Shock as Trump says putting Harris in the ring with Mike Tyson ‘would be interesting’
It comes as Trump continues to claim that he is seeing success with female voters, despite making open, and often violent, affronts against Harris and other high profile women including Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As his campaign for president comes to a close Donald Trump has drawn further consternation online among female voters after agreeing that seeing Kamala Harris fight boxing champion Mike Tyson “would be interesting.”
The former president, while waxing lyrical about Tyson in Pennsylvania on Monday night, reacted after hearing a suggestion from a rally-goer that Tyson should be “put in the ring with Kamala.”
“Mike’s been through a lot, but he could fight, let me tell you that guy could fight,” Trump said. “Can you imagine Mike… oh he says ‘put Mike in the ring with Kamala.’ That would be interesting.”
It comes as Trump continues to claim that he is seeing success with female voters, despite making open, and often violent, affronts against Harris and other high profile women including Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney.
Social media users reacted with disbelief to his latest remarks, some comparing the two presidential candidates’ approach to female voters.
One wrote: “Kamala’s Closing Pitch to Women: ‘As a woman, you know that no one will fight harder to defend a woman’s right to her own bodily autonomy and to make decisions about her own health care.’
“Trump’s Closing Pitch to Women: ‘What if we had Mike Tyson brutalize my female opponent.’”
“Closing strong with women. Women love this type of thing,” added another.
Another user wrote in disbelief: “I can’t imagine the cognitive dissonance it takes to sign up to be part of the Women For Trump audience and then LAUGH as this man fantasizes about violence against women.”
Trump has received backlash on multiple occasions in recent weeks stemming from remarks about women. At a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, he declared that he would protect women “whether they like it or not.”
The comments drew many to recall the time, shortly before the 2016 election, when a tape surfaced of the former president bragging about grabbing women’s private parts. But Trump himself has leaned into this.
In at least two campaign rallies in recent days, crowds have laughed with him as he jokes about a recording that captured him saying “grab ‘em by the p****.”
Others referenced Trump’s other outrageous remarks directed towards women. “For someone saying he wants to ‘protect women’ he sure loves fantasizing about them being beaten and shot,” wrote another.
Last week, after joining former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, the former president conjured up a violent fantasy about Liz Cheney facing nine people with rifles and eing shot in the face, describing her as a “war hawk.”
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face,” he said.
On Monday, the day before Election Day, he doubled down on his aggressive rhetoric, describing former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as “crazy as a bed bug” and said his staff had tried to talk him down from launching attacks at Michelle Obama.
“She hit me the other day,” Trump said, referring to remarks made recently by the former First Lady. “I was gonna say to my people, ‘Am I allowed to hit her now?’ They said, ‘Take it easy, sir, sir.’”
The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment on the former president’s remarks about Mike Tyson and Kamala Harris.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments