Conservatives have taken to the airwaves lately to send a message to Donald Trump: Please, please, please stop the personal attacks against Kamala Harris and instead focus on policy and the issues.
“The one thing Republicans have to stop,” former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said during an interview on Fox News earlier this week. “Quit whining about [Harris].”
Republicans have responded to a string of negative news stories for Trump in which he took personal shots at the Democratic presidential nominee, including falsely suggesting she is not Black, saying she is not intelligent, and mocking other personal traits like her laugh. He also recently alleged that some of her crowd sizes were inflated using AI technology, a claim that was quickly debunked. Conservatives have at times cringed at those comments, attempting to make the case in public appearances that Trump would appeal better to voters if he avoids such subjects and focuses on issues that Americans care about, such as immigration and the economy.
“Stop questioning the size of her crowds,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said during a Monday interview on Fox News.
“This election … is gonna be about policies, not personalities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said last month, when CNN reporter Manu Raju asked him about Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) calling Harris a “DEI hire” after she entered the presidential race to replace President Joe Biden. “Her ethnicity or her gender had nothing to do with this whatsoever.”
“Let the surrogates go out and do the nasty stuff,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Fox News. “Just focus on the issues that people truly care about.”
