CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Donald Trump sees presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as such a threat to the nation that he said he is giving up on his short-lived, post-shooting nice-guy routine and returning to his pugilistic ways.
After surviving an assassination attempt when he was shot in the ear, Mr. Trump said he was supposed to be nice but couldn’t do that because Ms. Harris was too dangerous.
“If you don’t mind, I am not going to be nice,” Mr. Trump told a massive crowd at his first rally since Ms. Harris emerged as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee to replace President Biden.
Ms. Harris has been on the national stage for nearly a decade, but leading the party’s presidential ticket puts her under a more intense microscope. Suddenly, both parties are scrambling to define the 59-year-old former prosecutor and U.S. senator.
For Mr. Trump, that amounted to pummeling her with a relentless barrage of attacks.
“So now we have a new victim to defeat: Lyin’ Kamala Harris — the most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history,” Mr. Trump said moments after taking the stage before the thousands packed into the entertainment arena. “For 3½ years, Lyin’ Kamala Harris has been the ultraliberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe.”
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It snowballed from there. He called her a “lunatic.” He said she was “terrible” and “a radical liberal.”
He blamed her for backing policies that fed inflation, weakened the nation’s global standing, and allowed illegal immigrants and drugs to pour over the southern border.
“Kamala’s deadly destruction of America’s borders is completely and totally disqualifying,” he said. “No person who lets these kinds of savage criminals into America should ever be trusted with power again.”
“If Kamala will lie to you so brazenly about Joe Biden’s mental incapacity, then she will lie to you about anything,” he said. “She can never ever be trusted.”
Mr. Trump also received the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations, which represents more than 1,000 police units and 241,000 sworn law officers.
Mr. Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race Sunday shifted the spotlight onto Ms. Harris, who within two days had secured enough Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee for president.
SEE ALSO: Harris campaign memo outlines path to beat Trump
The top-of-the-ticket face-lift has galvanized Democrats.
They believe their odds of winning have improved in part because they will no longer be bogged down by questions about the 81-year-old Mr. Biden’s cognitive decline and his ability to do his job.
Democratic Party leaders rallied behind Ms. Harris, and the campaign announced it had raised more than $100 million from Sunday to Monday.
In a memo Thursday, the Harris campaign signaled that it believes she could be better positioned than Mr. Biden to re-create the coalition of young, minority and female voters who powered their electoral success in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
“Vice President Harris enters the presidential race with clear advantages among voters critical to victory,” Harris for President Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in the memo.
The Trump campaign predicted her momentum will be short-lived and has reminded voters that Mr. Biden’s record is her record.
Trump world has focused heavily on Mr. Biden’s decision to assign her the task of addressing the root causes of people’s migration from Central America to the north.
Republicans dubbed her the “border czar,” a term the administration rejected. She muddied the waters when she made a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2021 and told would-be migrants not to come.
“The ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris led the effort to dismantle our southern border,” Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whaley, who previously led the North Carolina Republican Party, told the crowd.
Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said Ms. Harris wants “more illegal immigration” and “free health care for illegals.”
“That San Francisco liberal wants to turn the whole country into San Francisco,” Mr. Hudson said. “You know, when she was in the United States Senate, she was the most liberal member of the entire Senate.
“She was more liberal than Elizabeth Warren and Nerbie Sanders, and now she wants to be our president?” Mr. Hudson said. “She is wrong for America.”
Trump supporters said they do not see a lot of daylight between Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris aside from cognitive abilities.
“She was supposed to be in charge of the border, and the border was overrun,” said Marianne Smith, 54, a former schoolteacher from Georgia.
Steve Williams, a retired Air Force veteran, said he didn’t think Ms Harris could defeat Mr. Trump but the idea of her winning was scary.
“I hate to think about that,” Mr. William said. “If I had to vote and she was the only one on the ticket, I wouldn’t vote, and that is sad to say after serving 24 years in the military.”
Shane Estes said he is convinced Democrats had no one else.
“She is the only thing left,” said Mr. Estes, a 49-year-old HVAC installer. “It is like the last person that gets picked when they pick sports teams. It is like who is on my team? They are staring at her, and she is staring back at them, and they are like, ‘Well, this is it.’”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the National Association of Police Organizations.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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