Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called former President Trump’s rifle remarks about Liz Cheney "disqualifying," accusing him of increasing his "violent rhetoric."
"He has increased his violent rhetoric about political opponents – Donald Trump has – and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former Rep. Liz Cheney," Harris told reporters at a presser after getting off Air Force Two in Wisconsin. "This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be President of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president."
She called Cheney, who has endorsed Harris and has been campaigning with her, a "true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party. Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge and is increasingly unstable and unhinged."
In calling Cheney a "radical war hawk" at an event in Arizona on Thursday, Trump said: "Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. They're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops into the mouths of the enemies,’ but she’s a stupid person and I used to have meetings with a lot of people and she always wanted to go to war with people."
Trump’s comments immediately drew a backlash on the left, with some clips online not playing the full context of what he was saying.
Harris told a reporter who asked if she was concerned about Cheney's safety that she hadn’t talked to the former Wyoming congresswoman since Trump’s comment was made, "but I know Liz Cheney well enough to know she is tough, she is courageous and has shown herself to be a true patriot at a very difficult time in our country where, to your point, we see this kind of rhetoric that is violent in nature, where we see this kind of spirit coming through with Donald Trump that is so ladened with the desire for revenge and retribution."
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She added it’s important to make sure "we are fighting against and speaking out against political violence."
Trump clarified his Cheney comments on Truth Social on Wednesday afternoon, writing, "All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself. It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, ‘No thanks!’ Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought. That’s not what we want running our Country!"
Cheney reposted a clip on X of Trump's remarks about her that didn't include the part about him accusing Cheney and others all being war hawks, writing, "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant."
She included the hastages "#Womenwillnotbesilenced" and "VoteKamala."
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Republicans have also accused Democrats of increasing the possibility of violence against Trump with rhetoric claiming he's "fascist" and a "threat to democracy."
Trump was shot by a would-be assassin in July and was later targeted by another suspect near his home in Florida.
