President Donald Trump accused himself of mockery and hypocrisy after he accused Kamala Harris of mistreating Mike Pence. Supporters say the former vice president should be hanged during the January 6 riot he instigated.
The Republican candidate made the comments in an interview with Fox News, in which he also highlighted her cross-examination of Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearing in 2018 after then-President Trump nominated Harris to the Supreme Court. The justices nominated him.
“They say she has a lot of flaws, but she’s a bad person,” President Trump told interviewer Mark Levin. “Her treatment of Mike Pence was terrible. Her treatment of people is terrible.” The way she treated Judge Kavanaugh in those hearings, no one has ever been treated like that in the history of Congress.”
Trump’s comments sparked a response from Harris’ campaign, which seemed to interpret it as an example and evidence of the former president’s mental deterioration, especially as she faces age-related confusion and the fact that she will be the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history at 78 years old after Joe Biden’s withdrawal.
“In a stunningly stupid moment, Donald Trump simply implied that it was Kamala Harris who mistreated Mike Pence,” the campaign posted on X, linking to a video of Trump’s remarks.
“Donald Trump clearly doesn’t remember anything. Please retweet so all Americans understand this hypocritical and stupid moment.”
In fact, President Trump may have been referring to the 2020 vice presidential debate between Harris and Pence, in which the Democratic nominee told her opponent, “I’m speaking,” twice, when he tried to interrupt her while she was making her point.
But the comment sparked references on social media to President Trump’s infamous treatment of Pence after his loss to Biden in the presidential election, when he tried to pressure the vice president to reject Congress’ certification of the results as required by the U.S. Constitution, and then incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol while Pence was inside.
Journalist David Corn of Mother Jones wrote on social media: “Did she call him the P-word and incite a violent mob chanting ‘hang Mike Pence?’ Because if she did that, she would probably drop out of the race.”
On the morning of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, President Trump reportedly told Pence, “You can either go down in history as a patriot or you can go down in history as a patriot.”
Later, as the mob thirsted for the vice president’s blood, President Trump reportedly told his advisers, “Mike Pence deserves it.”
Last year, President Trump renewed his attacks on former Vice President Pence, who has refused to endorse the current presidential candidate, when he was running for the Republican nomination, calling him “delusional” and “not a very good person.”
Harris, who appeared on CNN last week alongside running mate Tim Walz and repeatedly called President Trump “mean,” confirmed to interviewer Dana Bash that she and the former president have never met.
The reference to the treatment of Kavanaugh, one of three conservative justices appointed by Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court, was a reference to Harris’ question about abortion during her confirmation hearing in 2018, when she was a senator.
“Can you imagine a law that gives the government the power to make decisions about men’s bodies?” Harris asked Kavanaugh, to which Kavanaugh pushed back, seeking “more specific questions.”
As Harris continued her argument, Kavanaugh, one of six Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of the landmark ruling that will strike down a woman’s legal right to an abortion in 2022, hesitantly acknowledged, “I can’t do that now.” Consider this:
Harris has made restoring abortion rights a focal point of her presidential campaign.
President Trump also suggested in an interview with Fox News that he has “every right” to interfere in attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“Who would have ever heard of you being charged with interfering in a presidential election when you have every right to do so,” he said.
Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. attorney during the Obama administration, posted on X: “This is an evil platitude — President Trump is claiming he can ignore the will of the voters and claim victory in an election he lost.”