Trump highlights Biden-Harris 2020 rivalry: ‘Meaner to him than anybody else’

Former President Donald Trump is using President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s feud during the 2020 primary to his advantage.

Harris ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2020, losing to Biden after vigorously attacking him during the Democratic debates. Though that was largely forgotten after the two united for the 2020 general election ticket, forming a united front throughout the Biden presidency, Trump brought the feud back into focus in an interview on Fox News’s Fox and Friends on Thursday morning.

“She is the most radical person probably that we have had in office, let alone the office of the presidency,” Trump said. “She was a horrible campaigner when she ran. You know, she ran against Biden, and I thought he was terrible, but she was terrible. She was horrible. And she was the meanest person up there, you know, she was meaner to him than anybody else.” 

“She accused him of being a racist with the buses, if you remember,” he continued. “She was the meanest person. But not a very good debater, but nasty. Just nasty to him. And then when he chose her, I said, ‘How do you do that? A person treats you so badly.’ He was treated so badly during the debates. And he wasn’t all there even during those debates.”

Trump was referring to a heated exchange during one of the Democratic primary debates, in which Harris attacked Biden over his comments on segregationist lawmakers and stance toward busing, strongly implying she believed he had racist sympathies.

“I’m going to now direct this at Vice President Biden,” the then-senator said. “I do not believe you are a racist, and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe, and it’s personal … it was actually very, it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” she continued. “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

Harris’s 2020 campaign then fundraised off the exchange, selling shirts and merchandise saying, “That little girl was me,” alongside a picture of a young Harris.

After being chosen to become Biden’s running mate, Harris repeatedly attempted to distance herself from the comments. She was confronted over the remarks in an appearance on CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in June 2020, attempting to laugh the feud off.

“How do you go from being such a passionate opponent on such bedrock principles for you, and now, you guys seem to be pals?” Colbert asked.

“It was a debate,” Harris responded while laughing.

“Not everyone landed punches like you did, though,” the host noted.

“It was a debate,” the senator said again, still laughing.

“So you didn’t mean it?” Colbert asked.

“It was a debate,” Harris laughed again.