PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that former President Donald Trump’s comments this week about protecting women, whether they “like it or not,” are a sign of the way he “devalues” women.
“His latest comment is just the latest in a series of examples we have seen from him in his words and actions about how he devalues women’s ability to have the choice and freedom to make decisions about their own bodies,” says Harris. said in an exclusive interview.
Harris also argued that most Americans “believe that women are intelligent enough and should be respected for their agency to make decisions for themselves about what is in their best interests,” rather than the government or Trump telling them “what to do” have to do’.
The Trump campaign did not immediately comment on Harris’ comments.
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Trump said Wednesday that his “people” told him not to say he wanted to “protect women.”
“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not.’ I’m going to protect them,” Trump said at his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was asked if she can see how Trump’s comments about doing something “whether the women like it or not” could make women uncomfortable .
‘No, I can’t. Because if you look at the full context of President Trump’s comments, he brought this up in the context of illegal immigration and protecting women from illegal immigrant criminals,” Leavitt said Thursday.
Billionaire and Harris surrogate Mark Cuban also weighed in on Trump’s comment about women during an interview Thursday on ABC’s “The View.”
“Donald Trump, you’ve never seen him around strong, intelligent women. It’s that simple: they are intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them,” Cuban said.
After his comment drew criticism, including from some Republican lawmakers, Cuban said in a post on worked’.
Trump, in turn, has dismissed Cuban’s initial comments. “He is completely wrong, I surround myself with the strongest women,” Trump said in a message on X before launching a series of insults at Cuban.
“All strong women, and women in general, should be very angry about this weak man’s statement,” Trump added.
In a statement Thursday in response to a question from NBC News about Harris saying Trump “devalues” women, Leavitt addressed Cuban’s comments.
“Why does she object to President Trump wanting to protect women, men and children from immigrant crime and foreign adversaries, and why won’t she denounce these comments from her top surrogate?” Leavitt said.
Harris also spoke Thursday about President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment this week, when he appeared to criticize Trump supporters or a comedian who made racist jokes at Trump’s rally in New York. She reiterated that she doesn’t believe “we should ever criticize people based on who they vote for.”
In his response to Biden’s comments, Harris pointed to Trump’s rhetoric about “the enemy within” and comparing the US to a “garbage bin.”
“He doesn’t understand that most people are exhausted by his rhetoric, exhausted by that approach, exhausted by Donald Trump’s approach of trying to divide our country and make Americans point fingers at each other,” she said. “They’re done with it and they’re ready to turn the page.”
Harris spoke to NBC News before her meeting in Phoenix. Her next campaign stops Thursday were in Nevada, where she was scheduled to hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas.
Polls show that there is a neck-and-neck race for the presidential election less than a week before Election Day.
When asked what she thinks her late mother would say to her in the final days before the election, Harris smiled.
“Go beat him,” she said, laughing. “That’s probably what she would say. Yes, that’s my mother.’
Yamiche Alcindor reported from Phoenix and Megan Lebowitz from Washington.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
