Former President Trump defended his attacks against Vice President Harris’s personal attributes and intelligence but said he doesn’t think those attacks are necessary to win the election in November.
“I hope they’re not,” Trump told CBS News when asked Monday if the personal insults were needed. “But if I don’t think somebody’s good at something, if somebody’s not good at something, I’ve always spoken my mind. I don’t think she’s very good at this. I think she’ll destroy our country.”
When first asked whether targeting his political opponent’s intelligence and personal characteristics was part of a winning message for key voters, Trump said, “No I don’t think so,” and pivoted to attacking her policy record.
“I think that the message is what a bad job they’ve done. I mean, if you look at this economy, if you look at inflation — and you know, I love this country. I have to do what it takes to win,” he continued. “I have to get this country going, because we’re going to lose our country.”
The former president, however, continued to hit Harris when pressed further about why he is going after her intelligence.
“Well, I don’t think she’s a very bright person. I do feel that. I mean, I think that’s right. I think I am a very bright person, and a lot of people say that,” he said in the interview. “I don’t think she’s a very bright person. And you know what? Our country needs a very smart person, and I don’t think she’s a very smart person.”
Asked for evidence to back up his theory that Harris is “not bright,” the GOP nominee said, “I looked at the things that she said. I looked at the way she deals. I looked at her record, her crazy record. I look at her policies.”
“I just don’t happen to think so,” he added. “Now I could say she is, and I know that would be very nice.”
Trump at recent events has targeted Harris for her physical appearance, racial identity and mental fitness for office, as many conservative pundits advise him publicly to zero in on her policy positions and forgo future personal insults.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an ally of the former president’s, advised Trump in an interview Sunday to go after the vice president for her progressive record.
“Yeah, I don’t look at Vice President Harris as a lunatic. I look at her as the most liberal person to ever be nominated for president in the history of the United States,” Graham said about Harris. “She’s going to the Soviet Union playbook.”
“So I would make it about policy. A nightmare for Harris is to defend her policy choices,” he added. “Every day we’re not talking about her policy choices as vice president, and what she would do as president, is a good day for her and a bad day for us.”
Republicans have consistently pleaded with Trump to focus more on the policy differences as Harris continues to surge in the polls, particularly in the battleground states. The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling index currently shows the Democratic nominee leading the former president by 3 points — 49.4 percent to 46.4 percent.
The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.