Vice President Kamala Harris responded for the first time to former President Donald Trump’s comments about former Rep. Liz Cheney, saying his rhetoric targeting his political opponents has grown increasingly violent.
“This must be disqualifying,” she told reporters after arriving in Wisconsin for a series of campaign events. “Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.”
Harris said she has not spoken to Cheney since Trump attacked her during a live interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday but called her a “true patriot” who has put the nation above her party.
“I know Liz Cheney well enough to know that she is tough, she is incredibly courageous and has shown herself to be a true patriot at a very difficult time in our country,” Harris said.
The vice president accused Trump of pitting Americans against one another and said he spends a “considerable amount of time plotting his revenge” against political opponents.
“His enemies list has grown longer. His rhetoric has grown more extreme and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people,” Harris said.
She reiterated her plan to “be a president for all Americans.”
“America deserves better than what Donald Trump is offering,” Harris said. “America deserves a president who understands our role and responsibility to our people and to the rest of the world to be a model.”
In addition to criticizing Trump for his remarks about Cheney, Harris condemned her Republican opponent for saying during a Nevada rally that if he is elected, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would serve in the second Trump administration to “work on heath and women’s health.”
Harris said Kennedy has “routinely promoted junk science and crazy conspiracy theories” and “is the exact last person in America who should be setting health care policy for America’s families and children.”
