President Donald Trump said Friday that he would like to see a woman in the country’s top leadership position and that his daughter, Ivanka, is more fit for this role than Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Trump made the remarks at a New Hampshire campaign rally, during which he emphasized a “law and order” theme in the face of nationwide protests punctuated by outbreaks of looting and violence, and criticized his political opponents on a variety of fronts, insisting that in his bid for another four years in the White House, “we’re going to win.”
“Does anybody have any doubt?” Trump asked the crowd, assembled at an airport hangar, and his prompt was met with a loud “No!”
Trump then breached the issue of the prospect of the first female Commander-in-Chief in U.S. history.
“I want to see the first woman president also, but I don’t want to see the first woman president get into the position the way [Harris] would do it, and she’s not competent, she’s not competent,” Trump said in reference to Harris.
“They’re all saying, ‘We want Ivanka!’” he continued, pointing to his supporters, who cheered the president’s words. “I don’t blame them,” Trump said.
The president referred back to Thursday’s event at the White House, during which he gave an acceptance speech in the wake of his formal nomination as the 2020 presidential candidate of the Republican party.
“These incredible people from all over the country, all over the world, that were there last night, and they walked out to a bunch of thugs,” Trump said, adding, “and that wasn’t friendly protesters, they were thugs.”
Paul said on Friday he was attacked by an “angry mob” of more than 100 people near the White House.
“He’d either be in very bad shape, or dead, and that would include his wife, if those policemen didn’t happen to be there,” Trump said of the Republican senator.
Videos posted online showed dozens of people confronting Paul and his wife, who were flanked by police officers. At one point someone appeared to briefly clash with an officer, pushing him and his bike backward, sending the officer into Paul’s shoulder. Other attendees were also confronted by protesters after leaving Trump’s event, videos posted on social media showed.
“They get accosted, they get abused, they get spit on—it’s a disgrace,” Trump said of the treatment guests leaving Thursday’s event were subjected to.
The demonstration outside the White House took place amid a heavy police presence and was significantly smaller than the protests that rocked the nation’s capital this past spring after George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, which sparked a wave of demonstrations, many of which have been marred by violence.
During the rally, Trump also criticized former vice president Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden’s agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the USA,” Trump said, referring to the Democrat nominee for president as “Sleepy Joe” and calling into question his mental fitness.
“The guy barely knows he’s alive!” Trump said, seeking to portray the former vice president as a “puppet” for some nefarious overlords.
“It’s not Biden. It’s his masters. His masters tell him what to do,” Trump said.
In his remarks at the rally, Trump also touched on the U.S.-Mexico border wall and rebuked Democrats for what he said was their intention to slash funding for law enforcement.
