Trump bizarrely claims nobody knows his Democratic rival’s last name (it’s Harris)

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Following Thursday’s tsunami of absurd and false statements at his seemingly pointless “general news conference” at Mar-a-Lago, a free-wheeling Donald Trump bizarrely told supporters on Friday night that “nobody really knows” his opponent’s last name.

The reclusive former president emerged from hiding at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate and flew — with a slight mechanical interruption — to a rally in Bozeman, Montana, in support of Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, who is looking to unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester.

On stage, Trump reeled through his standard list of grievances and disparaging remarks about America, adding some new material for the crowd.

“Kamala Harris. You know it’s interesting nobody really knows her last name,” he said.

“If you ask people, do you know what her last name is, nobody has any idea what it is,” continued the former president. “Harris. It’s like Harris.”

“I don’t know, how the hell did this happen?” he added, segueing into talking about Joe Biden exiting the presidential race.

The remarks come as Trump appears to be struggling to nail down a successful line of attack against the vice president as her rising popularity alongside her chosen running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has reversed polling trends in key battleground states.

Harris has benefitted nationally from a burst of enthusiasm among core Democratic constituencies, who coalesced quickly around her after President Biden withdrew from the campaign last month.

To Trump’s reported dismay, she has drawn big crowds this week alongside Walz in a tour of swing states that will likely decide the outcome of the election.

The former president has an obsession with crowd size as was evident at Thursday’s news conference when he falsely claimed to have had a larger crowd in Washington, DC, than Martin Luther King Jr.

In contrast to her packed schedule, Trump has remained at home claiming he has been recording campaign videos, with the press conference and Bozeman rally his only public events.

Trump kicked off his Montana rally about 90 minutes behind schedule and tried workshopping a nickname for his new rival for the White House: “We’re going to evict crazy Kamala.”

Facing new pressure in the race from a candidate with surging enthusiasm, the former president on Thursday called questions about his lack of swing state stops “stupid.”

“I don’t have to go there because I’m leading those states,” he said. “I’m going because I want to help senators and congressmen get elected.”

Trump won Montana by 16 points in the 2020 election and Republicans hope that his name will help unseat Tester and contribute to the party retaking the Senate from Democrats.

The former president will add on fundraising stops in Wyoming and Colorado during his trip to the Western states. On Saturday morning, the public events page of his website reads: “No events scheduled.”

After drawing a crowd of more than 15,000 in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday night, Harris and Walz have a rally scheduled for Las Vegas and another campaign event in San Francisco.

With additional reporting from the Associated Press