In an awkward tirade, former President Donald Trump lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during an interview on Fox and Friends on Wednesday morning. Trump’s comments were filled with insults and inaccuracies, continuing his pattern of inflammatory rhetoric as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up.
Ainsley Earhardt, one of the hosts of the right-wing network’s morning show, set the stage for Trump’s diatribe by highlighting Harris and Walz’s progressive records.
“We know what Kamala Harris’s record is, and we know what his record is, and they are extremely progressive. Talk about how you’re going to handle this on the campaign trail. Will you just really hone in on how they voted in the past?” Earhardt asked.
Trump wasted no time in launching his attack. “Well, I am. I’m going to be doing that. What he wants, if you look at his record with no walls, no security, let everybody in, he’s worse than they are. Nobody knew how radical left she was, but he’s a smarter version of her. If you want to know the truth,” Trump began, attempting to paint both Harris and Walz as extreme leftists without providing evidence. Trump has a history of insulting women, particularly Black women, as not intelligent.
Trump then shifted his focus significantly to Walz’s support for the LGBTQ+ community’s rights. “He’s very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great, and he’s not where the country is on anything,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign praised Harris’s choice. HRC president Kelley Robinson wrote, “Her pick of Governor Walz sends a message that a Harris-Walz Administration will be committed to advancing equality and justice for all. That is the choice we are faced with in America. A Trump-Vance Administration that would demonize LGBTQ+ people, terrorize our families, send our rights and freedoms back to The Land Before Time, and install Project 2025. Or a Harris-Walz Administration that will fight for our freedoms, defend our families, and make America a place where people don’t just get by — but can get ahead.”
Walz’s record on LGBTQ+ rights is extensive. In 1999, as a history teacher and football coach, Walz sponsored his school’s first gay-straight alliance. He opposed efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota constitution and co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act while serving in Congress. Walz also voted to repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law and supported the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. As governor, he signed an executive order banning the dangerous practice of so-called “conversion therapy” in Minnesota. Additionally, Walz recently signed a bill protecting trans youth and their families who come to Minnesota from states where accessing gender-affirming care is illegal.
Trump’s broader attack included numerous baseless claims and mischaracterizations of the policies of the Harris-Walz ticket. He went on to make the outlandish claim that the Harris-Walz ticket “would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”
Trump’s rhetoric took a particularly troubling turn when he claimed the Harris-Walz ticket was “insulting to Jewish people” and “insulting to people that want security.”
He added, “I think it’s very insulting to anything having to do with making America great again,” Trump concluded.
Harris also has a robust record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights. After winning her race for San Francisco District Attorney in 2004, she established a hate crimes unit to investigate and prosecute anti-LGBTQ+ violence. In 2006, she organized a conference in California that brought together over 100 officials from across the U.S. to discuss strategies to end the use of the so-called gay and transgender panic defense. As a U.S. senator, Harris cosponsored the Equality Act and frequently spoke out against violence against trans women of color. As vice president, Harris has helped lead the most pro-equality administration in history, including President Joe Biden’s signing of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.
