Barely two hours after Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris formally introduced her vice-presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz early Tuesday evening to a packed rally of thousands of cheering supporters who had waited hours in Philadelphia’s 88 degree August heat, the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, announced he would be interviewed on Fox News Wednesday morning.
Trump lied to Fox News viewers, saying the Harris-Walz ticket “want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner,” and if voters elect Harris and Walz, Americans are either going to “be leaving or living like dogs,” and “our whole country” is going to “collapse.”
But when actual voters questioned Trump, he had little to offer by way of solutions. “Drill baby drill,” was his answer when asked by an older man worried about the cost of rent and food.
The “Harris/Walz rally felt like a rousing speech by Coach Eric Taylor of ‘Friday Night Lights’ combined with the front row at Coachella. The cheers were so loud that I regretted not bringing my earplugs,” Salon‘s Amanda Marcottte wrote. “The mood was jubilant, even though folks had to wait hours in the heat and humidity to even get into the place. The campaign claimed over 12,000 people showed up, which is not an exaggeration. Even as Harris and Walz gave the final speeches of the evening, the line to get into the overflow room — just to watch the event on TV — went on for multiple city blocks.”
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CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes reported, “the line to get into the first Harris/Walz rally” stretched “more than six city blocks.”
Here in Philadelphia, the line to get into the first Harris/Walz rally stretches more than six city blocks pic.twitter.com/LFkEabZCJh
— Nancy Cordes (@nancycordes) August 6, 2024
Calling it a “rocking rollout of her running mate,” CNN‘s Stephen Collinson wrote, “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to make America joyful again,”in analysis titled, “Happy warriors Harris and Walz propose an antidote to Trump’s American carnage.”
Branding Harris and Walz, “Joyful Warriors,” Pennsylvania’s Bucks County Beacon reported Tuesday’s “campaign event offered a positive vision of the future for the country that secures Americans’ freedoms and protects our democracy.”
During their 51-minute rally (full video), one of the most-popular lines appeared to be Governor Walz telling Vice President Harris, “thank you for bringing back the joy.”
Walz thanks Harris for “bringing back the joy” pic.twitter.com/m00Eo6PNe6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 6, 2024
Wednesday morning, Donald Trump told a different tale.
The ex-president, who has whittled his campaigning down to just one rally this week, in deep-red Montana, told Fox News viewers Governor Walz has a “record with no walls, no security, let everybody in. He’s worse than they are. You know, nobody knew how radical left [Vice President Harris] was, but he’s a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth, he’s probably about the same as Bernie Sanders. He’s probably more so than Bernie Sanders. She is more so than Bernie Sanders. That’s got to be your guide. Bernie Sanders, and that’s not a great guide,” Trump said, scrambling to position both Harris and Walz to the left of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
“But this is, there’s never been a ticket like this,” Trump continued. “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner. We want no security. We want no anything. He’s very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great, and he’s not with the country is on anything. This is a shocking. This is a shocking pick, and I think it’s very insulting to Jewish people. And I think, is very insulting to people that want security. I think it was very insulting to anything having to do with making America great again.”
“This is a ticket that would want this county to go communist immediately if not sooner … he’s very heavy into transgender. Anything transgender he thinks is great … I think it’s very insulting to Jewish people” — Trump on Fox & Friends on Harris/Walz pic.twitter.com/61Phj3OTVx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2024
Trump repeated his attack on Jewish Democrats, telling Fox News, “I think that any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat, or in this case these people, who votes for a Democrat, should have their head examined.”
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He claimed, contrary to reporting, that Vice President Harris did not choose top contender Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, because of the fact that he’s Jewish.”
It was a claim also made by others on the far-right, including pundit Erick Erickson (who has suggested he supports Christian nationalism) – which U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, quickly refuted.
News to me https://t.co/VYCrhpfcdM
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 6, 2024
Trump went on to call Vice President Harris “nasty,” a slur he appears to reserve for women, including former Democratic presidential nominee and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the then-Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulín Cruz, among others.
Talking to voters assembled by Fox News, Trump was asked, “what are you going to do about bringing down the rent and things like that in the economy? Because out of eight children that I’m a father and a stepfather to, five of them are struggling, and I’m giving them part of my income on a regular basis. How are you going to make the economy not just, just the, you know, the food and electricity, but bring down the rent prices, the housing prices, so that these kids can survive without their parents help?”
“We are going to drill, baby drill,” Trump replied, a claim he has offered as a solution before. “We’re going to bring down the cost of energy. Energy is what caused the worst inflation, I think, in the history of our country.”
“We’re living horribly. We have the worst inflation we probably ever had in our country, and it started because of energy,” Trump claimed.
The current rate of inflation is just under 3%, down from over 9% two years ago. Wages continue to rise faster than inflation.
Correction: Real wages continue to rise, with yearly wage growth outpacing price growth for 14 months in a row. Inflation data for July have not been released yet, but wages likely outpaced inflation over the year in July too. pic.twitter.com/YpR3OkGgs9
— Council of Economic Advisers (@WhiteHouseCEA) August 2, 2024
Returning to his claim that gas was $1.87 during his presidency, Trump vowed he would bring prices down to that mark again.
The average price of gas during Trump’s presidency also hit $2.90, which is just 58 cents less than the average price of gas last month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The price of gas in 2020 did drop substantially due to the COVID pandemic, when consumption also dropped substantially. According to the ex-president, that time of mass death was “beautiful. They were good times.”
Q: What’s your plan to bring down the cost of housing?
TRUMP: We’re gonna drill baby drill … four years ago you were in great shape … you had gasoline at $1.87 pic.twitter.com/W0xUvrMKEJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2024
Trump on 2020, when we were quarantining at home amid mass death: “I had you down to $1.87 a gallon, and that was beautiful. They were good times. Thank you.” pic.twitter.com/6w3INr4R5D
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2024
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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