Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have had a nasty habit lately of insulting not just the Trump-Vance ticket, but also those who are voting to elect the former president once more. Walz was the architect of referring to Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as "weird," and now he's repeatedly referred to Trump supporters as "Nazis" after former and potentially future President Donald Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden almost 86 years after the Nazis held such a rally at MSG, when it was at a different location in New York City. Harris has refused to call out her running mate for such remarks, a move the Trump-Vance campaign refers to as "disqualifying," in addition to "disgusting" and "shameful."
Walz, as Madeline covered, insisted on making the comparison to Nazis while at a pro-abortion rally in the swing state of Nevada over the weekend, speaking about "a direct parallel." While speaking to a reporter on Tuesday, Walz cowardly tried to dance around his response as to if he stood by those remarks.
"You were comparing that rally to a Nazi rally," asked a reporter. "Look, I'm comparing it to the hate that came out of this and I think they confirm that," Walz tried to offer. As the reporter asked to confirm Walz stood by such a comparison, Walz responded, "look, the rally, you saw it for yourself, I'll let the American public make the decision of what they saw."
"What about you, though," the reporter asked, trying still again for follow up. "I know what I saw, and I'll just leave it at that," Walz said.
BREAKING: Tim Walz says he stands by his comments comparing Americans attending President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally to Nazis pic.twitter.com/lzwBLe37X5
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 29, 2024
Harris herself was also asked if she stood by such comments during a Tuesday interview with a local news outlet. "Do you compare that, do you find that similar comparison," the reporter asked, mentioning he had also spoken with Walz.
"Listen, this election is in seven days and I think the American people have a very clear choice," Harris began by answering, despite how that has absolutely nothing to do with the direct question that was asked of her. The question was also not about Trump, but about Walz, her own running mate. "And on one hand you have Donald Trump who is constantly fanning the flames of division and hate, who is trying to have the American people point their fingers at each other or my leadership, which is founded on a lived experience that the vast majority of us have more in common than separate us. We want to come together as a country and have leaders who know how to work across the aisle. We certainly don't want leaders like Donald Trump, who talk about the American people as enemies within."
BREAKING: Kamala refuses to denounce her running mate's comparison of President Trump's rally attendees to Nazis.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 29, 2024
Absolutely disgusting. Shameful. Vile. Disqualifying. pic.twitter.com/o4SUJo9PUf
The Democratic nominee has also been focused on obsessively comparing Trump to Hitler based on a thoroughly debunked article from The Atlantic last week from Jeffrey Goldberg, who it's worth reminding has put out debunked claims about Trump before, and so close to the election. Goldberg also refuses to stop going after Trump despite pleas from the family of a U.S. soldier who was murdered, and whose name has been used by Goldberg for collateral damage. Harris put on a "press conference" last Wednesday that lasted for less than three minutes and involved no questions. She stood outside the vice president's residence to make those comparisons and her speech prompted Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) to write a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland inquiring as to if she violated the Hatch Act with such a move.
Recall how for the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden kept referring to his political opponents as "MAGA Republicans" and fearmongered about the supposed threat to democracy that Republicans posed. This was particularly memorable with Biden's speech outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on "The Battle for the Soul of the Nation."
Republicans ended up performing much worse than expected that year, and while former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) disagreed with that tactic that Biden and Democrats used to portray their political opponents in such a way, he did believe it played a role.
Will such a tactic work this time? An ABC News poll from last week found that 49 percent of registered voters consider Trump to be a "fascist," a term Harris used to describe Trump last week, not just during her remarks on Wednesday, but when she participated in a particularly painful town hall on CNN later that same day.
Election Day is just one week away. This year, though, unlike 2022, Trump is actually on the ballot, and the momentum looks to be on his side in these last remaining days.
Harris and Walz made such "disqualifying" remarks shortly before the Democratic nominee made her "closing argument speech." Harris' remarks were overshadowed, however, by how Biden referred to Trump supporters as "garbage," and the slew of responses that came from that, as Matt will have more on later.
BREAKING: Biden refers to millions of President Trump's supporters as "garbage."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2024
Does Kamala disavow? pic.twitter.com/Zx4g3NOU9L
I would pay any amount of money to have been there the moment Kamala walked off stage from her big election eve rally, full of *JOY*, and learned all anyone is talking about is her boss calling half the country garbage
— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) October 30, 2024
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