Last updated on August 28th, 2024 at 04:25 pm
Washington: During a speech on Friday, US presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely accused his election rival Kamala Harris of being an anti-Semite and of intending to permit the murder of newborn babies. The speech, intended to rally religious supporters, quickly veered off course.
Harris, currently the US vice president, has experienced a surge in polling numbers since replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket a few days ago. Married to a Jewish man, Harris has become the target of Trump’s intensified rhetoric.
During his address at a religious convention in southern Florida, Trump devoted much of his speech to criticizing Harris’s record as a senator and as Biden’s vice president. However, many of his claims were unfounded and detached from reality.
Baseless Anti-Semitism Claims
Trump baselessly accused Harris of anti-Semitism, citing her decision to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress on Wednesday to honor a prior commitment. “She doesn’t like Jewish people. She doesn’t like Israel.
This comment, along with his earlier claim that Harris “is totally against the Jewish people,” marked an escalation in Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, just days after his campaign claimed that an assassination attempt had given him a renewed focus on unity.
Fact-Checking the Accusations
Trump’s hour-long speech, hosted by the hard-right group Turning Point Action, included legitimate questions about Harris’s past statements on policing, immigration, and the environment. However, the speech was also characterized by exaggeration and falsehoods.
Allegations of Violence and Radical Policies
Trump, a convicted felon facing multiple further indictments, suggested without evidence that the Justice Department and FBI were “rounding up” Christians and anti-abortion activists and imprisoning them for their “religious beliefs.
Personal Attacks on Harris
He also claimed she would appoint “hardcore Marxists” to the Supreme Court and falsely accused her of wanting to force doctors to administer chemical castration drugs to children.
Commemorating an Assassination Attempt
Last week, Trump received a hero’s welcome at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, where he was officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.