Republican leadership urges colleagues to avoid racist, sexist attacks on Harris

2024-07-24 04:12:02

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders are advising party members not to use overtly racist and sexist attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris as they and former President Donald Trump’s campaign try to adapt. The reality of a new Democratic rival emerged four months ago.

In a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Tuesday, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina urged lawmakers to limit criticism of Harris over her role in the Biden-Harris administration’s policies. Role-playing criticism.

“This election will be about policy, not people,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the meeting.

“For Kamala Harris, this is nothing personal,” he added, “her race or gender has nothing to do with it at all.”

The warning highlights new risks for Republicans facing Democrats who, if they win, would be the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to win the White House. Trump, in particular, has a history of racist and misogynistic attacks that could turn off key swing voter groups, including suburban women, as well as the non-white and younger voters the Trump campaign has been courting.

The exhortations come after some Trump insiders and allies began portraying Harris, a former district attorney, former attorney general and former senator, as a “DEI” candidate, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. .

“Intellectually, it’s really at the bottom,” Rep. Harriet Hagerman of Wyoming said in a television interview. “I think she’s a DEI candidate. I think that’s what we’re seeing, and I don’t think they have anyone else.

Republicans have launched a long list of attacks on Harris since Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race, including attempts to tie her to Biden’s most unpopular policies and his management of the economy and southern border. Trump campaign officials and other Republicans have accused Harris of participating in a cover-up of Biden’s health problems and have been digging up her record as a California prosecutor in an effort to paint her as soft on crime.

Johnson claimed that both Trump and Harris had backgrounds in White House politics and said voters could compare how families performed under Trump to those under Biden.

“She was the co-owner, co-author and conspirator of all the policies that got us into this mess,” Johnson said.

Biden announced on Sunday that he was withdrawing from the race. Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio said in a memo on the state of the race on Tuesday that the fundamentals of the race have not changed as Harris appears increasingly likely to be the Democratic nominee.

“Democrats replacing one nominee with another will do nothing to change voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy, inflation, crime, open borders, housing costs, not to mention concerns about two foreign wars,” they wrote. “More importantly, voters will also learn about Harris’ dangerously liberal record before becoming a Biden ally.”

Hudson told attendees at Tuesday’s meeting that the NRCC is looking at how Harris is more progressive than Biden and essentially “owns” all government guidance, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sen. Steve Daines, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, echoed the criticism, calling Harris “too liberal.”

“She’s not an Irish Catholic girl who grew up in Scranton. She’s a liberal from San Francisco,” Daines said.

Trump said something similar during an interview with reporters on Tuesday.

“He’s the same as Biden, but more radical. He’s a radical leftist, and the country doesn’t want a radical leftist destroying it. “She’s much more radical than he is,” he declared.

“So I think it should be easier than Biden because he’s a little bit more traditional, but not too much,” he added.

Later, in an interview with Newsmax, Trump claimed Harris had “destroyed the city of San Francisco” — even though the Democrat resigned as San Francisco district attorney in 2011 — and called her “the worst person.”

“Kamala Harris is as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden, and she is also dangerously liberal,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Kamala will not only defend her opposition to Joe Biden, but she is also dangerously liberal. “She must also take responsibility for her poor record on crime in California despite supporting Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years.”

Trump has long launched particularly vitriolic personal attacks against women, from former Fox News host Megyn Kelly to his 2016 primary opponent Carly Fiorina to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully sued him and his company.

In a July 4 post on his Truth Social network, Trump mocked Harris’ poor performance in the 2020 Democratic primary, adding: “That doesn’t mean she won’t! Be a ‘very Talented guy, that’s an indication of what’s possible in the future. You just have to ask his mentor, San Francisco great Willie Harris, who dated Brown in the mid-1990s.

Stephanie Grisham, a 2016 campaign adviser, said Trump seemed particularly bothered by strong, smart women attacking him. He broke up with Trump after the bombing of the U.S. Capitol in Japan.

“She’s going to piss him off,” Grisham predicted, noting that when Trump is attacked, “he’s going to hit it 1,000 times harder.” “He’s not going to be able to avoid that.”

He added that when it comes to women, “their thing is to attack appearance and call women stupid. “That’s what he did and I don’t think it’s going to be any different now. “

California Rep. Maxine Waters is a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus and one of the first Democrats to take on Trump. Prepare for the future.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is the Trump and MAGA right-wing attacks that have already started,” Waters told The Associated Press. “They’re going to be unpleasant; they’re going to be bad. “

Waters said this approach could backfire on Trump.

“The danger is that he is so arrogant and selfish that he tramples on women, which is counterproductive,” he commented.

If Trump does confront Harris as he claims, the dynamics on the debate stage could intensify.

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said Trump is unlikely to debate Harris as he did with Biden, or another female rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, as he did in 2016.

“I don’t think Trump will strike the same tone in the debate with Kamala Harris as he did in the debate with Hillary Clinton. “Kamala Harris doesn’t have Hillary’s weaknesses and is a relatively weak candidate. New political faces,” he noted. “Might need to be careful.”

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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Stephen Groves and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.

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