Trump accuses Harris of anti-Semitism

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

US presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely accused election rival Kamala Harris of being an anti-Semite who plans to allow the murder of newborn babies, in a speech meant to rally religious supporters Friday that quickly went off the rails.

The vice president, who is married to a Jewish man, has gained ground on Trump in polling since she replaced Joe Biden on the top of the Democratic ticket just days ago.

Former Republican president Trump dedicated much of his address at a religious convention in southern Florida to assailing Harris’s record as a senator and as Biden’s number two, but many of his attacks were smears untethered to reality.

Explaining why 59-yearold Harris had skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau’s speech to the US Congress on Wednesday to instead honor a prior commitment, Trump accused her, baselessly, of anti-Semitism.

“She doesn’t like Jewish people. She doesn’t like Israel. That’s the way it is, and that’s the way it’s always going to be. She’s not going to change,” he said.

The remark -- coupled with his claim that Harris “is totally against the Jewish people” in North Carolina on Wednesday -- marked an escalation in Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, days after his campaign said an attempt on his life had given him a focus on unity.

The hour- long Friday speech, hosted by hard-right Turning Point Action, raised legitimate questions over Harris’s previous statements on policing, immigration and the environment that placed her to the left of current Biden administration policy. But it was marked by hyperbole and falsehood.