Former President Donald Trump said world leaders would treat Vice President Kamala Harris “like a toy” if she is elected president.
In an interview with Fox News Laura Ingrahamsome of which aired on Tuesday, Trump — who has a long history of making derogatory comments about female opponents — said, “She’ll be so easy for them. She’ll be like a toy.”
He added: “They look at her and say, ‘We can’t believe we got so lucky.’ They’re going to walk all over her.”
Trump looked straight into the camera and said, “I don’t want to say why, but a lot of people understand.”
The former president has repeatedly attacked women who criticized him, mocking their appearance and insulting their character. During the 2016 Republican presidential election cycle, he called Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” — an insult her supporters turned into a feminist rallying cry — and “unhinged.” Trump also made fun of his Republican rival Carly Fiorina’s face on television and shared an unflattering photo of Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, on Twitter.
Trump has lavished personal attacks and unflattering epithets on his male opponents, but the attacks on his female rivals have often been based on gender. He has called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “crazy,” porn actress Stormy Daniels a “horse face,” and his 2024 primary rival Nikki Haley a “bird brain.”
Trump and his allies have bombarded Harris with racial and gender attacks since she entered the presidential race, calling her “crazy” and a “DEI vice president.” They have also mocked Harris’ laugh and called her “dumb as a rock.” On Wednesday alone, Trump referred to the vice president as “Crazy Kamala” at least five times on his Truth Social website.
Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika slammed Trump in a statement, calling Harris “a proven, seasoned global leader who has traveled to more than 20 countries and met with more than 150 world leaders to strengthen America’s national security.”
“Donald Trump wants to isolate America from the world, abandon our allies, and side with dictators,” Chitika continued. “Vice President Harris has rejected his worldview as dangerous, destabilizing, and short-sighted. Donald Trump would make America weak.”
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said Trump did not refer to Harris’ race or gender in the interview with Ingraham. She also criticized Harris for her immigration policies.
“She is weak, dishonest, and dangerously liberal, and that is why the American people will reject her on November 5,” Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance — who has faced backlash himself over comments he made in 2021 about “childless cat ladies” running the country — repeatedly used the word “weak” during a speech in Nevada on Tuesday when describing Harris’ leadership.
“Of all of Kamala Harris’s mistakes, the worst is that she left America weak and vulnerable,” Vance said. “The whole world now knows that she helped cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental capacity for years.”
But he told NBC News there was no “specific attempt to label her as weak.” Vance added: “If there’s one label we want to make the American people aware of, it’s that she’s an ultra-liberal.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
