Donald Trump’s team is already strategizing to portray Vice President Kamala Harris, an octogenarian, as a second coming of President Biden following her decision on Sunday to forgo reelection, calling for the president’s immediate departure due to his apparent mental breakdown.
Biden, 81, was forced to withdraw from the Democratic Party after his disastrous debate defeat against Trump and has called off his bid for reelection. With four weeks until the Democratic National Convention and less than four months until the general election, the Trump campaign is now focused on beating down Harris.
The Trump campaign quickly issued a statement saying Harris, whose endorsement he endorsed after Biden withdrew, was “complicit” in Biden’s “destruction of our once great country” and that she was “worse” for the country than Biden.
“Kamala Harris is just as much of a laughing stock as Biden. Harris will be even worse to our people than Joe Biden was. Harris has been an enabler of evil Joe all this time,” Trump top advisers Chris LaCivita and Suzi Wiles said in a statement. “They own each other’s records and there is no separation between them.”
“Harris must now defend the failed Biden administration and her own liberal, weak on crime record in California,” they added.
The Trump campaign also argued that Biden’s withdrawal would mean he poses a “national security threat” if he remains in the White House until the next president is inaugurated in January.
“Joe Biden is too mentally incompetent to withdraw from the presidential campaign and will remain in the White House. Biden’s cognitive abilities are severely impaired, he is a national security threat and a clear and present danger to every man, woman and child in our nation,” LaCivita and Wiles said.
“So the question for Kamala Harris is simple: knowing that Joe Biden has withdrawn from the campaign trail due to his rapidly deteriorating health, does Harris believe the American people will be safe and secure with Joe Biden in the White House for another six months?” they added.
The Republican National Committee released a similar statement, placing Harris in the same category as Biden.
“Every mistake Joe Biden has made – the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the border crisis, rampant inflation, weakening America overseas – has gone hand in hand with Kamala Harris. Not only will Harris be a disaster in the White House, but her credibility has been damaged by helping to cover up Biden’s declining health while in office,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump.
MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting the Trump campaign, Anti-Harris ad on Sunday afternoon He said Harris was in charge of the Biden administration given the president’s mental health issues.
“Kamala was complicit. She covered up Joe’s obvious mental breakdown. Kamala did it because she knew Joe couldn’t do the job. Look what she did: border invasions, runaway inflation and the death of the American Dream,” the ad states.
The ad will begin airing immediately in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona as part of MAGA Inc’s $5 million weekly advertising deal.
With Biden’s endorsement, Harris is likely to be the first choice for delegates to vote for at the Democratic National Convention in August. Vice President Harris would likely be able to tap into the fundraising capital the Biden-Harris campaign already has, and she has the name recognition and a track record in the White House. Harris has already accepted Biden’s endorsement.
But other Democrats could join the nomination process in the coming weeks as part of an effort to hold an open, multi-candidate convention at the Democratic National Convention.
