The Democratic Party’s baton has not officially passed Joe Biden for Kamala Harris, but the vice president is already facing Republican attacks befitting a presidential favorite.
Moments after Biden announced he would not seek re-election on Sunday, reversing the 2024 race, the GOP presidential nominee donald trump and her allies launched an offensive against Harris, seeking to link her to Biden’s record on immigration and criticizing her views as too liberal.
“Kamala was involved in this. She covered up Joe’s obvious mental decline,” says a narrator in one Ads released Sunday by a Trump-supporting super PAC. “Kamala knew Joe couldn’t do the job, so she did it. Look what it did: a border invasion, rampant inflation, the American Dream dead.”
Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, also previewed the coming attacks against Harris at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday.
“I call her Laffin’ Kamala. Have you ever seen her laugh? She is mad. You can say a lot of things just by laughing… She’s crazy,” Trump he said in his first rally since becoming his party’s standard bearer.
Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president, called Harris “even more liberal and less competent than” Biden in a post on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform.
Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill have said Biden cannot perform his duties and called on him to immediately resign from office, a step that would, ironically, make Harris president.
They have also sought to turn the tables on Democrats, arguing that by pressuring Biden to step aside, Democratic lawmakers have rejected the will of voters who voted to make Biden the nominee earlier this year.
“Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who chose Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee for president, the self-proclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La. ) in a statement on Sunday.
“The party’s prospects are no better now with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is a co-owner of the Biden administration’s disastrous policy failures,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) pointed to Harris’ past statements defending Biden from issues related to his age as a reason not to trust her candidacy.
“For four years, those closest to Joe Biden, including Kamala Harris, knew he was unfit to be president and lied to the American people in an effort to maintain his power,” Scott said in a statement. “It has been painfully clear that Biden has not been competent for office since 2021.”
What is clear is that Biden’s decision to drop out derailed the 2024 race, which is why Republicans pushed for Biden to remain before making his announcement on Sunday. Trump, 78, will now be the oldest candidate in the race with a long list of baggage, including his felony conviction in New York.
Dave Wasserman, senior editor and election analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, noted the age difference between Harris and Trump on Sunday:
Now the Rs are stuck with a 78-year-old nominee, while Harris is 59. Recent age gaps of more than 10 years between the top nominees have favored (two) younger Democrats:
2012: Obama (51) defeated. Romney (65)
2008: Obama (47) defeated. McCain (72)
1996: Clinton (50) defeated. Dole (73)
1992: Clinton (46) defeated. Shrub (68)-Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) July 21, 2024
