Republicans on Sunday sought to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s latest insults of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during a rambling weekend rally in Wisconsin in which he called her “mentally disabled.”
Trump escalated his personal attacks on the vice president during what was billed as a speech on immigration following Harris’ trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Joe Biden became mentally impaired,” Trump said. “Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country. Anybody would know this.”
Trump has already falsely claimed Harris “turned Black” and regularly insults her as “stupid,” “weak,” “dumb as a rock” and “lazy.” With just over a month left before the presidential election, his allies pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other issues.
“I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about Trump’s comments. “They’re crazy liberal.”
When asked whether he approved of the remarks, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) sidestepped during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, running for the Senate as a moderate Republican, brought up Trump’s false claims that Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, had previously downplayed her Black heritage. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college, and has identified as both Black and South Asian consistently throughout her political career.
“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 told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And I think that’s insulting not only to the vice president but to people who actually do have mental disabilities.”
If elected, Harris would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to be president. She has not commented on Trump’s recent attacks but has said when asked about other comments that it was the “ same old show. The same tired playbook we’ve heard for years with no plan on on how he would address the needs of the American people.” AP
