Kevin McCarthy Criticizes Kamala Harris, Praises Trump's Crowd Sizes

McCarthy tells Trump to stop questioning size of Harris's crowds

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says former President Trump should stop questioning the size of Vice President Harris's crowds at rallies and instead focus on her as a candidate. "You've got to make this race not on personalities," McCarthy said in an interview on Fox News on Monday. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds and start questioning her position, when it comes to: What did she do as [California] attorney general on crime?... What did she do when she was supposed to take care of the border as a czar?" The former Speaker said Trump should also hit Harris on inflation, noting she was the tie-breaking vote on key legislation the has come to define the Biden-Harris administration. He also urged Trump to attack Harris for changing her position on certain policy views in the last couple years. "This is a perfect person to run against," McCarthy said. "You thought John Kerry was a flip-flopper? She is the biggest flip-flop, with the most extreme positions, and you got a short time frame to do it." "So don't sit back, get out there and start making the case and use her own words to do it to her," he added. Trump has repeatedly focused on the large crowds at Harris's rallies, even going so far as to suggest that they were created using artificial intelligence. "There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" the former president wrote on Truth Social this weekend, responding to a photo of a Harris crowd outside a plane. "She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the 'crowd' looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake 'crowds' at her speeches," Trump later added. Harris's campaign fired back, shooting down any speculation about the legitimacy of the crowd. "1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan," the KamalaHQ account wrote on the social platform X, responding to a screenshot of Trump's post. "2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week... Low energy?"

Kevin McCarthy Urges Trump To Stop Obsessing Over Crowd Sizes

In a Monday interview on Fox News, McCarthy said Harris was the "perfect person to run against" because, he claimed, she is "the biggest flip-flop" on policy, but indicated the former president is squandering the opportunity. The new Democratic Party ticket appears to have generated a groundswell of support, as witnessed by around 15,000 people turning up to a rally near Detroit last Wednesday. Trump on Sunday claimed a photo from the event had been AI-generated -- a suggestion that was quickly and widely debunked -- and continued to rant about crowds at his own rallies. "You've got to make this race not on personalities," McCarthy said, apparently reflecting wider GOP frustration with Trump's recent tactics. "Stop questioning the size of her crowds and start questioning her position, when it comes to: What did she do as (California) attorney general on crime? Question what did she do when she was supposed to take care of the border as a tsar?" On Friday, addressing reporters at his Florida estate, the Republican presidential nominee was at pains to suggest he was drawing large crowds on the campaign trail amid the buzz surrounding the Harris rallies. He went so far as to compare the crowd size at the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to the audience for Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech. His fixation continued Sunday when he posted the baseless AI claim on his social media platform, Truth Social. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane," he wrote.