WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump fixated on Vice President Kamala Harris’s appearance in terms he acknowledged were offensive, rejecting pressure from GOP allies to emphasize policy differences over personal attacks.
“You’re not allowed to say this anymore. You know, David, don’t ever get caught in this trap,” Trump said at a rally Saturday, calling on Republican Senate candidate David McCormick in the audience. “David, please don’t ever call a woman beautiful, because that will be the end of your political career.”
He appeared to take exception to a Wall Street Journal column that listed Harris’s appearance as one of her political assets, saying, “I am much better looking than her. I’m a better-looking person than Kamala.” He also said he mistook an illustration of Harris on the cover of Time Magazine for the actresses Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor.
In other recent remarks, Trump suggested Harris’s appearance would undermine her with world leaders, saying they would view her as a “play toy” and declining to specify why. House Republican leaders have advised lawmakers to stop attacking Harris based on her identity, but Trump has brushed off advice from Republican allies, including former rival Nikki Haley, to avoid personal attacks of the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I’m entitled to personal attacks,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I have to do it my way.”
Trump’s continued focus on Harris’s gender and race comes as the Democrat has opened a gaping lead with female voters. A new New York Times-Siena poll found Harris ahead of Trump by 14 percentage points with women in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, where Trump and President Joe Biden were tied with women in May. In Pennsylvania, women backed Harris 54 percent to 41 percent, while men supported Trump, 49 percent to 42 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll this month.
Trump has a long history of insulting the appearance of women rivals and critics, including 2016 Republican candidate Carly Fiorina and the adult film actress who accused him of a sexual encounter, Stormy Daniels. A New York jury convicted Trump in May of covering up hush money payments to Daniels.
On Thursday Trump acknowledged the newfound challenge of running against Harris since she replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee last month. “This is a different kind of a race,” he said. “All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody that’s going to destroy our country.”
At times in Saturday’s speech, which lasted almost two hours, Trump sounded nostalgic for running against Biden. “I spent $100 million fighting Joe Biden. They told him he couldn’t win,” he said, baselessly accusing Biden of hating Harris for succeeding him on the ticket. He then seemed to catch himself by adding, “She’ll be easier than him.”
Trump repeatedly described Harris as a “lunatic” and mocked her laugh. “As soon as she laughs, the election’s over,” he said.
Elsewhere in Saturday’s speech, Trump attempted to inflame Democratic divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza by baselessly accusing Harris of passing over the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her running mate because he is Jewish.
Shapiro was one of three finalists who had a personal interview with Harris over the first weekend in August, before she announced her choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. His interview included questions about his position on Israel, which emerged as a concern among some progressive activists. He also faced criticism from teachers unions over his support for school vouchers, The Washington Post reported.
After his interview, Shapiro told Harris’s team that he was struggling with the prospect of leaving his current position, a person familiar with the matter told The Post. Shapiro has denied antisemitism had any impact in the decision, and a campaign official told The Post the most important factor in Harris’s decision was her personal rapport with Walz.
Trump’s campaign and many Republicans feared Shapiro because of his dominant popularity in his home state, which they view as likely to decide the electoral college. Once Walz was chosen instead, many Republicans were quick to point to Shapiro’s faith as the supposed reason.
Trump has baselessly accused Harris, whose husband is Jewish, of disliking Jewish people. He repeated a refrain in Saturday’s speech that Jewish Americans who vote Democratic should “have their head examined.” Many American Jews object to being stereotyped as single-issue voters on Israel, which reminds them of an old antisemitic trope questioning their loyalty to this country. But similar comments from Trump were met with enthusiastic applause during a speech to Jewish supporters at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday.
In Saturday’s speech, Trump veered from one topic to the next over almost two hours, dwelling on the June 27 presidential debate against Biden, illegal immigration, and a story about negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron during which Trump imitated Macron’s French accent.
Trump took exception to his speeches being described as meandering. “They’ll say he was rambling,” he said. “I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy, you know, really smart. I don’t ramble.”
In the speech, Trump defended his proposal to impose tariffs on China and other countries. Trump falsely described tariffs as a tax on those countries; in reality tariffs are paid by domestic consumers.
“A lot of people like to say, ‘Oh, it’s a tax on us,’” Trump said. “No, no, no, it’s a tax on a foreign country.”
Trump’s appearance in Wilkes-Barre comes as both campaigns are heavily focused on the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Harris and Walz plan a bus trip on Sunday near Pittsburgh; Trump will return to Pennsylvania on Monday. According to The Post’s polling average, Harris is now leading Trump by two points in the state.
