Former Trump aide warns ‘DEI’ attacks on Harris will alienate voters

Peter Navarro, who was recently released from prison, cautioned that Republicans’ smears about Harris’ race could backfire with voters

Former Donald Trump White House official Peter Navarro warned that firing personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris is not a winning strategy for the former president.

Harris has faced relentless racist and sexist attacks from Republicans in the few weeks that she has run for president — but Navarro cautioned that such comments will backfire.

The former Trump trade adviser insisted in his Tuesday Substack column that in order to defeat Kamala Harris in November, Trump must “beat her with the policy stick, not gratuitous personal attacks.”

“Republican politicians, TV commentators, and radio talk show hosts who play the Willie Brown card, ridicule the infamous Harris cackle, or demean Harris as a DEI hire will only advance the Harris strategy,” Navarro wrote. “Such personal attacks build a misplaced sympathy for Harris, particularly when the invective comes from men – like it or not, it’s a Mars vs. Venus world.”

To attract “swing women voters” and independents, he advised “the best Republican strategy is to run hard on the Trump policy agenda,” referring to the economy, the border crisis, and foreign policy.

Navarro speaks at the Republican National Convention. He warned that personal attacks against Harris are unlikely to help Trump win in November (Getty Images)

Navarro’s opinion comes less than a week after the former president questioned Harris’ race at a National Association of Black Journalists conference.

“I didn’t know she was Black,” Trump said. “She happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

In short, she is both. Harris’ mother was from India and her father is from Jamaica.

Before Trump’s remarks, some in his party have called her a “DEI hire,” which stands for “diversity, equity and inclusion,” and others have called her “colored.”

Others still have made sexist remarks, like suggesting Harris had ascended to power by sleeping her way to the top

Harris has also faced a barrage of comments about her intelligence — including from her Republican rival who has claimed that she has a “low IQ” and called her “dumb as a rock.”

Navarro’s comments also come as GOP strategists and prominent Republicans fear that Trump is suffering a “public nervous breakdown” as he slips behind Harris in the polls.

Navarro was released in July from a four-month prison sentence. He was charged with two counts of contempt of Congress after defying subpoenas for his testimony before the January 6 House panel’s probe into the events surrounding the Capitol attack.