‘Unstable’: Harris campaign says Trump ‘not up to the job’ after Al Smith dinner

Democrat Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign says GOP rival Donald Trump is “not up to the task” of leading the country after a “shaky” showing at Al Smith’s charity dinner on Thursday. in New York.

“Donald Trump had difficulty reading notes written by his aides, repeatedly complaining that he was unable to use a teleprompter,” Harris campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the crowd didn’t laugh with him.”

“In the rare moments when he was off script, he would go on long, incomprehensible ramblings, reminding Americans how unstable he had become,” Moussa added. “And of course he did it all by himself. He may refuse to release his medical records, but every day he makes it clear to the American people that he is not up to the job.”

Trump received a mixed response to jokes he told at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, an annual event that benefits Catholic charities. At one point, he referenced an extramarital affair that Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, had during a previous marriage. Trump called his writers “idiots” when Emhoff’s joke was met with groans.

He also said Harris had “the mental faculties of a child” and mocked President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities — suggesting, as he has done several times before, that the 81-year-old Democrat is in cognitive decline.

But Harris’ campaign statement sought to amplify concerns about Trump’s health and mental state as the former president tries to retake the White House.

Like Biden, Trump, 78, faced scrutiny over his age ahead of the November vote, as he would be the oldest person elected to the presidency if he wins.

And although Trump ridiculed Harris for missing Thursday’s dinner — a break from tradition for presidential candidates to attend — the Republican has pulled out of several high-profile interviews in recent weeks, with a Trump adviser reportedly citing exhaustion as the reason .

Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, dismissed that report in a statement to Politico, saying the former president is “circling Kamala Harris on the campaign trail.”