“I’m a Better Looking Man Than Kamala”: Donald Trump’s Unscripted Moments Are Getting More Out of Control
“Do you mind if I stop talking for a second?” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asked his Pennsylvania crowd at a campaign rally on Saturday—less than four minutes into his speech.
What followed was a lengthy, meandering speech in which Trump asserted that he was more attractive than his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Time The latest magazine cover features a sketch of Harris with the words “Her Moment” and an article by the veteran reporter. Charlotte Changes. Image by Harris, illustration by Neil Jamiesonfades into an image of supporters holding campaign signs. When Trump first saw the image, he claimed, “I said, ‘Is that Sophia Loren?’ I can’t, who could that be? ‘Is that Elizabeth Taylor?’”
He then called Loren beautiful before warning the US Senate candidate Dave McCormickTrump campaigned with, that “never call a woman beautiful because that will be the end of your political career.”
Trump then went after a “Ronald Reagan speechwriter,” deliberately The Wall Street Journal journalist Peggy NoonanNoonan wrote of Harris’ appearance in recent weeks, “Her beauty, combined with the warmth that everyone who has known her over the years has spoken of, combines to create one thing: radiance.”
“She said something that caught my attention,” Trump began, apparently referring to Noonan’s columns. “She said Kamala has a big advantage, she’s a very beautiful woman. She’s a beautiful woman.” The crowd booed.
“But I say I am much more beautiful than she is. Much more beautiful. Much more beautiful. I am a more beautiful person than Kamala,” Trump continued, to cheers.
As the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago on Monday, Trump and his team tried to hone an effective defense against what has become a fervent movement to elect Harris and Tim WalzMinnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee. But Saturday’s remarks illustrate the challenge Trump campaign advisers face in pushing a strategy that requires Trump to focus on policy, rather than downplaying Harris’ intelligence and racial identity or making other personal insults.
Trump’s comments on Saturday criticizing Harris’ appeal were the latest attack in a racist and bigoted campaign against the first black and South Asian woman to be chosen as a major party’s nominee.
In an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists in late July, Trump falsely claimed that Harris was misinformed about her multiracial identity. “She’s always had Indian roots and she just promotes Indian roots,” he said. “I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she accidentally passed as black and now she wants to be known as black.”
Harris is “not smart enough” to hold a press conference and is “hardly competent,” Trump has said. Additionally, according to a report from New York TimesHe is said to have repeatedly called Harris a “whore” in private.
On the eve of the DNC, a new CBS News/YouGov poll shows the two candidates neck and neck in battleground states, with Harris leading by three points nationally. The poll found that much of the divide among voters comes down to gender. Women respondents were more likely to see Harris as someone who “fights for people like you.” Only 29% of men said Harris would fight “a lot” for people like them, while 43% of men said Donald Trump would.
And when asked whether efforts to promote gender equality between men and women go too far, men and Republicans are more likely to say yes, with only 10% of Republicans saying they don’t go far enough.
