Former President Donald J. Trump was criticized by several Republicans for a humiliating insult Sunday, a day after he called Vice President Kamala Harris “mentally retarded” and “intellectually retarded” at a rally. Collected.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, pushed back against Trump’s comments on Sunday. “I think the wise thing to do is to accuse her of destroying the country with her policies,” Graham said on CNN, adding that while he didn’t think Harris was crazy, He added that he thought the policy was crazy.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, who has been helping Mr. Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, prepare for the upcoming debate, also sought to distance himself from Mr. Trump’s personal attacks. “I think we should stick to this issue,” Emmer told ABC News.
Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor of Maryland and now running for Senate, offered an even harsher rebuke.
Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump, told CBS News: “I think this is an insult not just to the vice president, but to people who actually have mental illness.” “I have said for years that we can do without President Trump’s divisive comments.”
Stephen Chan, the Trump campaign’s communications director, did not directly address Trump’s insults or the critical response they provoked. Instead, she argued that Harris’ background in immigration and border security makes her “totally unfit to be president.”
Zhang added in a statement that “her abhorrent dereliction of duty” at the border has allowed criminals “to flow into our country to terrorize communities.”
Trump has made personal attacks on Harris over the years, even as some campaign advisers and Republican allies have urged her to stick to basic policy issues that appeal to large numbers of voters. It’s here. He has often degraded her and questioned her racial identity, but at a rally in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on Saturday, he escalated his attacks and questioned her mental sanity. He committed a series of insults.
“Joe Biden is mentally ill,” Trump said. “That’s how Kamala was born.”
The remarks, which Trump himself described as “bleak,” came a day after Harris delivered one of the toughest speeches of her generation on immigration and border security.
Democrats also took notice of his comments. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker criticized Trump’s comments on CNN, calling them a “slander.”
“Whenever he says something like that, he’s talking about himself, but he’s trying to project that onto other people,” Pritzker said.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served in the Obama administration, went further, suggesting that Trump’s comments showed “cognitive decline.”
“Trump really tapped into Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities,” Holder said on MSNBC. “If this is who he is now, what will he be like in three or four years?”
After Trump’s remarks on Saturday, the Harris campaign declined to comment on her personal attacks. Campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Titica said in a statement that Trump has given voters “darkness” rather than inspiration.
Just hours after Trump’s remarks, “Saturday Night Live” joked about the remarks at the start of its 50th season. “I can’t believe Mr. Trump admitted he lost a debate to a mentally ill person,” Colin Jost said on the show’s “Weekend Update” segment.
The Americans with Disabilities, a nonpartisan advocacy group, criticized Trump’s comments as inaccurate and harmful.
“Mr. Trump holds the false ableist belief that people with disabilities are less human and less worthy of dignity,” Maria Town, president and CEO of the group, said in a statement. said. “If you look back at presidential history, you’ll see that there have been a lot of presidents with disabilities.”
