The US vice president, who is married to a Jewish man, has gained ground on Trump in polling since she replaced Joe Biden on the top of the Democratic ticket just days ago.
Former Republican president Donald Trump falsely accused his election rival, Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, of being an anti-Semite who plans to allow the murder of newborn babies. Trump made these claims in a speech meant to rally his religious supporters on Friday, but the speech quickly went off the rails.
V
The vice president, who is married to a Jewish man, has gained ground on Trump in polling since she replaced Joe Biden on the top of the Democratic ticket just days ago.
Trump dedicated much of his address at a religious convention in southern Florida to attacking Harris's record as a senator and as Biden's running mate, but many of his attacks were baseless smears. Explaining why Harris had skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress on Wednesday to instead honor a prior commitment, Trump accused her, without evidence, of anti-Semitism.
"She doesn't like Jewish people. She doesn't like Israel. That's the way it is, and that's the way it's always going to be. She's not going to change," he said.
This remark, coupled with Trump's claim on Wednesday in North Carolina that Harris "is totally against the Jewish people," marked an escalation in his incendiary rhetoric, just days after his campaign had said an attempt on his life had given him a focus on unity.
The hour-long Friday speech, hosted by the hard-right Turning Point Action group, did raise legitimate questions over Harris's previous statements on policing, immigration, and the environment that placed her to the left of current Biden administration policy. However, the speech was also marked by hyperbole and falsehoods.
Execute the baby'
Former President Trump has made many controversial statements and accusations in recent days. He has suggested, without evidence, that the Justice Department and FBI are "rounding up" Christians and anti-abortion activists and jailing them for their "religious beliefs."
Trump has also characterized President Biden's decision to exit the election campaign as a "coup" by Democrats, and stated that America is a "laughing stock."
Regarding Vice President Harris, Trump has called her a "bum" and a failed vice president who has rejected federal judges for being Catholic and would appoint "hardcore Marxists" to the Supreme Court. He has also falsely accused her of wanting to force doctors to give chemical castration drugs to children, and implied she might cheat to win in November.
Additionally, Trump has made the egregious claim that Harris would support a federal law allowing for the execution of babies after birth.
At 78 years old, Trump is now the oldest major-party nominee in history. He is facing off against a candidate two decades his junior, having expected to run against the 81-year-old incumbent President Biden.
Crowning glory
Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman nearly killed him, is set to be commemorated with "a big and beautiful" new rally in the town, although Trump did not provide a specific date.
Kamala Harris, seeking to become the first female president in US history, is tasked with rapidly assembling a campaign against an opponent who has been in near-permanent reelection mode since becoming president in 2016.
Former president Barack Obama pledged support for Harris earlier on Friday, as polls showed her closing the gap that Trump had built over Biden, making the race a statistical tie.
Harris, a former California prosecutor and senator was elected as the country's first female, Black, and South Asian vice president. She has highlighted Trump's criminal conviction and what she described on Thursday as a Republican attack on "hard-fought freedoms" in US society.
Democrats seized on a late Thursday announcement from the Trump campaign that cast doubt on whether he will debate Harris. "It shows that he's afraid," said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a major Harris campaign advocate, in an interview with MSNBC.
Comments
Post a Comment