Kamala Harris ‘Drinking Problem’ Rumors Are Being Spread by Republicans

As Donald Trump grapples to combat the surge of support for Kamala Harris with a barrage of personal attacks against her, his campaign team appear to be rolling out a new line this week—by alleging that his Democratic rival has a “drinking problem.”

No evidence has been offered up to support the allegations, which are being pushed by Trump’s allies across social media. Trump campaign insider James Blair is thought to be the first person who made the unsubstantiated claims, with a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, and other pro-Trump accounts subsequently repeated the allegations. Newsweek has contacted representatives for both Trump and Harris by email seeking a response to Blair’s comments.

The move by Trump’s camp comes despite fears from fellow Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham, that directing personal attacks against Harris instead of focusing on policy issues may result in him losing the election. But Trump has doubled-down on attacking the vice president personally, by frequently deriding her intelligence and her looks, and even saying that he’s “entitled” to attack her personally. His running-mate, JD Vance, has joined in and famously dismissed Harris as a “childless cat lady.”

The attacks do not seem to be working as well as Trump may have hoped, because Harris is surging ahead in many of the polls. And her running-mate Tim Walz went viral after mocking the Republican attacks by describing Trump and Vance as “weird people.”

Nevertheless, the new angle being pushed by Trump’s team concerns Harris’ drinking habits.

Blair, who is the political director of the Trump 2024 campaign, wrote on X: “A lot of rumors out there about Kamala having a serious drinking problem…apparently coming into focus as campaign heats up.” His post was liked more than 9,000 times and almost 4,000 X users shared it with their own followers. The post has also been viewed 5 million times.

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A lot of rumors out there about Kamala having a serious drinking problem…apparently coming into focus as campaign heats up.

⏳Stay Tuned…

— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) August 18, 2024

Some of those replying to his post pointed out that he had “no evidence” for the allegations, with one commentator replying: “You Republicans really have nothing against Kamala Harris do you?”

But others found Blair’s allegations convincing, with one agreeing her alleged drinking problem was “obvious” and another saying “the signs are there.”

Blair’s claims were subsequently picked up and circulated by many accounts that identified as belonging to the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

One X user shared a clip of Harris stumbling over her words in a speech, with the caption: “OH MY GOSH! It’s all starting to make sense. Kamala Harris is a raging alcoholic because there’s no good explanation for having moments like this on Live TV.”

Trump himself is famously teetotal and has said he decided not to drink after his older brother Fred died aged 42 as a result of alcoholism.

Biden is also teetotal and told reporters it was because he had seen the devastating effects of alcoholism in his own family when he was growing up; he also believes there is a genetic component that subsequently caused his son, Hunter, to struggle with addiction.

But both Harris and Vance are known to enjoy a drink.

Harris is a wine club member of a winery in Alameda, California, according to a 2020 article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Vance has spoken out about addiction in his family and his mother’s struggle toward sobriety, but does drink himself. At an event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, earlier this month, he said voters would enjoy getting a drink with him, because: “I actually do like beer—I probably like to drink beer a little bit too much! But that’s ok, I’m sure the media won’t give me too much crap about that.”