 "Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)")
In an hourlong press conference laced with falsehoods, Donald Trump insulted Vice President Kamala Harris and railed about his own purported achievements.
Trump spoke about Harris’ intelligence, piled up false accusations on the Joe Biden administration, spread falsehoods about his own record, and even went on to compare himself with civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.
As he railed about how charismatic he was, Trump said he pulled bigger crowds than King Jr on January 6, 2021 — the crowd that went on to attack the Capitol Hill after his provocation and sought to kill the then-Vice President Mike Pence in a bid to hijack the certification of 2020 presidential election result and illegally overturn it in his favour.
Trump said, “I’ll tell you, it’s very hard to find a picture of that crowd…If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours. Same real estate. Same everything. Same number of people, if not, we had more.”
‘She’s not smart enough’
In addition to appearing to be mocking Harris by intentionally mispronouncing her first name, Trump said she was not smart enough.
Criticising her for not holding press conferences, even as he himself was holding one after several weeks, Trump said she can’t do a press conference as she was not smart enough. Berating Harris further, Trump said his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton —whom he insulted as Crooked Hillary— was much smarter than her.
Later in the conference, Trump returned to the topic and said it was not about Harris’ intelligence but “it’s really, ultimately, not about her as much as about her policies”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump proposes 3 debates with Harris
After he walked out of a pre-scheduled presidential debate on September 10, Trump said he has agreed to holding three debates with Harris.
Trump said he has agreed to debate Harris on ABC News, NBC News, and Fox News.
Even as he said he has agreed to the debates, Trump mocked her by saying she was barely competent to debate.
“She’s barely competent, and she can’t do an interview, but I look forward to the debates,” said Trump.
Even as the press conference was going on, ABC confirmed that the Sept. 10 debate was on track and The New York Times reported that NBC was also finalising the terms. As for the Fox debate, while Trump has pledged to do it, the Harris campaign has so far not agreed to it.
Trump downplays abortions, accuses Democrats of infanticide
Trump said that abortion was a minor issue in the election.
This does not appear to be in line with the polls. A Gallup poll said that around a third of all voters —32 per cent— said they will only vote for a person who shared their views on abortion. Nationally, the poll found that 54 per cent of Americans were pro-choice.
Trump, however, said that abortion “has become much less of an issue now”. He added that abortion was “actually going to be a very small issue”.
Trump went on to repeat that he supported abortion in case of rape, incest, and in situations the mother’s life was in danger.
Trump, however, politicised abortion as he levelled false infanticide allegation on Democrats. He said the Democrats were the “radical ones” who were allowing abortions even after a child was born — a false claim.
Once a child is born, there cannot be any abortion and any intentional killing of a child will amount to murder.
The New York Times noted in a fact-check that no US state has passed a law allowing for the killing of an infant right after birth.
Trump’s pile of falsehoods
While whitewashing the insurrectionist mobs’ actions on January 6, 2021, Trump said no one was killed that day. That’s blatantly false as one protester was killed that day as law enforcement personnel sought to stop the mob from taking over the US Capitol and harming the Congresspersons and Vice President Pence. Overall, a total of seven people died in connection to the Jan. 6 attack.
A Trump supporter had died of a heart attack while attending the rally and another rioter was crushed by fellow rioters in a stampede and another died from a stroke, according to The Times.
Moreover, one policeman was killed by the rioters and two more personnel part of the outnumbered force that defended the Capitol died by suicide, according to the newspaper.
Trump also said that Harris wanted to “take away your guns”. Harris has only been supportive of a buyback programme in the past of assault weapons — not all guns.
Trump also said that in the 18 months that his administration held talks with the Taliban, no US soldier was killed. The Times in a fact-check noted that 13 soldiers were killed in that period.
Trump went on to say that Harris would “take away” social security — a falsehood. Harris, and Biden before him, has pledged to not make any cuts to social security.
Trump boasted of his tax cuts as being the largest. The Times fact-checked the claim and said there were at least half a dozen cuts bigger than his, including one by the then-President Barak Obama in 2012.