Harris criticizes Trump for saying he will protect women whether they ‘like it or not’

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday angered former President Donald Trump for comments he made the previous evening at a rally outside Green Bay about protecting women “whether they like it or not.”

Harris and Trump held rallies in the key state on Wednesday night, less than a week before the election that will decide which of them wins the White House. Both will return to Wisconsin on Friday.

ON stage at the Resch Center in AshwaubenonTrump said he disagreed with staffers who told him it was “very inappropriate” to claim he wanted to protect women.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll do it whether women like it or not. I will protect them. I will protect them from the influx of migrants. I will protect them from abroad who want to hit us with missiles and many other things.” – he told his supporters.

Harris on Thursday morning in Madisonwhere was she? she held her rally the night beforesharply criticized Trump’s reference to protecting women, “whether women like it or not.”

“In my opinion, this is very offensive to women because they do not understand their agency, power, right and ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” she said, referring to abortion.

The case has been politically significant for Democrats in Wisconsin and across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-appointed justices, in 2022, he ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade.

As of 2022, Democrats have won two of the last three statewide primary races in which abortion was a central issue – re-electing Tony Evers as governor and then bringing the state Supreme Court under liberal control for the first time in 15 years.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Trump has sent mixed signals on whether he supports the ruling’s impact – both taking credit for the ruling and distancing himself from states’ decisions to enact strict rules.

“This is the latest in a series of revelations by the former president about his thinking about women and their agency,” Harris said.

Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Harris criticizes Trump for ‘offensive’ statement about protecting women