic nominee. Her campaign has raised more than $100 million in roughly 48 hours, thousands of volunteers have signed up to support the effort, and the campaign drew more than 3,000 attendees at a Milwaukee rally on Monday, which it touted as its largest crowd of the cycle.