Kamala Harris Blasts Donald Trump As ‘Criminal’ After He Called Her A ‘Badly Failing’ Candidate
Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris fought back Saturday morning against an attack leveled against her by Donald Trump that claimed he had done more for the African American community than she could have, were she elected president.
“Badly failing presidential candidate @KamalaHarris will not go to a very wonderful largely African American event today because yesterday I recieved [sic] a major award, at the same event, for being able to produce & sign into law major Criminal Justice Reform legislation, which will greatly help the African American community (and all other communities), and which was unable to get done in past administrations despite a tremendous desire for it,” the president tweeted.
Trump also cited the unemployment rate as a reason that he believes he has done more for the African American community than Harris could in the Oval Office. In a third tweet included in his Saturday morning thread, the president tweeted a series of periods without words, though whether this was intentional or accidental was unclear.
As CNBC noted, Trump on Friday delivered the keynote address at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum in South Carolina at Benedict College, a historically black institution. The president talked about the First Step Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation he signed last year that aimed to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for offenders of certain drug-related crimes.
In response less than an hour after Trump had sent his Twitter attack, Harris blasted the president in a tweet that defended her record.
“My whole life I’ve fought for justice and for the people — something you’d know nothing about. The only part of criminal justice you can claim credit for is the ‘criminal’ part,” Harris tweeted.
Trump often uses Twitter to attack his political opponents, though Saturday seemed to mark one of the few times he has mentioned the California senator on the platform. The president did tweet about Harris in July following the second debate between the Democratic Party’s presidential hopefuls, though that tweet differed in the fact that he also targeted former Vice President Joe Biden. The tweet on Saturday was aimed only at Harris.
If I hadn’t won the 2016 Election, we would be in a Great Recession/Depression right now. The people I saw on stage last night, & you can add in Sleepy Joe, Harris, & the rest, will lead us into an economic sinkhole the likes of which we have never seen before. With me, only up!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2019
The president called Harris a “badly failing presidential candidate.” Harris had seen a surge in popularity following her performance at the Democratic Party’s first debate in June, though the former California attorney general has struggled to maintain that momentum. According to polling aggregate RealClearPolitics, Harris is in fifth place among the crowded field of Democratic candidates running for president. About 5.3 percent of voters reportedly support the California senator’s bid for the Oval Office.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, the field did get a bit smaller on Thursday as Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan ended his candidacy after failing to gain support and to qualify for the most recent debates. The party’s current front-runners, per RealClearPolitics, are Biden at 27.8 percent, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 21.8 percent, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 17.3 percent support.
