 "Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a CNN town hall event in Aston, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, US, October 23, 2024. Source: REUTERS.")
Days after Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called her rival Donald Trump “fascist”, Republican Congressional leaders have slammed her.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker and Republican Leader Mike Johnson have slammed Harris for her language Trump. They have invoked the two attempted assassinations of Trump and said that her language mirrored that of the second alleged assassin.
In a joint statement shared by Trump on his social media platform Truth Social, McConnell and Johnson said that “must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions”.
McConnell and Johnson said that even as President Joe Biden and Harris both condemned political violence after two attempts on Trump’s life in the run-up to the Election Day, she has continued to engage in behaviour that escalates threat environment. They said that Biden and Harris’ words have proven to be hollow as she “has only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus”.
At a recent CNN town hall, Harris was asked if she thought of Trump as fascist. She said she did. She went on to say that voters care about “not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist”.
Harris further said, “I believe that Donald Trump is dangerous. As the president of the United States, the commander in chief, he’s saying to his generals, in essence, why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals? Come on!”
Referring to the ‘fascist’ remark, they said, “Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over. The Vice President’s words more closely resemble those of President Trump’s second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility. The man who was caught waiting in ambush in Florida left others with a chilling call to arms: ‘It is up to you now to finish the job’. Labelling a political opponent as a ‘fascist,’ risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Republican Congressional leaders’ statement has come as the 2024 US presidential election campaign has become arguably the most polarised in many decades with rhetoric that would otherwise be unimaginable just a couple of decades back.
Even as McConnell and Johnson slam Harris over her language for Trump, their own party’s leader, Trump, has descended into obscenities and vulgarities unheard from public forum.
In recent weeks, Trump has called Harris “shit” and has called her allies “enemy from within”. He has also called for the unleashing of military upon his critics if he would become the president. He has also gone about labelling his critics, such as former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, as traitors.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said if “radical left lunatics” disrupt the election, “it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military”.
At one rally, Trump spoke at length about the penis size of a golfer. In another appearance beside an archbishop, Trump cursed and at a church earlier in the campaign, he said out loud “bullshit” and urged his supporter to launch into chants of “bullshit”.
Previously, Trump has said that he would be rule like a dictator on day of his presidency.
However, it is Harris’ language that McConnell and Johnson have flagged. Since the first attempt on Trump’s life, Republicans have sought to dub Trump’s criticism as inflammatory and have linked such criticism to attempts on his life. It is part of their long-running campaign to portray all criticism and legal actions against Trump, who is the only president to be a convicted criminal, as part of a grand conspiracy against him involving the purported deep state and a battery of far-left figures.
In their joint statement, McConnell and Johnson said that Harris may want the voters to trust her with running the country, but she must first “abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions”.
“We have both been briefed on the ongoing and persistent threats to former President Donald Trump by adversaries to the United States, and we call on the Vice President to take these threats seriously, stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats,” said McConnell and Johnson.