By Helen Coster, Alexandra Ulmer and David Morgan
(Reuters) – Republican candidate Donald Trump called her “crazy,” “nuts” and “dumb as a rock.” Republicans in Congress deride him as a diverse hire. Right-wing activists and trolls have smeared her online with racist, sexist and sexualized barbs.
Attacks on Kamala Harris, the first woman and the first Black and South Asian to serve as US vice president, have intensified since she consolidated her support for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The disparaging racist and sexist attacks threaten to derail the Republican Party’s concerted efforts to focus on Harris’ policies. Trump’s allies, including some members of the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition, warned that Harris’ disparagement could hurt him as he reaches out to Black voters, a key demographic in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
In interviews with nine Republican lawmakers and 11 Black Republican women who support Trump, eight said personal attacks on Harris should be avoided. While guarded in his comments and emphasizing his continued support for Trump, some expressed concern about the tenor of the attack and whether it could hurt Republicans at the ballot box.
“I think there’s a way to criticize him without wearing his clothes,” said P Rae Easley, a Black conservative radio show host in Chicago and a member of the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition, a loosely organized group of Black allies. support Trump.
Several members of Congress echoed his sentiments.
“I’m going to run against Vice President Harris because of what he did, not who he is,” said Representative Dusty Johnson, who chairs the 75-member Republican Main Street Caucus. “Some of these evils are not worthy of a great country.”
Others said the attack on Harris’ personal life was no different than Democrats attacking Trump about his personal and family life.
“It’s a disgusting war. Democrats have a tendency to play the victim,” said Madgie Nicolas, co-chairman of Haiti for Trump and national director of the Coalition of Faith and Freedom of African American voices.
The tension suggests the Trump campaign’s efforts to link Harris to President Joe Biden’s record — particularly on immigration, crime and the economy — risk being overshadowed by personal attacks that show no signs of slowing.
“Going after Kamala Harris as a ‘DEI hire’ is breathtakingly stupid,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayres, who has worked on the campaign for US Senator Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others. “It’s going to backfire,” Ayres said, adding that Harris has “extraordinarily left-wing policies” he could target.
DEI is a “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiative aimed at increasing the representation of women and people of color in the workforce to address long-standing inequalities and discrimination. The term “DEI hire” is now used to suggest that a person is not qualified for a role and has been selected based on race or gender.
Ayres said the disparaging rhetoric will alienate women and “anyone who is not far from the right.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions about whether it had discussed trying to tone down the personal attacks on Harris.
Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric has prompted people with racist beliefs to express it, according to rhetoric experts, critics and past public opinion polls.
The former president has a history of attacking political opponents, including other powerful black women such as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who prosecuted the election meddling case in Georgia, and US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge assigned to the federal case. against him for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
At a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump did not pursue Harris on gender or race. Instead, he paints a potential Harris presidency in apocalyptic terms.
“He is a radical left-wing lunatic who will destroy our country,” Trump said.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said voters will reject Harris not because of race and gender, but because of failed policies.
A spokeswoman for Harris, whose nascent campaign has generated fundraising and grassroots activism, said she remains focused on her work.
“This attack is backfiring and even the Republicans know it,” said Sarafina Chitika.
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Online attacks on Harris were on the rise even before Biden quit on Sunday, according to researchers and a Reuters review of posts on the X platform, though exact data is hard to come by.
Some recent posts show sexual activity and talk about Harris’ past relationships in derogatory terms. Others disparaged her for not having biological children, echoing comments Trump running mate JD (NASDAQ: ) Vance made in 2021, when he criticized Harris and other Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives.”
Harris has a stepchild with her husband, attorney Doug Emhoff. Emhoff’s ex-wife on Wednesday called the attack “baseless” and described Harris as a “loving, nurturing, very protective parent”.
Disinformation researchers say that the online attacks do not appear to be from a specific epicenter and that most accounts are now just “amplifiers” of existing narratives.
US Representative Michael Cloud, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, defended Republicans who had disparaged Harris as a “dei hire.”
“That’s what Biden said, actually,” Cloud said.
Biden did not refer to Harris as a “DEI hire.” In a campaign appearance with Harris in May, he talked about the value of DEI and having a different administration. “And it starts at the top with the vice president,” Biden said.
Trump has nicknamed Harris “Laffin’ Kamala,” mocking her for laughing, and “Lyin’ Kamala,” claiming she was trying to hide Biden’s aging from the public. At a rally Sunday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the former president called him “crazy” and “nuts.”
Kelly Dittmar, a political science professor at Rutgers University, said the nickname appears to stereotype women’s voices and emotions, as well as trying to mimic African American pronunciation.
“The actual laughter and cackling goes back to tropes about not wanting to hear women’s voices,” Dittmar said. “It’s not laughing at itself. It’s to characterize him as annoying. I nicknamed him trying to cue the fact that he’s Black.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who attended a closed-door meeting this week where party leaders asked members to concentrate on policy issues, told Reuters on Thursday that he had not spoken to Trump or the Trump campaign about how to send a message about Harris.
“This campaign is going to be about policy,” Johnson said. “And I think everyone will discuss this in detail, and I will win on that basis.”
Easley, the radio show host, said he advised Trump campaign officials to engage more Black allies in opposing Harris “without the racism associated with it.”
She and several other Black Republican women who spoke to Reuters said they resented the personal attacks, with some citing their own experiences of facing higher standards and expectations as black women, or of being qualified.
“As a black woman myself, I don’t appreciate it when people start talking because of the color of your skin, which makes you hire DEI. I don’t think that’s fair to anyone,” said Corrin Rankin, vice chairman of the California Republican Party, who said she met Harris while he was working in San Francisco.
However, Rankin said he felt Biden’s vow to pick a woman or person of color as his running mate in 2020 allowed the term to run.
Other Trump allies warned that the attacks could alienate some voters.
“I hope his advisers will encourage Trump to step down,” said Camilla Moore, chairwoman of the Georgia Black Republican Council. “Because it can be harmful in the long run.”
