Republican nominee Donald Trump is reportedly freaking out behind the scenes over Vice President Kamala Harris’ unexpected 2024 candidacy, while his stale derogatory remarks like “b-tch” and “nasty woman” have failed to resonate with voters and struggled to derail her growing momentum after taking the baton from Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket three weeks ago.
Sources close to Trump say the former president has been thrown off balance by the challenge of facing a younger, energetic Black female opponent who appears impervious to his attacks.
One of Trump’s swipes at Harris has gone viral on X as he was videotaped at a golf course, where Trump allegedly called the vice president a “f–king bad” and pathetic.”
Some are inaccurately accusing the president of saying “f–king b–ch” in the same clip. However, insides have told The New York Times that Trump has called Harris that derogatory term in private at least twice.
Trump calls Kamala Harris a fucking bitch.
— Aes🇺🇸 (@AesPolitics1) August 10, 2024
It’s over.💀pic.twitter.com/uINMQXVgKy
Trump’s private uneasiness arrives on the heels of his controversial remarks at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual gathering in late July, where he questioned Kamala Harris’ racial identity. His suggestion that Harris had downplayed her Black heritage and was only recently claiming it drew a mix of incredulous reactions and jeers from the audience.
The moment immediately recalled Trump’s role in the “birther” controversy, a smear campaign in which Trump questioned then-President Barack Obama’s birthplace and eligibility to serve as president.
Trump promoted the unfounded claim that Obama was not born in the U.S. despite substantial evidence to the contrary. This baseless assertion, which began to gain traction during Obama’s first term, not only fueled divisive rhetoric but also became a central issue in Trump’s political platform, setting the stage for his future in national politics.
Nearly two decades after making those false claims against Obama, Trump has gone back to the same playbook in 2024.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump told a National Association of Black Journalists panel during a July 31 interview at the group’s conference in Chicago.
“So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” the former president continued, trying to discredit Harris’ identity. “But you know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she went — she became a Black person.”
Harris, responding later at a Sigma Gamma Rho sorority event, labeled Trump’s remarks as emblematic of his divisive and disrespectful approach.
As Harris’s presidential campaign gains steam, she continues to face an intense surge of racist and sexist attacks, exacerbated by Trump’s controversial remarks. This backlash has led some Republican leaders to recommend focusing on Harris’ policies rather than personal attacks.
Meanwhile, Trump’s allies say this is the roughest patch he’s faced since late 2022, when, after his presidency, he made controversial comments and dined with extremists, hurting his image and campaign.
Trump’s recent actions have also strained his relationships with key donors, including Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whom he upset with harsh messages. This internal conflict could lead Adelson to withdraw her financial support, adding to Trump’s campaign troubles and making it harder for him to turn things around.
Harris has emerged as a storybook figure in the presidential race, captivating large audiences and matching Trump in the polls.
Trump, on the other hand, has struggled to adapt to Harris as his opponent, often making unforced errors and failing to establish a consistent attack strategy against her.
Despite pressure from his advisers to fix the damage caused by his recent remarks at the NABJ conference, Trump made things worse during a high-profile dinner on Aug. 2 at Howard Lutnick’s estate in Bridgehampton. His comments at the event showed just how out of touch he is with the rapidly changing dynamics involving Harris.
The Times reports that amid the gathering of his most influential backers, Trump failed to acknowledge the gravity of his gaffe regarding Harris’ racial identity. Instead, he reiterated his debunked claims about the stolen 2020 election, revealing his unyielding stance on “stopping the steal,” and showed no contrition for his divisive comments about Harris.
When questioned about refocusing his campaign narrative or presenting a positive vision, Trump replied defiantly, “I am who I am,” further underscoring his reluctance to pivot from his controversial tactics and adapt to the advice of those around him.
Back in February, Trump ignited another such firestorm after he described President Biden as “a very nasty and vicious racist” during a speech at the annual Black Conservative Federation gala in South Carolina.
After the speech, the Biden campaign wasted no time blasting Trump for pandering to the Black community while accusing the former president of purposely stoking racial tensions.
In a statement following the speech, Vice President Harris excoriated Trump, calling him hypocritical and disingenuous.
“The audacity of Donald Trump to speak to a room full of Black voters during Black History Month as if he isn’t the proud poster boy for modern racism,” Harris fumed. “This is the same man who falsely accused the Central Park 5, questioned George Floyd’s humanity, compared his own impeachment trial to being lynched, and ensured the unemployment gap for Black workers spiked during his presidency.”
Harris then doubled down on what she characterized as Trump’s true disregard for the Black community.
“Donald Trump has been showing Black Americans his true colors for years: An incompetent, anti-Black tyrant who holds us to such low regard that he publicly dined with white nationalists a week after declaring his 2024 candidacy.
“Come November, no matter how many disingenuous voter engagement events he attends, Black Americans will show Donald Trump we know exactly who he is,” Harris added.
While the footage of Trump on the golf course led many to falsely transcribe and misquote the ex-president as calling Harris a sexist slur, others said they didn’t need footage to believe that the former reality star would use such language to describe his political opponent.
“Hey, folks, racist convicted felon Trump is out here calling our MVP Harris “bi–h.” How many of y’all think he is using the n-word as well?” one user asked. “Trump reportedly called Kamala a bitch! If you must do resort to that because you have nothing else… make damn sure you put BADDEST in front of it,” one Harris supporter wrote.
