Trump’s Latest Personal Attack on Harris: A New Low or More of the Same?
Former President Donald Trump stirred up controversy over the weekend in comments directed at Vice President Kamala Harris. While controversy isn’t unusual for Trump, the remarks sparked considerable pushback that, at times, came from his own political party. They also raised a question: Is this a new low for the former president or just more of the same?
“Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Sad. But lying Kamala Harris – honestly, I believe she was born that way,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday to the laughs of the crowd. “There’s something wrong with Kamala. And I just don’t know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what? Everybody knows it.”
In a similar string of remarks the day before in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, he added: “Only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.”
The American Association of People with Disabilities, a nonpartisan advocacy group, called the comments “ableist and inaccurate.”
“Donald Trump’s ableist comments yesterday say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about Vice President Harris, or any person with a disability,” AAPD President and CEO Maria Town said in a statement. “Trump holds the ableist, false belief that if a person has a disability, they are less human and less worthy of dignity. These perceptions are incorrect, and are harmful to people with disabilities.”
“To be clear, the insult of Donald Trump’s comment is not the suggestion that Vice President Harris is disabled, but rather, the insinuation that having a disability is synonymous with poor performance as a prospective president,” Town continued. “Presidential history indicates that we’ve had many presidents who had disabilities. Whether or not these presidents were effective leaders is up for individuals to decide, just like it is up for individual voters to decide who will become the next president of the United States in November.”
Over the past few months, Trump has tried out several lines of attack on Harris to presumably see what sticks: “Laffin’ Kamala,” “Lyin’ Kamala” and “Comrade Kamala.” Political observers have pointed out that Trump has had a hard time trying to define Harris and put her in a box.
Beyond the nicknames, Trump has launched racist and sexist attacks on Harris. He previously claimed that she “happened to turn Black” and reposted a lewd message about Harris on social media. He has also called her "crazy," "nuts" and "dumb as a rock," while defending his use of personal attacks.
“It's a classic distraction strategy,” says Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric and a professor at Texas A&M University. “Trump has used it very successfully over the last 10 years.”
But is it working this time around?
“He has had trouble defining Kamala Harris. He's tried using some of his older attack lines. They haven't really stuck very well,” Mercieca says. “I don't think this one is very catchy, and I don't actually think that it resonates.”
The goal is to distract and delegitimize in the hopes of undermining Harris’ credibility with voters, she adds.
The new comments have a “whiff of desperation” about them, says Thomas Whalen, a presidential historian who teaches U.S. politics at Boston University.
“He's just kind of playing the old hits that worked,” says Whalen. “But people move on. Especially in America, we're tired of reruns. We want the next new thing. And I think he kind of knows that, having been a reality television star.”
The latest attack drew rebukes from members of Trump’s own party, many of whom have been begging the former president to stay on message and stick to policies.
Top Trump ally Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told CNN that he doesn’t think Harris is mentally impaired but that “she’s crazy liberal.”
“And here’s what I would tell President Trump: When people look at the state of play, they trust you on the economy, the border, inflation and foreign policy by wide margins. Focus on those,” Graham said.
