President Donald Trump has faced bipartisan criticism for hurling insults, during his recent state visit to Japan, at former Vice President Joe Biden. On Tuesday night, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who’s battling Biden in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, minced no words in her own censure of Trump’s comments.
His remarks, which had parroted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s insult of Biden as being a “low-IQ” individual, were “irresponsible” and “contrary to our values,” Harris said at an MSNBC town hall.
It’s yet another example of “why he should not be president of the United States,” she said.
Asked by host Lawrence O’Donnell how Harris would react had she been in the president’s shoes, the former California attorney general responded:
“The president of the United States, when speaking, has a profound amount of authority and power — and must then use the microphone before her in a responsible way and in a way that is appreciative of the fact that we should always be concerned, especially on foreign soil, about the integrity and safety of our nation.
“The idea that this president, on foreign soil, attacked the previous vice president of the United States — I don’t care what the difference is on policy issues, I don’t care what the difference is in terms of party affiliation — it is wrong, it is contrary to our values and it is contrary to the best interests of our country.”
Biden’s campaign team responded to Trump’s insult on Tuesday, saying the remarks were “beneath the dignity of the office” of the president.
“To be on foreign soil, on Memorial Day, and to side repeatedly with a murderous dictator against a fellow American and former Vice President speaks for itself. And it’s part of a pattern of embracing autocrats at the expense of our institutions — whether taking Putin’s word at face value in Helsinki or exchanging ‘love letters’ with Kim Jong Un,” said Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield.