WASHINGTON − Former President Donald Trump continued to ramp up attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday, again falsely describing her and President Joe Biden as “mentally disabled.”
Biden “became mentally impaired, sad. But lyin’ Kamala Harris? Honestly, I believe she was born that way,” Trump said in a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. “There’s something wrong with Kamala.”
Trump used similar rhetoric Saturday during a speech in Wisconsin, and he’s frequently called Harris “stupid,” “weak” and “dumb as a rock” on the campaign trail. Trump has also repeatedly criticized Harris’ racial identity, falsely saying she “turned Black.”
Democrats, and some Republicans, said Trump is increasingly worried about the polls that show Harris leading the election nationally and in key battleground states.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, an anti-Trump Republican currently running for the Senate, called the remarks “outrageous and unacceptable.”
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“I’ve already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity, and now he’s questioning her mental competence,” Hogan said. “And I think that’s insulting not only to, the to the Vice President, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities.”
Some of Trump’s staunchest allies repeated a familliar refrain when asked about the former president’s remarks: Focus on the issues impacting Americans, namely the southern border and the economy. Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C., told CNN that Harris is “crazy liberal,” but added that “the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country.”
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told ABC on Sunday “I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again.”
Trump has acknowledged the more negative tone of his recent speeches, which include harsh attacks on migrants and exaggerations of crimes committed by people who are in the country illegally.
“This is a dark speech,” Trump told supporters Saturday while making similar claims about Harris and undocumented immigrants in a speech in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
After those comments, Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said Trump “is finally telling the truth to voters: He’s got nothing ‘inspiring’ to offer the American people, just darkness.”
