Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump continued his latest line of attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris — one he perhaps unwittingly unveiled earlier in the day during a combative interview with three Black journalists — by insisting that his presumptive Democratic rival is "fake, fake, fake."

"And on the other hand, you have a president to 'fight, fight, fight for America,'" Trump said, echoing the image of his post-assassination attempt fist pumps from nearly three weeks ago.

What You Need To Know

  • Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump continued his latest line of attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris by insisting that his presumptive Democratic rival is "fake, fake, fake," hours after insisting that she had not asserted her heritage as a Black woman

  • The rally was his return to Pennsylvania, less than three weeks after surviving an assassination attempt at an outdoor rally in the state

  • Trump on Wednesday attacked Harris repeatedly throughout his 90 minute speech, continually insisting that Harris was "fake"

  • Harris responded to his earlier attack on her heritage as the “same old show" of “divisiveness” and “disrespect" from the ex-president

Trump returned to Pennsylvania on Wednesday, for his first public visit to the Keystone State since surviving an assassination attempt earlier this month. Early in his rally, Trump paid tribute to doctors and responders who took action after the shooting, and offered a moment of silence for Corey Comperatore, the man killed in the shooting at Trump’s Butler rally.

As he filled the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, he knocked at Harris for having music stars, Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo of the Migos, at her rally in Atlanta on Tuesday.

In fact, the majority of Wednesday’s nearly 90 minute speech was focused on attacking Harris, in stark contrast to her own rally, which was about 30 minutes, one day prior.

Trump continually insisted that Harris would destroy the country, seeking to “ruin” America as she “ruined” California and “ruined” San Francisco. She is, he said, a “dangerous liberal extrem[ist].”

In fact, Trump said, before Biden stepped away, he didn’t even know Harris’s name.

"I didn’t even know her name, Kamala — all I knew about, her only job was the border, and she never went there," said Trump, who has twice donated to Harris’s election campaigns, as she served California as its attorney general. (A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told the New York Times that Trump was "a global businessman and knew how to play the game and win the game with corrupt politicians like Kamala Harris.")

Harris, he said, has been voted the "worst vice president in history," calling her the "most unpopular vice president" in history. Trump also, seeking to get ahead of concerns that he, at 78 years old, is too old for the presidency, insisted that 81 years old isn’t old. Rather, President Joe Biden is a "bad" 81 years old.

He stretched the truth of Harris’s past comments seeking reformation of policing and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, saying she sought to "defund the police" and "abolish ICE." He alleged that the Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 attack (or the "UnSelect Committee," as he prefers calling it) has "deleted evidence." (He also said that the rioters who sought to disrupt the Jan. 6 session of Congress were "peacefully walking," rather than attacking Capitol Police or destroying offices.)

Trump did strike at Harris’s previous pledge to ban fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting fossil fuels from bedrock. (Harris, during her run at the 2020 presidential nomination, pledged to ban fracking, as is said to have extreme adverse environmental impacts. Harris has since flipped positions, stating she would not seek a fracking ban as president.)

"Remember, a politician always goes back to what their original thought was, right?" Trump said.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump was combative, evasive, xenophobic and racist in an fireside chat with three reporters at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists Convention, held this year in Chicago.

As he was interviewed by the three reporters — accusing one of attacking him with a "nasty" line of questioning — he falsely asserted that Harris had "happened to turn Black" a few years ago, after being "Indian all the way."

Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and South Asian immigrants, graduated from the historically-Black school Howard University, and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority. He also, in response to a reporter’s question, said that Harris "could be" a "DEI hire," later saying that she "didn’t pass her bar exam" (which is partially true — Harris failed the notoriously difficult California Bar Exam on her first attempt) and speculated she "wouldn’t pass a cognitive test."

Speaking to the historically Black Sigma Gamma Rho sorority just hours later, Harris addressed Trump’s appearance at the NABJ convention, calling it the “same old show" of “divisiveness” and “disrespect" from the ex-president.

“And let me just say, the American people deserve better, the American people deserve better,” Harris said. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.”

“We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength,” she continued.