Trump refers to Harris as 'a beautiful woman,' but not in a complimentary way.
For many years, Trump has shaped aspects of his public image through his closeness to women and his blunt language regarding them.
TroibNews 
First, Donald Trump targeted Kamala Harris’ race. Now, he’s focusing on her appearance.
“She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. Actually, she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania. She didn’t look like Kamala,” Trump commented during a live stream with tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday, mispronouncing the vice president’s name. “But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that, right?”
His remarks referenced the cover illustration of Harris on this week’s Time Magazine, which he dismissed as a publicity “free ride.” However, Musk quickly shifted away from the topic, highlighting a recurring theme in Trump’s approach: a fixation on women's appearances.
“It's demeaning. It would be equally demeaning if she wanted to discuss his physical appearance,” stated Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist advocating for policies to combat workplace harassment in the wake of #MeToo. “That's not what rational people are looking for in their president. They're looking for somebody who can lead the country and address the concerns that people in this country have.”
Throughout the years, Trump has crafted a public persona that relies heavily on his interactions with — and crude remarks about — attractive women. In a 1991 Esquire interview, he claimed, “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” He previously owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant and, in 2005, boasted to Howard Stern about entering the contestants’ dressing room. In 2013, he remarked to a contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice”: “It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.”
In the 2016 election, Trump’s campaign faced turmoil after a 2005 audio recording revealed him bragging about groping women — which he dismissed as “locker room talk.” More recently, he was found liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s and was convicted of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with him.
As Republicans search for a unified approach to criticize Harris, they have struggled to separate race and gender from their attacks. Some GOP members of Congress referred to Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, as a “DEI hire,” prompting party leaders to advise against such comments.
Ultimately, Trump’s campaign has settled on criticizing Harris’ progressive policies and, to a lesser degree, her laugh. Nevertheless, he has had difficulty avoiding references to her identity in his rhetoric.
Behind closed doors, Trump has reportedly referred to Harris as a “bitch,” according to the New York Times, though a Trump campaign spokesperson denied the report.
“It's a continual focus on her skin color that she has. It’s a continuous focus on calling her stupid … calling her a bitch,” Roginsky explained. “Some are code words, and some are just outright misogynistic terms that would never, ever, ever be applied to a man.”
In a statement to PMG, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that “the media’s negative portrayal of President Trump and his treatment of women is entirely false." She claimed that Trump's economic policies during his first term "uplifted women by putting more money in our pockets, and he also made expanding access to childcare and paid family leave top priorities in his Administration, and he will do so again.”
Trump has employed sexist language directed at other women in his campaigns as well. In 2015, he tweeted about Hillary Clinton, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America,” before deleting the tweet. Throughout the 2016 campaign, he frequently referred to Clinton as “nasty” and implied she was weak, which many interpreted as a sexist dog whistle.
Last month, during a live interview at a conference for Black journalists, Trump suggested that Harris had previously identified only as Indian-American before she “turned Black” for political expediency. In attempting to clarify those remarks, Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, whose wife is Indian-American, told CNN he believes Harris is “whatever she says she is” but behaves like “a chameleon.”
James del Carmen contributed to this report for TROIB News
“She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live. Actually, she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania. She didn’t look like Kamala,” Trump commented during a live stream with tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday, mispronouncing the vice president’s name. “But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that, right?”
His remarks referenced the cover illustration of Harris on this week’s Time Magazine, which he dismissed as a publicity “free ride.” However, Musk quickly shifted away from the topic, highlighting a recurring theme in Trump’s approach: a fixation on women's appearances.
“It's demeaning. It would be equally demeaning if she wanted to discuss his physical appearance,” stated Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist advocating for policies to combat workplace harassment in the wake of #MeToo. “That's not what rational people are looking for in their president. They're looking for somebody who can lead the country and address the concerns that people in this country have.”
Throughout the years, Trump has crafted a public persona that relies heavily on his interactions with — and crude remarks about — attractive women. In a 1991 Esquire interview, he claimed, “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” He previously owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant and, in 2005, boasted to Howard Stern about entering the contestants’ dressing room. In 2013, he remarked to a contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice”: “It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.”
In the 2016 election, Trump’s campaign faced turmoil after a 2005 audio recording revealed him bragging about groping women — which he dismissed as “locker room talk.” More recently, he was found liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s and was convicted of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with him.
As Republicans search for a unified approach to criticize Harris, they have struggled to separate race and gender from their attacks. Some GOP members of Congress referred to Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, as a “DEI hire,” prompting party leaders to advise against such comments.
Ultimately, Trump’s campaign has settled on criticizing Harris’ progressive policies and, to a lesser degree, her laugh. Nevertheless, he has had difficulty avoiding references to her identity in his rhetoric.
Behind closed doors, Trump has reportedly referred to Harris as a “bitch,” according to the New York Times, though a Trump campaign spokesperson denied the report.
“It's a continual focus on her skin color that she has. It’s a continuous focus on calling her stupid … calling her a bitch,” Roginsky explained. “Some are code words, and some are just outright misogynistic terms that would never, ever, ever be applied to a man.”
In a statement to PMG, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that “the media’s negative portrayal of President Trump and his treatment of women is entirely false." She claimed that Trump's economic policies during his first term "uplifted women by putting more money in our pockets, and he also made expanding access to childcare and paid family leave top priorities in his Administration, and he will do so again.”
Trump has employed sexist language directed at other women in his campaigns as well. In 2015, he tweeted about Hillary Clinton, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America,” before deleting the tweet. Throughout the 2016 campaign, he frequently referred to Clinton as “nasty” and implied she was weak, which many interpreted as a sexist dog whistle.
Last month, during a live interview at a conference for Black journalists, Trump suggested that Harris had previously identified only as Indian-American before she “turned Black” for political expediency. In attempting to clarify those remarks, Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, whose wife is Indian-American, told CNN he believes Harris is “whatever she says she is” but behaves like “a chameleon.”
James del Carmen contributed to this report for TROIB News
