Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Sunday that former President Trump is becoming increasingly “crude” and “unpredictable” as the election nears.
Pressley, in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart,” responded to Trump using profanity to describe his Democratic opponent, Vice President Harris, calling her a “s‑‑‑ vice president” during a rally.
“This is an old and tired playbook from Donald Trump. But just because it’s familiar doesn’t make it any less crude,” Pressley said. “He is becoming more crude, more unpredictable and proving how unfit he is to be president of the United States of America.”
“It’s more distraction, deflection, because they don’t have an agenda. They don’t have a vision, except for revenge and retribution,” she continued.
Harris responded directly to Trump’s remark Sunday on MSNBC in an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton, saying the leader of the U.S. “must set a standard, not only for our nation” but “for the world.” Harris said Trump’s language “demeans the office.”
“Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president United States,” Harris said. “He has not earned the right. He’s not earned the right, and that’s why he’s going to lose.”
Pressley praised Harris’s response and the campaign’s messaging in the final weeks of the election. Harris is seeking to amplify Trump’s rhetoric in the homestretch, with her campaign amping up negative attacks against him.
“While they [Republicans] are doubling down, Vice President Harris is doubling down, and so is this broad and diverse coalition and movement that’s working hard to ensure that we are successful in the next 16 days to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Pressley said.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded to Pressley’s comments in a statement embracing Trump’s remarks.
“President Trump is 100% correct— Kamala Harris is a s‑‑‑ vice president,” Cheung wrote in an uncensored emailed statement. “Everybody knows it yet Democrats continue to try and gaslight the American people into forgetting the last four years resulted in soaring inflation, an out-of-control border, and rampant crime terrorizing every community.”