Donald Trump returned to his beauty pageant roots Saturday to rate his opponent Kamala Harris’ physical attributes—but compared the Democratic candidate not to other women, but to himself.
It was the first time he had put himself head-to-head with Harris in the beauty stakes, and not surprisingly, he came out on top. The reason for turning the presidential race into a beauty contest was her appearance on the cover of Time magazine, something which has obsessed the Republican candidate since it happened earlier this week.
First he compared the drawing of Harris on the magazine cover to Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor, then to himself.
This is the Time cover that has angered Trump so much that he claimed it was modeled on Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor.
Time Magazine
This time he suggested both that Time had unsuccessfully tried to photograph Harris, and that the magazine had no pictures to use of her. “Time magazine doesn’t have a picture of her,” he said. “They have this unbelievable artist drawing her. And I said, ‘Is that Sophia Loren? Who might that be? Is that Elizabeth Taylor? Oh, they must be celebrating the great life and times of the magnificently beautiful Sophia Loren.’
“I am much better looking than her,” Trump said, to laughter. “I’m a better looking person than Kamala.”
Earlier in the week he had also compared the Time image to “our great first lady Melania.”
He also complained that a “Ronald Reagan speechwriter,” whom he did not name but who was most likely Wall Street Journalist columnist Peggy Noonan, had said, “She has one great advantage, she’s a very beautiful woman.” Noonan has passed comment on Harris’ appearance, writing, “You can’t take a bad picture of her. Her beauty, plus the social warmth that all who have known her over the years speak of, combines to produce: radiance.” She also said she had significant political advantages and skills, but Trump did not mention that part of Noonan’s verdict.
Harris’ campaign did not respond directly as to whether she or Trump is more beautiful, but accused him of name-calling because he is losing. New polls Saturday put him five points behind in Arizona.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Reuters
“I say that I’m much better looking than her,” he said. “I had never heard that one. They said her biggest advantage was that she’s a beautiful-looking woman. Ha. I’d never thought of that.”
The comments at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, came after he turned to the crowd and said, “Do you mind if I go off teleprompter for a second , do you?” When cheers of approval resulted, he did, ending scripted remarks on his economic message in favor of saying, “Joe Biden hates her.”
He then moved on to, among other things, impersonating French President Emanuel Macron’s accent, and complaining that reports of his more than hour-long speech would say he “rambled.”
The Harris campaign focused on empty seats and people leaving the rally early.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters
“They will say he’s rambling. I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy,” he said.
Trump also expressed confusion at the sudden change in the presidential race which has upended his campaign and seen him fall behind in polls both nationwide and in most of the swing states. The latest on Saturday, from the New York Times and Siena College put Harris five points ahead in Arizona. Given she already has a consistent lead in Pennsylvania, where Trump was speaking, that would give her an easy path to 270 Electoral College Votes.
“What happened to Biden? I was running against Biden and now I’m running against someone else,” Trump said of the change from the president to the vice-president as Democratic candidate. “I said, who am I running against, Harris? I said, ‘Who the hell is Harris?’”
The Harris campaign highlighted people leaving Trump’s campaign while he spoke, and spokesperson Joseph Costello told The Hill, “Donald Trump can’t sell his dangerous Project 2025 agenda to raise taxes on working families by $3,900, terminate the Affordable Care Act, and rip away our freedoms, so he resorts to lies, name-calling, and confused rants.”
