Trump's anti-Harris campaign is already heated
Apparently seamlessly, Trump's campaign team shifts focus to Harris after Biden's withdrawal. Already intense attacks. Even a decades-old love relationship is suddenly a topic. It could still get dirtier.
Everything was in place. Just a few minutes after Joe Biden officially announced his withdrawal from the US Presidency race, the "Republican National Committee" in crucial Swing States switched on television and online advertising with the title: "The Truth About Kamala Harris." "If you ever wondered how Joe Biden messed up the border, think about this: He had help," an off-voice intones.
The Video makes Harris responsible for "flooding" the US-Mexico border with illegal migrants. In a shown interview clip, she seems not to know if she had ever been at the border. Additionally, it is claimed that as District Attorney in San Francisco, she enabled educational programs for illegal immigrant drug dealers and had their criminal records expunged. An alleged illegal immigrant released by Harris stole an SUV and ran over a young woman.
Laughing is interspersed throughout the video. A characteristic that Trump recently picked up on at a rally. "Have you seen her laugh? She's crazy. You can tell a lot from a laugh. She's crazy," Trump said and gave her the nickname "Laughing Kamala."
"We are one hundred percent ready"
Trump's campaign team had been fully focused on Biden in the past few months: on his age, his gaffes, and his supposed disastrous policy. However, in the background, they had also been preparing for his withdrawal. "Be assured, we are one hundred percent ready," Trump's leading advisor Tony Fabrizio said at the Republican Party convention according to AP news. Anti-Harris videos were in the starting blocks. Even if Harris is not yet officially a candidate: Trump's strategists wasted no time.
Some accusations against Biden are now simply being transferred to his Vice President. Trump's second man J. D. Vance wrote on X, Harris had "signed Biden's policy of open borders and green fraud, which drove up the costs for housing and food." She was "responsible for all these failures." Other accusations are being reactivated, such as her supposedly lenient handling of drug offenders as Attorney General of California. That was already said about her during the Democratic primaries in 2020.
The focus of the attacks on Harris is the situation at the Mexico border. Immigration is one of the key election issues for the Republicans. As Vice President, Harris was in charge of reducing illegal border crossings and combating causes of flight in Latin America, with limited success. At a campaign rally in early July, Trump said Harris was responsible for the "worst border" in history. He also blamed her for the Ukraine war. She had "failed," Trump said, to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine.
Republican Efforts to Discredited Harris as Biden's Running Mate
The Republican efforts to discredit Kamala Harris as Joe Biden's running mate began soon after Biden's withdrawal from the race. The pro-Trump lobby group "Make America Great Again Inc." released ads in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, stating that Harris had doubted Biden's health. At the same time, they tried to keep the real state of affairs regarding the US President under wraps. An anonymous source from within the lobby group told ABC News that they aimed to expand the campaign. "There will be chaos in the Democratic Party, and our job now is to exploit it."
Trump would not be Trump if he didn't already stir up the chaos. Biden's transformation into a defender of democracy during the campaign provided Trump with a formidable challenge. "The Democrats stole the race from me after I won the primaries," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "These people are the real threat to democracy!" Trump didn't hold back on insults, calling Harris "failed and incompetent" and "dumb as a rock."
The Republican Campaign Machine's Flexible Response
It seems that the Republican campaign machine has reacted flexibly to the likely new opponent for Trump. According to a report in the "New York Times," Harris was not their preferred candidate. The Trump campaign team had hoped that Biden would be officially nominated at the Democratic convention and that the attacks against him would be scaled back after the disastrous TV debate. The calculation: Biden's lackluster approval ratings and widespread doubts about his fitness would take care of him more or less on their own.
In the campaign rhetoric, Harris was merely a supporting character. Only when Biden's withdrawal seemed possible did there emerge "a sudden sense of urgency to define Kamala Harris and cement a lackluster image," said Liam Donovan, a former advisor to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to ntv.
"Harris is largely unknown in many areas of American public life," said political scientist Thomas Jäger to ntv. "This is both an opportunity for Harris to make an offer to Americans and an opportunity for Trump to define her. He's trying to do that by characterizing her as a woman who can't be taken seriously."
Meanwhile, fears in Trump's camp are growing that Harris could be more dangerous to Trump than Biden. The "New York Times" reported, citing unnamed Trump aides, that Harris could pose a threat on issues such as abortion rights, which the Democrats could score points on in the 2022 midterm elections, or in relation to the numerous lawsuits against Trump.
Vance Calls Harris a "Childless Cat Lady"
Regardless, the Republican candidate now faces a significantly younger, black woman. Observers expect that this factor will influence the campaign in the coming weeks and months. "Will race and gender be an issue? Definitely," said political strategist LaTosha Brown to Reuters. Trump's running mate Vance had already attacked Harris in a sexist manner in 2021. She was a "childless cat lady," unhappy with her life and showing no commitment to America because she had no children.
A study conducted by the Wilson Center identified Harris as the US politician who was most targeted by hate comments in 2021. Shortly after Biden announced his resignation, right-wing influencers flooded the internet with ridiculous conspiracy theories. One such theory claimed that Harris had worked as an escort, another alleged that she had a relationship with the purported sexual offender P. Diddy. Fake photos showed her with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump supporters Elon Musk spread the claim on X that Harris was controlled by the Jewish billionaire's family, the Soroses. There is no evidence to support any of this.
Additionally, a brief relationship between Harris from her time as District Attorney with the California politician Willie Brown in the 1990s was uncovered. X-accounts with high reach claimed that Harris was an affair of the married Brown's, but he was already divorced at the time. In return for the relationship, it is alleged that Brown helped advance Harris' political career. On Truth Social, Trump already addressed this claim, sarcastically referring to Harris as "highly talented". Anyone with doubts should just ask her mentor, "the great Willie Brown from San Francisco".
- After Joe Biden's withdrawal from the United States Presidency Election 2024, the Republicans quickly shifted their focus to attacking Kamala Harris, with Trump's campaign team preparing anti-Harris videos even before her official candidacy.
- J.D. Vance, Trump's second man, accused Harris of signing Biden's policy of open borders and green fraud, contributing to rising housing and food costs, and being responsible for various failures.
- The Republicans have focused their attacks on Harris' handling of immigration issues, with Trump blaming her for the worst border in history and the high number of illegal border crossings.
- In response to the Republican attacks, some Democrats criticized the GOP for using racist and sexist tactics, with political strategist LaTosha Brown pointing out that Harris being a black woman could potentially influence the campaign.
