Vice President Kamala Harris used a discredited Atlantic article to justify her claims of potential violence under a potential second Trump presidency, making a Wednesday address from her official residence in Washington, D.C. The article, relying on unnamed sources and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, accused former President Donald Trump of being a “fascist” and wishing for the kind of generals Adolf Hitler had.
In her address, Harris stated that Trump would create a dictatorial regime if elected again, citing Trump’s alleged comments about Hitler’s generals. However, Kelly’s allegations about the Hitler comments came five-and-a-half years after they allegedly occurred and just two weeks before a presidential election, raising questions about their credibility.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., dismissed Kelly’s claims as false, saying “John Kelly is full of it, and I have the receipts.” The Atlantic article, written by Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, was widely criticized for its lack of evidence and reliance on unnamed sources.
The article also claimed that Trump used expletives to express his disdain for Private Vanessa Guillén, a slain American service member of Mexican origin, and the payment for her funeral. However, this claim was debunked by everyone involved, including Guillén’s sister, Mayra, who said Goldberg’s characterization was “exploiting my sister’s death for politics.”
Even Mark Esper, Trump’s former defense secretary, said he never heard anything like the comments attributed to Trump in these eleventh-hour hit pieces.
Despite this, Harris repeated the claims, making them at the official residence of the vice president, Number One Observatory Circle.
Curtis Houck, managing editor of the Media Research Center’s Newsbusters, said that The Atlantic was “dressing up years-old claims as brand new” and that there is “no bottom” for an outlet that would use such tactics. Houck also pointed out that The Atlantic is owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, a longtime personal friend of Harris, which raises questions about its credibility.
Harris continued to fearmonger, saying that a second Trump administration would target judges, journalists, and election officials, labeling them as “the enemy from within.” She claimed that Trump would want a military that would be loyal to him personally and would obey his orders even if they broke the law or abandoned their oath to the Constitution.
However, Trump has only used the term “enemy from within” to describe far-left rioters and looters, such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, who have wreaked havoc on cities across the country. Harris’ claims were seen as a desperate attempt to save her failing campaign, with Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, saying that she was showing signs of “cornered rat syndrome.”
[…] Harris Uses Debunked Atlantic Article to Fearmonger About Trump […]