OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance offered a totally different response to a rallygoer who shouted, “Jesus is king” at a campaign event on Monday in Waukesha, Wis., than what the Democratic nominee said to pro-lifers who shouted the same thing at one of her events last week.
During a speech promoting abortion at a rally the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Harris told the crowd, “We’re not gonna be gaslighted on this. We remember, Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court, with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did as he intended.”
For the record, Trump never said that his three high court appointments — Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — were nominated to undo the pivotal and controversial 1973 ruling that overturned all abortion restrictions in every state.
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe did not ban the procedure but rather sent the issue back to the states for them to decide, as was the case prior to 1973.
At Harris’ event, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students Luke Polaske and Grant Beth, who are pro-life, shouted in response to Harris’ Thursday rally abortion remarks, “Jesus is Lord!” and “Christ is King!”
Rather than acknowledge that people can and do have differences of opinion on the issue, Harris mockingly responded, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally. No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the “crowd erupted into cheers and applause as the protesters were shown toward the door.”
By comparison, during a campaign event Sunday Sunday in the Badger State, Vance addressed Harris’ response: “I say this as a Christian, as a person who was baptized for the first time just a few years ago. There is something really bizarre with Kamala Harris’ anti-Christian rhetoric and anti-Christian approach to public policy.”
As he continued to speak, someone in the crowd shouted, “Jesus is King!”
Vance responded to roars from the crowd: “That’s right. Jesus is King.”
WATCH:
Attendee at a JD Vance rally just yelled, “JESUS IS KING!”
Vance’s response: “That’s right. Jesus is King.”
🙏✝️ pic.twitter.com/hecwYBvOWB
— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) October 20, 2024
“I don’t think that we’ve seen anything like this in modern American politics,” Vance continued, regarding Harris’ hostility toward Christian Americans.
“Gretchen Whitmer does this really bizarre thing where she acts like she’s given somebody communion, but it’s a Dorito. And of course, Gretchen Whitmer isn’t like a minister of anything except for, you know, a church I don’t necessarily want to talk about, but think about how sacrilegious that is and think about how offensive that is to every person,” the Ohio senator continued.
Earlier this month, the Michigan governor, who is a co-chair of Harris’ campaign, wore a Harris/Walz ball cap while pretending to administer a Dorito chip, resembling a mock Eucharist.
“Frankly, whether you’re a person of Christian faith or not, Donald Trump and I are going to fight for your right to live your values, because that’s what the First Amendment protects,” Vance pledged.
Harris also opted out of the Al Smith Catholic charity dinner in New York last week, an event traditionally attended by presidential candidates from both parties. The last Democratic nominee to miss the dinner was former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984, a decision that coincided with his loss of 49 states to Republican Ronald Reagan in that year’s election.
Trump addressed her decision to instead send a “cringe video” featuring Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon reprising her role in the 1989 film “Superstar,” which the former president deemed “anti-Catholic.”
