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Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that he and running mate JD Vance were “not weird”, moments before launching into a tangent about hating mosquitoes during a town hall, where he also attacked rival Kamala Harris and promised “the largest deportation in history” if he was to return to the White House.
The former president participated in a one-hour, pre-taped event with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
With few interjections from Hannity, Trump repeated common refrains about Harris’ economic agenda and her record at the border. He also worked to distance himself and “JD” from the “weird” label first given to them Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz.
Hannity started asking a question about Walz, which Trump quickly derailed in favor of discussing Walz’s extended family’s endorsement of him.
“I was so honored today. His brother endorsed me — and his whole family!” Trump said. “I saw the picture. Honestly, it was a very nice looking family.”
Earlier on Wednesday, eight of Walz’s distant relatives shared a photo of them wearing grammatically incorrect “Walz’s for Trump” T-shirts while standing in front of a “Trump 2024” flag.
Speaking about Walz, Trump said: “There is something weird with that guy. He’s a weird guy. JD is not weird. He’s a solid rock. I happen to be a very solid rock.”
The crowd erupted into cheers as he said: “We’re not weird. We are other things, perhaps, but we’re not weird.”
Minutes later, Trump was sidetracked by a mosquito which appeared to bother him on stage.
“I hate mosquitos. I’m surprised, I didn’t think we had... We don’t like those mosquitoes running around,” he said. “We want nothing to do with them — and we want nothing to do with bad politicians that hate our country, too.”
Most of the town hall, however, was focused on bashing Harris’ border policies. Trump made a number of familiar false claims about migrants, alleging that they are murderers, child traffickers, and drug dealers coming into the US from prisons, mental institutions, and “very bad places.” Trump then promised the “largest deportation in the history of the country” if he were elected in November.
The former president also slammed Harris’s economic plan. While Trump’s proposal has pushed tax cuts for high-income Americans, Harris unveiled part of her plan on Wednesday that emphasizes benefits for the middle class and small businesses.
Discussing her proposal, Trump warned: “This country will end up in a depression if she becomes president, like 1929. She has no idea what the hell she’s doing.”
Trump then took a jab at Harris’s father. He called Donald Harris, professor emeritus at Stanford, a “Marxist teacher of economics.” Trump has been referring to the vice president as a “Marxist” and a “communist” in recent weeks.
Trump’s town hall on Hannity stemmed from a debate debacle with Harris. The former president had proposed that he and Harris debate on Fox News on September 4, prompting Harris to claim he was “running scared.” After much back and forth, both presidential candidates agreed to debate on September 10 on ABC News.
Six days ahead of the hotly anticipated debate, Trump took the opportunity to criticize that network, calling it “the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest” and branding one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos, as “a nasty guy.”
The debate will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, not Stephanopoulos.
