House speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) on Monday criticized Vice President Kamala Harris's ability to stand up to foreign adversaries, saying that Republican nominee Donald Trump is the one "they fear and respect."
"The only person that our adversaries fear less than Joe Biden is Kamala Harris," Johnson told Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade. "Imagine her as the commander in chief of the U.S. military in these dangerous times. This is the most dangerous time since World War II. We cannot afford to do that."
"You've got to have Donald Trump in the White House. He's the one they fear and respect," the House speaker said.
Johnson’s remarks come amid growing voter scrutiny over Harris’s abysmal policy record as Biden's vice president and on the three-year anniversary of the administration's botched Afghanistan withdrawal, during which 13 American service members were killed in a suicide bombing. Harris, who said she was the last person to advise Biden before he ordered the withdrawal, released only a statement on Monday marking the anniversary, while Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery with family members of the victims.
With just over two months until the presidential election, the Democratic nominee has hardly shed light on her vision for the country, even as the Biden-Harris administration grapples with one of the lowest approval ratings in history.
Johnson on Monday accused Harris and other Democratic leaders of "[having] no shame" in gaslighting voters and "engaging in fantasy over fact" at the Democratic National Convention last week.
"You have got to make a decision based on their record and not their rhetoric," Johnson continued. "They're saying things that are patently untrue. They're gaslighting the American people, and they expect that, I guess, that the people are not intelligent enough to figure this out."
"People get it. They're fed up. And I think they're going to make the right decision when they go into the election booth," Johnson said.