In a new low for campaign tactics, Vice President Kamala Harris seized on a questionable article from The Atlantic, attempting to paint Donald Trump as a would-be dictator by claiming he once praised Adolf Hi***r. The story, courtesy of The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a writer with a well-documented disdain for Trump, rests on two anonymous sources rehashing old claims from a 2022 book. The Trump campaign swiftly denied any such comments about Hi***r, yet Harris jumped on the story, using it to build her narrative that Trump is “unhinged” and “unstable.”
It’s no surprise that Harris would turn to baseless accusations, especially in a moment when she’s struggling to shake off negative headlines and combat Trump’s rising momentum on the campaign trail. In typical fashion, Harris didn’t hold back, calling Trump’s supposed comments “deeply troubling” and evidence of his desire for “unchecked power.”
“Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable,” she stated, as though repeating it could make it true. Yet the irony here is impossible to miss: while Harris accuses Trump of dictatorial ambitions, recent revelations suggest that her own administration has moved quietly to expand government authority in a very real way. Just weeks before the election, the Biden administration reportedly authorized the Pentagon’s Directive 5240.01, a significant change in military policy that permits, for the first time, the use of “lethal force” on U.S. soil during protests.
Enter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democratic candidate turned Independent, who’s now pointing out the Democrats’ hypocrisy. “What’s interesting to me is that the Biden/Harris administration did something two weeks ago that has never been done in American history,” Kennedy remarked at a rally, slamming the administration’s directive that effectively enables the military to respond with lethal force against American citizens. And, in case Harris needed a reminder, this directive didn’t come from Trump. Kennedy made his own stance clear, saying, “That’s why I left the Democratic Party.”
The DoD under Kamala Harris just passed Directive 5240.01 which authorizes the government to use lethal force against civilians.
In her interview with Bret Baier, Kamala claimed that Trump would use the military to target the American people.
They always accuse others of what… pic.twitter.com/t5t8hqVRcF
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 21, 2024
This is the kind of inflammatory poison that divides our nation and inspires assassins. It’s particularly ironic since Biden/Harris have just pushed through DoD Directive 5240.01 giving the Pentagon power — for the first time in history — to use lethal force to kill Americans on… https://t.co/svi4LesHxa
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 23, 2024
But the hits don’t end there. The same Atlantic piece Harris parroted also included an apparent fabrication about Mayra Guillen, sister of the late U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen. According to Guillen, The Atlantic falsely claimed Trump offered to pay for Vanessa’s funeral only to balk at the cost and curse about it later. Guillen has condemned the story as a complete falsehood, yet Harris doesn’t seem to mind using such narratives to support her closing message.
Wow.
I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today. https://t.co/o8cDrKOKBV— Mayra Guillen (@mguilen_) October 22, 2024
For Harris, leveraging a sketchy story from a media outlet known for its anti-Trump bias isn’t just about winning; it’s about manipulating fears. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s warning about the Biden-Harris administration’s recent directive should serve as a wake-up call about who’s truly moving the goalposts on government control.
RFK Jr: “Vice President Harris said today in her speech that president Trump was gonna turn the US military against the American public.”
“What’s interesting to me is that the Biden/Harris administration did something 2 weeks ago that has never been done in American history,… pic.twitter.com/hvIlKrqQNP
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) October 23, 2024
Harris’s double standard in accusing Trump of fascist ambitions while her own administration greenlights policies to curb American freedoms could backfire in a big way. Whether Americans buy into this rhetoric or see it for the ploy it is will become clear soon enough at the polls.
