WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration and criminal justice Friday in his second speech since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, calling Harris a “bum” and a “failed vice president.”
“She was a bum three weeks ago. She was a bum. A failed vice president in a failed administration, with millions of people crossing, and she was the border czar,” Trump said at Turning Point Action’s Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Much of the former president’s criticism of Harris was similar to his attacks on Biden. Trump said Harris has poorly handled the southern border, doesn’t like Jewish people and will appoint “Marxists” to the Supreme Court to strip Americans of their religious liberty. (The vice president’s husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is the first Jewish spouse of a vice president and has taken a prominent role in combatting antisemitism.)
These attacks were in line with Republicans’ general unsubstantiated claims that Democrats will impose socialist or Marxist policies if elected.
The GOP has attacked Harris’ record as the Biden administration’s “border czar,” but the White House has pushed back, saying Harris’ role was to work with Central American nations to address the root causes of migration, not to solve the crisis at the southern border.
Trump also attempted to tie Harris to San Francisco, a city where she was formerly district attorney, telling attendees that if Harris is elected, “terrorists will appoint hundreds of extreme far-left judges to forcibly impose crazy San Francisco liberal values on Americans nationwide.”
The former president also rallied religious voters to turn out at the polls in higher numbers this year than ever before, telling them, “You have tremendous power, you just don’t know that. You have to use that power. Christians are a group that’s known not to vote very much. You have to go out at least this election. Get us into that beautiful White House.”
Calling them “my beautiful Christians,” Trump added: “Get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.”
Asked for clarification about Trump’s comments, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign told NBC News, “President Trump was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt.”
In a statement following Trump’s speech, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign said that during his speech, “Trump couldn’t pronounce words” and “insulted the faith of Jewish and Catholic Americans.” The spokesperson added that Trump “sounded like someone you wouldn’t want to sit near at a restaurant — let alone be President of the United States.”
Friday’s event was the first time that Trump’s ear bandage appeared to be fully removed since he was the victim of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania nearly two weeks ago.
The former president even pointed out the lack of a bandage, telling the crowd, “I think you can see I’ve recovered well and in fact just took off the last bandage off of my ear.”
Trump added that he “took a bullet for democracy.”