PHOENIX (AP) — Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women whether they “like it or not” shows that the Republican…
Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women whether they “like it or not” shows that the Republican presidential nominee does not understand women’s rights “to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”
“I think it’s offensive to everybody, by the way,” Harris said before she set out to spend the day campaigning in the Western battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.
She followed up those remarks at her rally in Phoenix: “He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what’s in their own best interests and make decisions accordingly. But we trust women.”
The comments by Trump come as he has struggled to connect with female voters and as Harris courts women in both parties with a message centered on freedom. She’s making the pitch that women should be free to make their own decisions about their bodies and that if Trump is elected, more restrictions will follow as both campaigns sprint toward Tuesday’s presidential election.
At a rally Wednesday evening near Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump told his supporters that aides had urged him to stop using the term protector because it was “inappropriate.”
Then he added a new bit to the protector line. He said he told his aides: “Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I am going to protect them.”
Those comments shaped much of Harris’ Thursday as the two campaigns jostled over the remarks.
The actress and singer Jennifer Lopez introduced Harris at a Las Vegas rally that also included a performance by the pop band Maná. Lopez in emotional remarks talked about her background as a Puerto Rican and emphasized the importance of women for the Democratic nominee, who had just arrived after a separate rally in Reno.
“I believe in the power of women,” Lopez said. “Women have the power to make the difference in this election.”
Lopez also pushed back at comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.
