Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, surrounded by Michigan police officers, blasted Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as proof the Democratic candidate is anti-police.
Vance, 40, pointed to Harris and Walz’s response to the 2020 riots that engulfed Minnesota and then the nation soon after in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
“The new Democratic vice presidential nominee makes an interesting dynamic with Kamala Harris because while he was promoting the rioters and looters who burned down Minneapolis, Kamala Harris was helping keep rioters and looters out of jail on bail,” Vance charged Wednesday.
“I promise you, within just six months, reinforcements will be on the way,” he later added. “You will have a federal government that will make your life easier, not harder.”
Walz, 60, was Minnesota governor when a storm of rioters wreaked havoc in Minneapolis and St. Paul, setting buildings on fire and looting stores. Harris promoted the Minnesota Freedom Fund in 2020 and helped pay bail for some of the protesters.
The Trump campaign and its allies have targeted Walz and Harris’ records during the tumultuous 2020. Both Democrats fired back with scathing criticism of the four criminal indictments faced by former President Donald Trump.
In particular, Harris, 59, began to boast about her experience as California’s top prosecutor, goading the 45th president by saying she “knows the type of guy Trump is.”
Vance accused Harris of supporting efforts to cut police budgets. What she supported While she was against it in 2020, her team now claims they are not.
“Defunding the police is a policy choice, and that’s what Kamala Harris wants.”
The Republican vice presidential nominee also spoke about the impact on public safety of the Biden-Harris administration’s “policy choices to open up America’s southern border and allow criminal immigrants into the region.”
“I’m the father of a 2-year-old girl, and I can’t imagine we have a government that cares so little about us that they would deport people who come into our community, only to have them come back and rape our children,” he added. “This is a policy choice by Kamala Harris.”
Vance held a rally in Shelby Township, Michigan on Wednesday. Before speaking, he received a briefing from the Shelby Township Police Department and touted the support of the Michigan State Police Association.
The appearance of Ms. Harris, 40, marked a continuation of the Trump-Vance campaign’s recent practice of escorting her on the campaign trail. She and Mr. Walz had an event scheduled for later that day in the Detroit area, about 30 miles away.
Harris and Vance are scheduled to visit Wisconsin again later Wednesday afternoon.
Just the day before, Harris announced Walz as her running mate at a rally in Philadelphia, but Vance argued that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (Democrat) was removed from the running in part because of progressive backlash against Shapiro’s Jewish ancestry.
Mr Shapiro’s support for Israel has unnerved some on the far left, and Ms Harris’ allies have suggested she chose Mr Waltz because she felt a stronger personal connection to him.
“I don’t want to live in a country where we choose our next vice president based on skin color or ethnic background. We choose based on merit, and many prominent leaders have [on] “It’s shameful that the far-left felt empowered to make statements about Mr. Shapiro’s ethnic background, and I think it’s a scandal for the Democratic Party,” Vance said.
In his maiden speech on Tuesday, Walz called Vance and Trump “bizarre,” paving the way for recent Democratic attacks on both men.
“I can’t wait to debate him … if he’s willing to get up off the couch and show up,” Walz joked Tuesday.
The comments were a nod to a now-debunked internet myth that Vance wrote about having sex with Soffer in his 2016 book, “Hillbilly Elegy.” Waltz also blasted Vance for going to Yale University despite boasting about his Appalachian ties.
Vance fired back Wednesday with a scathing attack on Waltz’s military record, in which he served in the National Guard for nearly 24 years and retired shortly before the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion was deployed to Iraq.
The following year, he ran for Congress, but several veterans accused him of “glorifying” the military service, an allegation Walz fired back.
Vance served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007.
“What bothers me about Tim Waltz is the bullshit stories of stolen heroism. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. If he wants to criticize me for having an Ivy League education, I’m proud that my mother supported me and that I was able to make something of myself. If I were him and I lied about my military service, I’d be embarrassed,” Vance said.
Vance took several questions from the media after his speech, in which he accused Harris of operating almost entirely from script since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
“Today marks the 17th day since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, and the 17th day since she refused to answer questions from the media,” he quipped. “President Trump will go anywhere, to hostile audiences and friendly audiences, and answer tough questions.”
