Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, said on Friday that he thought Vice President Kamala Harris “did not look presidential” in her first interview as nominee for president.
“There's a certain threshold that you have to meet when you're looking presidential. Can you lead this country? Other candidates in the past have had it. I don't see that with Kamala Harris,” Miller, who was accused of hiding income to avoid paying child support in 2021, said to Newsmax.
Miller, who on Thursday attempted to deny an incident involving the Trump campaign at Arlington National Cemetery after Trump had already acknowledged it, went on to label Harris’ answers to questions from CNN's Dana Bash — largely focused on attacks from opposers and not specific policy details — as “vague,” and added that “she had no good answers.”
The slam mirrored a post from Ohio Senator and vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Thursday likening Harris’ interview to Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton’s pageant performance, a comparison which attracted scrutiny both for its misogyny and for making light of the incident, which Upton said caused her to become suicidal.
Harris, the first Black woman atop a major party presidential ticket, has faced a barrage of smears, including everything from “not presidential” to “not very smart” to “became Black.”
But when asked about the attacks on her identity, Harris simply said they were a part of the “same old tired playbook.”
Similarly, the Harris campaign has pushed back on doubts about Harris’ credentials and “presidential” optics, centering her record as a prosecutor and as vice president.
