Former President Trump returned to Pennsylvania on Wednesday for the first time since he was shot at a rally outside Pittsburgh earlier this month, where he described Vice President Harris as a “fake” and welcomed a challenge to compare their records.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Biden withdrew his candidacy, linking her to past positions she took while running for president in 2020, which she has since denied.
“Kamala’s now undergoing a personality makeover,” Trump told the Harrisburg crowd, “and all of a sudden she’s the new Margaret Thatcher. The great Margaret Thatcher. No, I don’t think so. But you’ll learn.”
Harris said at her own campaign rallies over the past week that she’d be “happy” to compare her own record to Trump’s. The former president responded directly to that comment on Wednesday, saying, “Come on, Kamala, let’s go. I accept the challenge. Let’s compare our record point by point.”
Trump touted Harris’ past support for a fracking ban, gun buyback programs, police spending reform and universal health care, and also attacked her over the surge in migrants at the southern border, a topic that has become a particular focus of the Trump campaign in recent days.
“No matter how much Kamala Harris tries to change her image, she cannot change this fact: she is, by far, the most radical liberal candidate in the history of our country,” Trump said, calling Harris a “fake, fake, fake far-left puppet candidate”.
Nearly a week after Harris emerged as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, her campaign has moved to distance herself from a series of positions she took as a candidate in the 2020 presidential primary.
She no longer supports a ban on fracking and does not support expanding the Supreme Court, according to campaign officials, who confirmed that she no longer supports single-payer health care or a government gun buyback program, despite previously backing Medicare for All proposals.
Harris also supports the Biden administration’s proposed additional funding for the border, a departure from her 2020 primary stance that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be reformed at a minimum. The campaign also touted Harris’ record as a prosecutor and the Biden administration’s support for additional funding for law enforcement, answering questions about her past comments about the “defund the police” movement.
The same day, President Trump drew backlash at a National Association of Black Journalists rally when he claimed Harris had “become black” and questioned her mixed-race heritage.
Wednesday was Trump’s first rally in Pennsylvania since the assassination attempt at the Butler rally, which left Trump with a bullet struck him in the ear and killed a rally-goer.
The former president began his speech in Harrisburg by acknowledging the shooting and holding a moment of silence for Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the rally.
“In the wake of this heinous attack, we come together tonight more resolved than ever before. Our resolve is unwavering and our will is unwavering,” Trump said. “Nothing will stop our mission to Make America Great Again.”
