Trump Keeps Commenting on Harris’ Appearance Nonstop

Donald Trump has been vocal about his views on Kamala Harris’s appearance, struggling between compliments and continued comparisons. Despite advice to concentrate on policy, Trump has made several remarks that dwell on her looks. During a recent live-streamed discussion with Elon Musk, he reviewed a Time Magazine cover featuring Harris, declaring, “She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live.” He juxtaposed this with a comparison to his wife, Melania Trump, suggesting Harris didn’t resemble herself on the cover. “But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that, right?” he added.

Just days later, at a Pennsylvania rally, Trump shifted gears and asserted his own attractiveness, claiming to be “much better looking” than Harris. Although the event was meant to address her economic proposals, he couldn’t resist returning to the topic of her appearance, jokingly suggesting that the Time cover might have depicted legends such as Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor.

Trump advised his audience, “Don’t ever call a woman beautiful, because that’ll be the end of your political career,” while making a mockery of Harris’s appearance. He commented, “They said, ‘No, her biggest advantage is that she’s a beautiful woman.’ I’m going, huh? I never thought of that. I’m better looking than she is,” revealing his focus on personal jabs instead of political discourse.

As the campaign continues, Trump has been critical of Harris beyond her looks, questioning her racial identity in remarks he made after she became the Democratic nominee, suggesting she “happened to turn Black” at a conference for Black journalists. This return to commentary on women’s appearances recalls his long-standing pattern of making inappropriate remarks about women. In the 1990s, he infamously stated, “It doesn’t matter what [the media] writes as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” The early 2000s included his boastful comments about Miss Universe contestants and his notorious “grab them by the pussy” remarks.

During his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump’s disparaging comments were leveled at various women, including his Republican primary rival, Carly Fiorina, whom he ridiculed by asking, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” He also called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” and made derogatory comments about her marriage on social media, questioning her capability to lead the country.

In contrast to Trump’s approach, Kamala Harris is not leveraging her gender as a prominent part of her campaign strategy. Instead, she focuses on her background, which encompasses middle-class roots and a career as a prosecutor, as she prepares for the upcoming convention. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who centered her campaign around breaking barriers as the first female president with messaging like “I’m with her,” Harris has been less explicit about her identity, choosing to emphasize her qualifications and policy positions instead.

The current political climate demonstrates a shift among female politicians, who are opting to discuss a broader range of issues rather than foregrounding their gender. Those within the political sphere suggest that Clinton’s candidacy helped to normalize female candidates in the eyes of voters, allowing Harris the room to prioritize other aspects of her campaign. “She got us to a place where it’s not front-and-center, and it’s not the first thing voters look at,” explained Patti Solis Doyle, who managed Clinton’s 2008 campaign.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to apply the strategies from his earlier campaigns, focusing his discourse on personal attacks rather than substantive political dialogue. As the election approaches, it remains to be seen how these contrasts in campaign strategies will influence voter perception and impact the race.

Source: Business Insider