In his first rally since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, Donald Trump did exactly what everyone expected him to do: The Republican spent much of the event going after Vice President Kamala Harris. The former president’s case against his new rival, however, has tended to rely heavily on vague name-calling: Trump called the likely Democratic nominee a “lunatic,” for example.
But during his pitch in North Carolina, one the GOP nominee’s lines of attack stood out:
“Kamala Harris … shouldn’t even be allowed to run for president, what she’s done. She’s committing crimes.
The Republican’s followers, naturally, cheered the rhetoric.
Trump claims Kamala Harris “shouldn’t even be allowed to run for president” because she’s “committing crimes”
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 24, 2024
(He is literally a convicted felon) pic.twitter.com/MZ2lkOwCgW
There is a degree of irony to the comments: A jury recently found Trump guilty of nearly three dozen felonies. If Harris “shouldn’t even be allowed to run for president” because “she’s committing crimes,” then I supposed we should look forward to the former president delivering a withdrawal speech of his own.
What’s more, insisting that the Democratic vice president is “committing crimes” would be less ridiculous if Trump had any evidence of Harris, you know, actually committing crimes.
But of particular interest was the GOP candidate’s suggestion that his likely Democratic rival “shouldn’t even be allowed to run” for the White House. If the comment rang a bell, there’s a good reason for that:
Part of the problem here is that the Republican nominee is getting lazy, recycling stale insults, nicknames and attacks. But just as notable is the fact that Trump has long taken a keen interest in who should and shouldn’t be “allowed” to run against him, and in a remarkable coincidence, he consistently argues that those who stand in his way are — or should be — ineligible for American ballots. Trump already earned a reputation as someone who was hostile toward democracy. This won’t help. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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