Vance is being heavily criticized for comparing Harris to Epstein, with critics citing Trump’s connection to the convicted sex offender
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are facing criticism after making some unorthodox comparisons involving their Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Sunday, Aug. 18, Vance, 40, made an appearance on Fox News Sunday, during which he heavily criticized Harris’ policies and claimed that Trump’s campaign is doing well, despite the GOP’s concerns about Harris, 59, pulling ahead in the polls.
“Giving Kamala Harris control over inflation policy, Shannon, it’s like giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy,” Vance said, speaking to host Shannon Bream, who did not respond to the comment. “The American people are much smarter than that. They don’t buy the idea that Kamala Harris represents a fresh start. She is more of the same.”
Social media users were quick to point out that while Harris has no connection to Epstein — who was charged with sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and later died in prison — Trump and third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have both been associated with Epstein in the past.
“If my running mate was in numerous photos and videos with Epstein, I’d do anything to avoid saying his name,” one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, criticizing Vance’s comparison.
Epstein and Trump were photographed together several times, and the former president stated that he was a “terrific guy.” Politico also reported in 2017 that Trump flew at least once on one of Epstein’s private planes and that they had each other’s personal phone numbers, among other connections.
While appearing on the podcast Flagrant in March, Kennedy, 70, confirmed that knew Epstein and had flown on his planes, adding: “You don’t know these people are swamp creatures until all this stuff comes out.”
This isn’t the first time a member of Trump’s campaign has made a highly questioned comparison regarding Harris. On Saturday, Aug. 17, Trump himself made comments about the vice president’s appearance during a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Seemingly referring to a recent Time magazine cover, which features an illustrated portrait of Harris, Trump stated: “Don’t ever call a woman beautiful, because that’ll be the end of your political career, please,” per ABC News.
“But I say that I am much better looking. I’m a better-looking person than Kamala,” Trump said later on, per the outlet. “They said, ‘No, her biggest advantage is that she’s a beautiful woman.’ I’m going, ‘Huh?’ I never thought of that. I’m better looking than she is.”
Just last week, the Republican presidential nominee also discussed Harris’ appearance on the magazine cover during a virtual interview with Elon Musk on X.
“I saw a picture of [Harris] on Time magazine today. She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,” he said. “Actually, she looked very much like our great first lady, Melania.”
“She didn’t look like Kamala, that’s right,” he continued. “But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that.”
Trump and Harris have each agreed to debate for the first time on Sept. 10 on ABC News.
Source people.com
