WASHINGTON ― Kamala Harris may have wowed both Democrats and political observers with her speech Thursday accepting her party’s nomination for president, but for her opponent, Donald Trump, there were just too many “thank you’s.”
“She mentioned thank you about 50 times. Did you see the beginning? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank, thank. Thank you. Thank you, arghghghgah, Thank you, thank you, thank, thank thank. I said what the hell is wrong with her?” the coup-attempting criminal former president assessed Friday at his first campaign appearance since the Democratic National Convention wrapped up the previous night.
In fact, Harris repeated “thank you” a number of times because of a three-minute standing ovation from the audience at the packed United Center arena in Chicago ― something Trump must have noticed as he watched.
Trump’s analysis on that point Friday in Las Vegas expanded on one of the first “fact-checking” social media posts he wrote as the speech was taking place: “Too many “Thank yous,” too rapidly said, what’s going on with her?”
Other posts in that thread included: “WHERE’S HUNTER?”; “SHE HAS LED US INTO FAILING NATION STATUS!” and “There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III! She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!”
When Harris hit the section of her speech that laid out Trump’s criminal conviction for falsifying business records and a civil jury’s finding that he had committed sexual abuse, Trump responded: “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?”
Harris’ 40-minute speech was praised far and wide as well-crafted and forcefully delivered. It closed out a whirlwind monthlong stretch that began with President Joe Biden ending his campaign for reelection followed quickly by his endorsement of Harris, his vice president, for the job.
Harris within days locked down support from enough party delegates to secure the nomination, allowing her party to spend the four days at the convention in Chicago almost unanimously singing her praises while disparaging Trump as a would-be autocrat and a criminal.
Trump, who is notorious both for his lack of interest in policy details as well as his energetic dishonesty, complained that Harris did not provide enough specifics in her address and did not tell the truth.
“Last night, the speech, she made 26 different things that were lies. She lied, but that’s OK, because a lot of people lie. They’ll do anything to get elected,” he said.
Julia Nikhinson/Associated Press
Trump spoke Friday afternoon at a Mexican restaurant inside a Las Vegas hotel and casino owned by one of his campaign’s largest benefactors, Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
While he spent much of his hour there repeating many of his usual lies about his own record and baseless claims about what a Harris presidency would mean ― he again warned of a 1929-style depression, something he also claimed would happen if Hillary Clinton won in 2016 and Biden in 2020 ― he tried out a new claim about his stance on abortion: “I’m very strong on women’s reproductive rights.”
In fact, Trump gave the anti-abortion Federalist Society carte blanche to select his nominees for hundreds of federal judgeships, including three on the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump frequently boasts that, through those appointments, he was able to get the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion nationally overturned.