Vice President Kamala Harris suggesting Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is only loyal to Donald Trump and not the U.S. had the GOP vice presidential nominee firing back in a potential tone-setting campaign moment Saturday night.
"I'd like to ask the vice president what has she done to question my loyalty to this country," a passionate Vance said, wrapping up his St. Cloud, Minnesota, campaign rally speech.
"I served in the United States Marine Corps. I went to Iraq for this country. I built a business for this country. And my running mate took a bullet for this country.
"So my question to Kamala Harris is, 'What the hell have you done to question our loyalty to the United States of America?'"
Vance answered: "Nothing."
Vance's remarks were seizing on Harris' quick response video posted to social media after Vance was named Trump's running mate.
"Make no mistake: J.D. Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country," said Harris, who was still not yet the presumptive Democrat nominee because President Joe Biden had not yet withdrawn from the race.
Some conservatives are concerned a disloyal Harris might have used the threat of the 25th Amendment to get the president to step out of the race — an allegation Trump repeated Saturday night.
"This was really a coup of and by the Democrats," Trump said.
"He wanted to run. They wouldn't let him run. They treated him horribly. They said to him, We can do it the nice way, or we can do it the hard way to Joe — he's president.
"This was a coup of the presidency."
Vance had taken relatively measured steps in his initial weeks as the vice presidencial nominee, but Saturday's passionate response brought loud cheers from the crowd.
"Now, I saw the other day Kamala Harris questioned my loyalty to this country — that's the word she used: loyalty," Vance's fiery response began. "And it's an interesting word — semper fi — loyalty, because there is no greater sign of disloyalty to this country than what Kamala Harris has done at our southern border."
The crowd was energized throughout Trump's speech that followed.
"So let's send a message to the media," Vance exulted. "Let's send a message to Kamala Harris. Let's send a message to every hardworking patriot from Minnesota across the country.
"We are ready to have President Donald J. Trump back, and we're going to work our tails off to make sure it happens."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.