Former President Donald Trump faced widespread mockery after saying during a rambling speech on Thursday that San Francisco was "a great city 15 years ago"—only to get an awkward reminder about who led the city then.
Speaking at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump claimed Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom "destroyed California."
He said:
“As the attorney general, [Harris] destroyed California, along with Gavin Newsom. And San Francisco, you know, was a great city 15 years ago. Now it’s considered almost unlivable. You can’t live there."
Trump then suggested that Harris would make things just as bad for the country in the event she wins this year's presidential election:
“What they’ve done to it is a shame, and she’s gonna do the same thing to our country.”
The major issue with Trump's statement: Newsom served as San Francisco's mayor from 2004 to 2011, overlapping with Harris's tenure as district attorney during the same period.
It sure sounded like Trump was praising their leadership, since in 2009—15 years ago—they were both in office.
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Trump was swiftly mocked for his statements.
Trump's remarks are especially silly considering he donated not once but twice to reelect Harris as the Attorney General of California.
California records reveal that Trump donated $5,000 to Kamala Harris's 2014 reelection campaign in September 2011, followed by an additional $1,000 in February 2013. Ivanka Trump also contributed $2,000 to Harris's campaign in 2014.
Trump has a history of financially supporting numerous Democrats, with the majority of his political donations going to Democrats until around 2010, according to earlier reports.
However, Harris did not keep the $6,000 from Trump. A spokesperson informed the Sacramento Bee in 2020 that she had donated the money in 2015 to a "nonprofit that advocates for civil and human rights for Central Americans," by which time she had been reelected and was preparing to run for the Senate.
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