Harris brands Trump a ‘fascist’

The Republican’s campaign has denounced the remark as the kind of “disgusting rhetoric” that has led to attempts to assassinate him

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has branded Republican opponent Donald Trump a “fascist” who “admires dictators,” capitalizing on a renewed attack on the ex-president by his former chief of staff John Kelly.

Harris made the remarks while speaking at a CNN town hall on Wednesday. Asked whether she believed Trump was a fascist, the Democratic candidate responded affirmatively.

“Yes, I do,” she said, returning to the topic later and suggesting that should Trump get elected, he would become “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

The remarks by Harris are an example of the extreme statements that ultimately resulted in two botched attempts on Trump’s life, his campaign suggested in a post on X.

“This is the type of disgusting rhetoric that led to two assassination attempts against President Trump,” the campaign wrote.

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Harris’ comments come after a series of interviews with the longest-serving Trump-era White House chief of staff, John Kelly, were published by The New York Times on Tuesday. The former official made various scathing criticisms of the ex-president, claiming that he met the textbook definition of a fascist and would rule as a dictator if allowed.

“Well, looking at the definition of fascism, it’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” he stated, suggesting such a definition accurately described Trump.

Kelly also doubled down on previous remarks, reiterating a claim that Trump had praised Adolf Hitler in private and said “more than once” that the leader of Nazi Germany “did some good things.”

The Trump campaign has denounced the remarks by both Harris and Kelly, with its spokesman Steven Cheung saying the former chief of staff had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated.” Separately, he accused the vice president of spreading “outright lies and falsehoods.”