Harris praised after calling out Trump’s racism, embrace of hate and white violence at debate
“Donald Trump was being embarrassed in ways that nobody has ever embarrassed him before,” Mandela Barnes tells theGrio.
Gleeful Democrats are praising Vice President Kamala Harris after Tuesday’s presidential debate as they and voters polled shortly afterward overwhelmingly said she bested former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic presidential nominee took Trump to task on his racist history, embrace of white violence and hate, and “weak” record as president.
“Donald Trump was being embarrassed in ways that nobody has ever embarrassed him before,” said Mandela Barnes, senior fellow at People For the American Way.
Harris, who often looked directly at Trump and seemingly smiled in pity, clearly got under the Republican presidential nominee’s skin.
“Part of it was him just tripping over his own shoelaces and her just watching it happen, I think, had an even greater impact than ridiculing and mocking him for it,” said Barnes, a former Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin.
During the 90-minute debate, Trump was asked by ABC moderator David Muir about his remarks at NABJ in July that Vice President Harris happened to “turn Black.”
Trump stumbled throughout his response, initially saying, “I don’t care what she is … I couldn’t care less. Whatever she wants to be is OK with me, but those were your words.” But then he added, “I mean, all I can say is, I read where she was not Black, that she put out, and I’ll say that. And then I read that she was Black.”
In response, Harris chastised Trump as a “tragedy” and someone who has “consistently over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
The vice president then went through a series of examples of Trump’s racist record, including refusing to rent his properties to Black families, buying a newspaper ad calling for the death penalty for a group of innocent Black and Latino boys known as the Central Park Five and pushing the racist conspiracy that Barack Obama, America’s first Black president, was not born in the United States.
“I think the American people want better than that. Want better than this … We don’t want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other,” said Harris.
She continued, “Regardless of people’s color or the language their grandmother speaks, we all have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president who invests in those — not in hate and division.”
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told theGrio that Harris’ debate performance was “remarkable.”
Given the small but significant number of Black male voters who say they are considering casting their ballots for Donald Trump, Clyburn said it was “very important” for Vice President Harris to take him to task on his racism.
“I’m really puzzled as to why so many African-American men, to know that history, … could just ignore all of that,” said the longtime congressman and known presidential kingmaker.
“Omarosa [Manigault Newman], who worked for him on his [White House] staff, he looked in the TV camera and referred to her as a dog,” Clyburn recalled. “Come on! How can you vote for somebody who would say that about a Black woman?”
Harris also chastised Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol after refusing to concede his loss in the 2020 election against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The mostly white mob (some armed and wearing tactical gear) physically attacked law enforcement and broke into the Capitol building, resulting in deaths.
The vice president connected Trump’s role in Jan. 6 to the 2017 violence in Charlottesville following a rally of white supremacists who chanted, “Jews will not replace us.” She also recalled Trump telling the Proud Boys, a white militia group, to “stand back and stand by” after refusing to condemn them.
“We’re not going back. It’s time to turn the page,” said Harris.
Clyburn said plainly of Trump, “This guy is a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler,” adding, “This guy is racist. He’s antisemitic, and nobody can look at the facts and come to any other conclusion.”
Barnes said Harris connecting the dots between Jan. 6 and Charlottesville was skillful and necessary.
“The visuals are certainly seared into people’s minds,” he explained. “Connecting those visuals to a person who has helped incite that sort of violence, reminding people what it looks like, what it feels like, and what it can devolve into, helps, I think, make the case.”
Barnes added, “It was very lawyerly, the way she handled it.”
“Kamala Harris was detailed, precise, and thoughtful throughout this all-important debate. She took it seriously,” said Brandon Weathersby, presidential campaigns communications director at American Bridge 21st Century, a pro-Democrat research firm.
He continued, “Donald Trump lost his mind on national television, and we all watched it happen. And this is the same guy that American Bridge has been watching in his rallies for the past two years since he launched his 2024 campaign. We’re not surprised it was this bad.”
Harris campaign co-chair and former U.S. Congressman Cedric Richmond told theGrio that Trump is “thin-skinned” and “stuck in the past.”
“People got a chance tonight to see his character, his lack of values, and they got a chance to contrast it with hers. And I think it was a good night,” said Richmond.
Clyburn similarly told theGrio of Harris, “What she did needed to be done.” He said Harris, as a Black and Asian woman, had to overcome the misogynistic perception that a woman in America can’t lead.
“I never knew why this was the case, but historically people have always referred to women as the weaker sex. That [Tuesday night] was a burden that she had to overcome,” said Clyburn.
But after Tuesday night, he said, “The American people will decide that it’s time for us to have the first female president of the United States.”
Richmond said Harris showed American voters that “she’s ready to be commander in chief tomorrow.”
“I think that that was just a great demonstration of … presidential vision, presidential temperament and the character and the upbringing to focus on the American people.”
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