Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday reposted a lewd social media remark about Vice-President Kamala Harris, the latest in a volley of demeaning attacks by Republicans against Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival.
The comment was made by another Truth Social media user, who wrote, below a picture of Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…”
The remark appears to be a reference to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who briefly dated Harris over two decades ago. A frequent right-wing line of attack against Ms. Harris is that Mr. Brown fueled her political ascent. The Clinton jab is a reference to her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, who had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the post. The Harris campaign, Mr. Brown, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton also did not immediately respond.
Mr. Trump’s amplification of the post comes amid a torrent of racist and sexist attacks from him and his allies against Harris, the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to serve as US vice president.
Since replacing President Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket, Harris has surged in the polls and now leads Mr. Trump in most recent national surveys.
Mr. Trump has struggled to fully adjust to the new race, and still often muses about facing Mr. Biden, 81, in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Mr. Trump has called Ms. Harris “crazy,” “nuts” and “dumb as a rock,” and has falsely suggested that she previously downplayed her Black heritage. Some of Mr. Trump’s donors and advisers want him to hew more closely to critiques of his rival’s policies, and members of the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition have warned that disparaging Ms. Harris could hurt him in his outreach to Black voters.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly defended his use of personal attacks.
Last year, Mr. Trump was found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. Mr. Trump denied the allegations. – Reuters
