Kamala Harris says Trump's comment about women was 'insulting to everyone'

PHOENIX (AP) — Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump's remark that he would protect women whether they “like it or not” shows that the Republican presidential nominee doesn't understand women's right to “make decisions about their own lives, including her own body.” .”

“I think it's offensive to everyone, by the way,” Harris said before heading out to campaign in the western battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada.

At her rally in Phoenix, she expanded on these comments: “He just doesn't respect women's freedom or women's intelligence to know what's in their own best interest and make decisions accordingly. “But we trust women.”

Trump's comments come at a time when he is struggling to reach female voters and at a time when Harris is courting women in both parties with a message centered on freedom. She advocates that women should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies and that if Trump is elected, further restrictions would follow.

Trump appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who formed the conservative majority that struck down federal abortion rights. As the fallout from the 2022 decision unfoldshe has made a habit of claiming this at public events and in social media posts he would “protect women” and make sure they don’t “think about abortion.”

At a rally Wednesday evening near Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump told supporters that his aides had asked him to stop using the term because it was “inappropriate.”

He then added a new bit to the line of protectors. He said he told his aides, “Well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not.” I will protect her.”

Harris said the remark was part of a series of troubling statements from Trump.

“This is just the latest in a long series of revelations from the former president about how he thinks about women and their agency,” she said.

Harris linked Trump's comments to his approach to reproductive rights, but Trump generally speaks more about protecting women from criminals, terrorists and foreign adversaries, consistent with the grim picture he paints of a country in decline.

“I will protect them from incoming migrants. “I will protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and a lot of other things,” Trump said during a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

When he first used “protector” language in a Truth Social post and at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on September 20, he appeared to associate it with abortion. He assured the women being “protected” that they “will no longer do that.” think about abortion.”

Before headlining a rally in Henderson, Nevada, on Thursday night, Trump responded to a top Harris campaign official's claim that the former president doesn't surround himself with strong, intelligent women.

Mark Cuban said Thursday as a guest on ABC's “The View” that “you never see” Trump “around strong, intelligent women – ever.”

Trump published on

“All strong women and women in general should be very angry about this weak man’s statement,” Trump’s post reads.

The dispute showed signs that support for each candidate was further strengthening.

It wasn't just women who described Trump's comments as offensive. At the Harris rally in Phoenix, Edison Kinlicheenie, 50, said he viewed Trump as more of a threat than a protector, pointing out that the former president had one Track record of exploiting women.

“I have a wife and a daughter, so I wouldn’t let a predator like that come along,” Kinlicheenie said.

At a Trump rally in Albuquerque, 41-year-old Sarah Pyle cited opposition to transgender athletes' participation in women's competitions to portray Trump as someone who helps women.

“I don’t want my girls to grow up in a world like this,” the Albuquerque mother said, referring to the controversy. “We have fought for women's rights for so long, and now we are giving them back to men. It makes no sense.”

More broadly, Trump and Republicans have struggled to talk about abortion rights, particularly as women across the country struggle to receive adequate medical care as abortion restrictions have had impacts that go far beyond the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy to finish, went out.

Trump has given contradictory answers about his position on abortion, saying at some points that women should be punished for having abortions and flaunting the judges he appointed. During his successful 2016 campaign, he told voters that if elected he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. to overthrow Wade, saying he was “pro-life.”

But in recent weeks he has vowed to veto a nationwide abortion ban after repeatedly refusing to make such a promise. He said states should regulate care and that some laws are “too strict.”

Since 2022, the patchwork of state abortion laws has resulted in uneven medical care. Some women have died. Others bled in emergency room parking lots or are seriously ill with sepsis, as doctors in states with strict abortion bans send pregnant women away until they are sick enough to warrant medical care. This includes women who never intended to terminate their pregnancy. Both infant and maternal mortality have increased.

Harris' campaign has highlighted Trump's statements about women. A woman in a campaign ad who became seriously ill with sepsis after a pregnancy complication stands in front of a mirror and looks at a large scar on her stomach as Trump's comments about protecting women play in the audio book.

Harris hopes abortion will be a powerful motivator for women at the ballot box.

According to data from the analysis company TargetSmart, 1.2 million more women than men have voted in the seven battleground states.

That doesn't necessarily lead to democratic gains. However, in the 2020 presidential election, there was a 9 percentage point difference between men and women in support of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, according to data AP VoteCasta survey of more than 110,000 voters.

The Democratic candidacy was supported by 55% of women and 46% of men. That remained essentially unchanged from the 2018 midterm elections, when VoteCast found a 10 percent gender gap and 58% of women and 48% of men supported Democrats in the congressional race.

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Associated Press reporters Adriana Gomez Licon in Henderson, Nevada, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gabriel Sandoval and JJ Cooper in Phoenix and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.