Kamala defends Trump as her running mate brags about shooting skills

Kamala Harris stunned her rally on Wednesday when she defended Donald Trump, after her running mate Tim Walz bragged about he can ‘outshoot’ anyone – a claim that comes less than a month after a failed assassination attempt on the former president. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, stopped an attendee who yelled ‘lock him up’ about Trump, her Republican rival, during the event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

She had been giving her standard stump speech where she outlined her background as a prosecutor, arguing it meant she knew how to deal with men like Trump, when the supporter made the comment about the former president. Harris jumped to Trump’s defense. ‘Hold on,’ she said. ‘You know what, the courts are going to handle that part of it. What we’re going to do is beat him in November.’

Trump faces several charges on the state and federal level tied to his business dealings, his handling of classified documents, and his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The former president made the ‘lock her up’ chant famous during the 2016 campaign when he encouraged his supporters to shout it about his then-rival Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, Walz bragged about his shooting skills when he spoke to the crowd. After talking about his support for the second amendment, the Minnesota governor noted he was an excellent shot. ‘When I was in Congress, I was the top gun at the trap shooting three years in a row. I can outshoot them too. I can outshoot these guys,’ Walz said.

His comments came after Trump was shot at a rally on July 13th in Pennsylvania and Taylor Swift canceled a series of concerts in Austria due to threats. Trump came within a hair of being struck by a bullet from the AR-15. It nicked his right ear.

Wisconsin was crowded with politicians on Wednesday. Harris and Walz were there as part of their tour of battleground states. J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, was in the same town to counter their message with his own. The uptick in political activity came as a new poll showed Harris was essentially tied with Trump in Wisconsin. The Marquette poll showed that among registered voters, Trump lead 50 to 49 but, among likely voters, Harris led 50 to 49.

At her rally Harris focused on introducing Walz as her running mate and attacking Trump on his conservative record. There were 12,000 people in the crowd, per the campaign. The indie band Bon Iver entertained the crowd before the politicians took the stage. They ended their set with ‘Battle Cry of Freedom,’ which was during the Civil War in support of the Union and abolitionism.

Lead singer Justin Vernon said it’s ‘a nice, old patriotic song that’s been rolling around my head these past months.’ After the rally, the band joined Harris and Walz at The Local store, a general store for locally made goods. Vernon wore a Harris-Walz camo hat. Walz’s daughter, Hope, was also there and wearing the hat. Harris bought raw honey and cheese curds. Walz purchased a reusable water bottle and a record – Break Me Open by S. Carey from Eau Claire. He is the drummer and supporting vocalist of Bon Iver.

Meanwhile, during the trip Walz refused to answer questions related to ‘stolen valor charges.’ The Minnesota governor was accused of quiting his National Guard unit after it was informed it was being deployed for Iraq. Walz ignored questions on the subject from reporters traveling with him and Harris. He served for more than two decades in the Army National Guard, and that was part of his appeal to Harris, who has no military experience. In fact, Harris, during the rally, bragged about Walz’s service record.

‘To his fellow veterans he is Sergeant Major Walz,’ she said. The timing of his separation from the military surfaced during his 2018 campaign for governor. Retired Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends of the Minnesota National Guard accused Walz of having ’embellished’ his record and of having abandoned his unit when he left the Guard to run for Congress. Walz dismissed the charges, calling them a ‘bipartisan political attack.’