As Election Day 2024 draws closer and millions of Americans take advantage of early voting, Donald Trump’s attacks against Kamala Harris have become increasingly hysterical and personal in equal measure. In recent weeks, for example, the former Republican president has said his Democratic rival was born “mentally impaired,” is “stupid” and has “cognitive problems.”
He’s also tried to convince the public that the vice president is “a low-IQ individual,” a “dumb woman,” a “total stupid person” and “retarded.”
There’s no shortage of problems with such rhetoric. The GOP candidate’s attacks are ugly, offensive, false and undeniably desperate.
But they’re also multiplying. NBC News reported that Trump has now labeled Harris “lazy as hell” — a popular refrain among racists when describing Black people — before suggesting she might have substance-abuse issues.
Former President Donald Trump slammed Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night as a ‘lunatic’ and ‘stupid’ and questioned whether she had a problem with alcohol or drugs — the second time over the course of the day that he made false personal attacks on his Democratic opponent.
Focusing on the vice president’s recent appearance on CBS’s “60 Minutes” — a subject Trump has obsessed over of late — the GOP candidate told a North Carolina audience, “She didn’t know where the hell she was going. Did she drink? Is she on drugs? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I have no idea.”
"Does she drink? Is she on drugs? I don't know. I have no idea. shhhhhhhhhhhhh" — Trump on Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/kKxUo2SySI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2024
There’s no point in taking such garbage too seriously, though there was one element to this that stood out for me: We’ve heard this nonsense before.
As regular readers might recall, Trump was concerned about his debates against Hillary Clinton eight years ago, so he said the former secretary of state might be abusing performance-enhancing drugs.
Four years later, he did it again. In September 2020, the then-president whined incessantly about his suspicion that then-candidate Joe Biden was also on drugs. Asked at a White House press briefing whether this line of attack was an attempt at humor, the Republican replied, “No, I’m not joking.”
Earlier this year, ahead of his debate against the incumbent Democratic president, the former president told reporters, in reference to Biden, “I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right?” adding that his opponent would get “a shot in the ass” shortly before the debate.
Trump added soon after, “Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago from the White House?” He peddled a similar line a week earlier in Wisconsin, suggesting Biden not only used illegal drugs but actually stole cocaine found in the White House. The retiring president ultimately gave up on his re-election bid, clearing the way for Harris — who is now also facing the same dumb accusations. Trump’s playbook, in other words, really only has one page. 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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