FOX First Report – The Democratic National Committee plans to attack former President Trump on Thursday for being too fixated on attendance numbers at his rallies and those of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Fox News has learned that the Democratic National Convention plans to release a video of Harris taunting Trump over the size of the audience at the first, and likely only, presidential debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates on Tuesday.
The video will be shown on a mobile billboard that will tour Tucson Music Hall, where Trump is scheduled to campaign in battleground state Arizona on Thursday.
Harris is seen in footage from Tuesday's debate discussing comments made by Trump at the rally that Democrats described as “incoherent drivel.”
Harris appears to have infuriated Trump during debate
Vice President Kamala Harris during the second presidential debate, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
During the debate, the vice president noted that Trump has spoken about fictional characters at rallies, including Hannibal Lecter from the psychological horror crime thriller “Silence of the Lambs,” and that he has said that “windmills cause cancer.”
Harris later noted that “people are starting to leave his rallies early out of fatigue and boredom.”
Ms Harris shifted her focus to the size of the audience during the debate while answering a question about border security, an issue seen as politically advantageous to Mr Trump.
Clearly taking the bait, Trump fired back at Harris, claiming, “She said people are going to start leaving. People aren't going to her rallies. There's no reason for them to go.”
“And she's bussing people who are actually going there, paying them to be there, and showing them in a different light,” the former president argued. “So she can't talk about it.”
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump debated Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time during the presidential election campaign at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Over the years, Trump has drawn large audiences to his rallies, which can last up to three or four hours, ranging from pre-speech speeches to a series of one- to two-hour remarks by Trump himself.
Since replacing President Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee for 2024 about eight weeks ago, Harris has drawn similarly large crowds to her rallies, but she has kept her comments brief and her speeches rarely last longer than 30 minutes.
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Hours before the debate began, Harris' campaign launched another ad aimed at riling Trump over the size of the crowd, using a clip from former President Barack Obama's famous criticism of Trump during his speech at the Democratic National Convention last month.
Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and former President Donald Trump attend the first and likely only debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
Ahead of Trump's visit to Tucson, Democratic National Committee spokesman Cameron Niven argued that “whatever Mr. Trump says tonight, it will not focus on the issues that matter to Arizonans.”
Arizona is one of seven key battleground states that determined the outcome of the 2020 election between Biden and Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House showdown.
Harris will hold two rallies on Thursday in North Carolina, another key battleground state.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
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