It didn't take long for the attacks to start. In the wake of Joe Biden's sudden announcement on Sunday, July 21, that he was withdrawing from the presidential campaign in favor of his vice president, Kamala Harris quickly came under fire from JD Vance, the running mate of Republican candidate, Donald Trump, during the Ohio senator's first two campaign speeches since the coup, in his home state and in Virginia.

In these two speeches, Vance not only presented the former senator from California as "a million times worse" than the incumbent president, adding that "She signed up for every single one of Joe Biden's failures, and she lied about his mental capacity to serve as president." He also laid the foundations for a two-pronged trial for illegitimacy.

He started by describing Biden's withdrawal as a tactic. "The idea of selecting the Democrat Party's nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is not how it works. That is a threat to democracy," he declared, citing the name of the billionaire philanthropist regularly stigmatized by the Trumpist base. Addressing Democratic voters, he insisted that their leaders "don't care about [them] because they don't care who [they] voted for."

The Democratic camp insists that Trump, notably because of his stubborn refusal even today to acknowledge his defeat in 2020, represents a threat to American institutions. Criticism of Harris' legitimacy also focuses on her background. "I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business. What the hell have you done, other than collect a check?" asked Vance about Harris, even before Biden's resignation.

The Ohio senator also indirectly attacked the Democrat's patriotism on Monday. "Not everything is perfect. But if you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it. You should feel a sense of gratitude, and I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris," he said.

This attack echoes the one made by Trump during the last presidential campaign, in 2020, when she was chosen as vice president. "I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements. And by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer," he had said during a press conference.

The lawyer in question, John Eastman, whose highly controversial analysis instilled doubt about the running mate's citizenship, subsequently played a major role in contesting the presidential results. He has been called to account for his actions. Harris was born in 1964 in Oakland, California, to an Indian mother and Jamaican father.

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