In the days following a reported assassination attempt against Donald Trump, President Joe Biden shocked the American public by stepping down from his reelection campaign and publicly endorsing his running mate, Kamala Harris, as the new nominee.
Democratic delegates have voiced their overwhelming support for Harris since Biden’s announcement, and Trump wasted no time launching a verbal tirade against the vice president.
“For three and a half years, lyin’ Kamala Harris has been the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe,” Trump said during an appearance at Bojangles Coliseum, which holds approximately 10,000 people, depending on which source is referenced. During an interview with the Fox Channel, Trump’s son Eric claimed 30,000 people showed up for the event.
Trump attempted to paint the former California prosecutor as the “original Marxist,” and the “most liberal elected politician in American history,” as a way to fire up his loyal fanbase.
“She makes Bernie look like a moderate,” he said. “(U.S. Sen.) Bernie Sanders, he’s actually quite moderate by comparison.”
He went on to say Harris “ruined San Francisco” during her time as the city’s district attorney, where she continually defended LGBTQ+ rights and fought for marriage equality. It later came out Trump donated — not once, but twice — to Harris’ campaign to become attorney general, according to campaign finance documents.
The Republican nominee went on to scrutinize Harris’s stances on issues such as criminal justice reform and policing, as well as mocking the comparisons the Harris campaign made between the former president and the current vice president.
“They get me to that position and then the campaign says ‘I’m a prosecutor,’ and I’m a convicted felon,” Trump said, referencing his conviction in a New York criminal trial. “I don’t think people are going to buy it.”
The Harris campaign clapped back on social media after Trump’s Charlotte stop, using Trump’s own words as a campaign ad in support of Harris. The campaign has continued to post Trump’s own unedited words to combat the former president’s attempts to misinform his followers.
The Harris campaign released a statement on its social media channels, all titled KamalaHQ, reiterating the importance and weight this election has.
“Our democracy is under assault by criminal Donald Trump: after the last election Trump lost, he sent a mob to overturn the results,” the statement reads. “Donald Trump wants to take America backward, to the politics of hate, chaos and fear — this November, America will unite around Vice President Kamala Harris to stop him.”