Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance on Wednesday said Vice President Kamala Harris can “go to hell” for failing to hold people responsible for the fatal Abbey Gate bombing during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Mr. Vance, campaigning in Erie, Pennsylvania, defended former President Donald Trump’s photo-ops at Arlington National Cemetery with family members of fallen soldiers from the bombing, saying the ex-president was invited. Then he unloaded on Ms. Harris over the 2021 bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American service members.
“Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can — she can go to hell,” Mr. Vance said.
Mr. Vance’s comments were a notable ramp-up in rhetoric that will enthuse the MAGA base while raising eyebrows of those who, little more than a month ago, called for politicians to lower the temperature after a failed assassination attempt on Mr. Trump.
Mr. Vance was fielding a question about Mr. Trump’s visit to the hallowed cemetery, at which a member of the ex-president’s entourage reportedly had a physical confrontation with a cemetery staff member.
“They invited him to be there,” Mr. Vance said of veterans’ families. “Thank God we have a president who stands with our veterans instead of running away from them.”
Mr. Trump selected Mr. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, as his running mate in July. Mr. Vance is also a Marine veteran who served in Iraq.
The GOP ticket is trying to thwart the Harris campaign’s momentum after the vice president took over the Democratic ticket for President Biden and selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Polling averages show Ms. Harris with a slight lead over Mr. Trump. The campaigns are in a dead heat in key states with less than three months to go until Election Day.
Pennsylvania is considered a must-win state by the Trump and Harris campaigns. It will award 19 electoral votes.
“We’ve got the best workers here in Pennsylvania. The only thing that is broken about this country is its leadership,” Mr. Vance said.
Mr. Vance said Ms. Harris had three and a half years to build a robust economy and secure the southern border, only to float new ideas on the campaign trail.
“Don’t make promises —start doing it now,” Mr. Vance said.
Mr. Vance gave opening remarks in Erie before taking questions from the local and national media. The raucous audience cheered or booed depending on which outlet was called on.
“I don’t need a teleprompter, I’ve actually got thoughts in my head, unlike Kamala Harris,” Mr. Vance joked at the start.
Mr. Vance said the GOP ticket will help workers and boost the economy by tapping into oil and gas resources.
“You have got to unleash American energy,” Mr. Vance said. “It will help everybody.”
The Harris team attacked Mr. Vance as a fraud ahead of his Pennsylvania visit. They said GOP policies would benefit the wealthy over the blue-collar workers the Trump-Vance ticket is trying to court.
“Vance is stumbling to defend Trump’s unpopular agenda and his failed economic record that includes leaving office with the worst jobs numbers of any president since Herbert Hoover and rigging the economy for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of hardworking Americans,” Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd said. “Voters want middle-class champions like Vice President Harris and Governor Walz who will fight for them — not sell-outs like Trump and Vance focused on their billionaire special interest backers.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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