Democrats at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to welcome Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate chanted “Lock him up!” after she attacked former President Donald Trump.
Karris repeated a portion of the speech she delivered to Democratic campaign headquarters last month.
On that occasion, she said:
As many of you know, before I was elected as Vice President, before I was elected as United States Senator, I was the elected Attorney General as I’ve mentioned to California, and before that I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type, and in this campaign I will proudly, I will proudly put my record against his
On Tuesday, she repeated herself, almost verbatim — and the crowd responded:
HARRIS: Now, many of you know, before I was elected Vice President or elected a United States Senator, I was an elected attorney general, and before that, elected district attorney. [Applause] And before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. [Applause] So in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. [Applause] Predators who abused women. [Boos] Fraudsters who scammed consumers. [Boos] Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. [Boos] So hear me when I say — [applause] — I know Donald Trump’s type.
CROWD: Lock him up! Lock him up!
Harris struggled to regain control. She did not disagree with the crowd, but merely repeated: “Hold on. Hold on.”
Later, the crowd repeated the “Lock him up!” chant when Walz referred vaguely to “crimes” Trump “committed.”
Trump is facing prosecutions at both the state and federal level in what critics say are partisan prosecutions. In Manhattan, where he faces sentencing for fraud next month, Trump was accused of failing to report money paid to Stormy Daniels in a non-disclosure agreement as campaign expenses. (Ironically, during her tenure as California Attorney General, the state Department of Justice paid out $1.1 million in sexual harassment settlements; Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, was recently exposed as having had an affair with the family nanny that broke up his first marriage.)
Many Trump supporters believe that the weaponization of justice is a major reason to support him for president.
In the 2016 election, many crowds at Trump rallies chanted “Lock her up!” in reference to Hillary Clinton and her astonishing ability to dodge criminal prosecution for abusing classified information and government emails.
But when he too office, Trump took a magnanimous approach, preferring not to prosecute the opposition. Democrats have shown no such scruples under President Joe Biden, pursuing Trump and his supporters at every level.
Update: Harris used the “predator” line in 2020 as well:
Source: 2020 Democratic National Convention / YouTube
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.