IN HIS OWN STATE

Harris Reenacts John McCain’s ‘Thumbs-Down’ Gesture to Slam Trump in Arizona

After recalling the late senator’s vote to save the Affordable Care Act, Harris mocked Trump for having mere “concepts of a plan” regarding health care.

Vice President Kamala Harris praised the late Republican Sen. John McCain’s 2017 vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act during a campaign rally Thursday in his home state of Arizona, throwing in a reenactment of his decisive “thumbs-down” gesture on the Senate floor.

Harris told the Phoenix crowd how she, then a senator, saw Donald Trump’s goal thwarted.

“It was late, late, late in the night. They were trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act again, and it required one more vote to keep it intact, and that was the late, great John McCain, a great American, a war hero,” she said.

“I’ll never forget that night… In the Senate chamber there are these big wooden doors and it was like out of a movie. The wooden doors broke open and John McCain came walking into the United States Senate and said, ‘No, you don’t!’” Harris recalled enthusiastically, giving a thumbs-down.

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The VP, who previously invoked McCain’s vote during last month’s debate against Trump, then took him to task for his widely criticized response to a question on health care during that encounter, when he said that he had the “concepts of a plan.”

“But Donald Trump is trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act still, and here’s the thing: He has no plan to replace it,” she said, as some in the crowd could be heard mimicking Trump’s answer.

“So, remember he’s got ‘concepts of a plan.’ Concepts!” she laughed. “He is an unserious man, and the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”

“He’s basically going to threaten the health insurance of 45 million Americans based on a concept, and take us back then to the time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions?” Harris said, drawing a chorus of boos. “Well, we are not going back.”

McCain’s youngest son, Jimmy McCain, has endorsed Harris—a decision he said was due in part to Trump’s disrespect for fallen soldiers. Harris also has the support of one of John McCain’s former Republican colleagues: the former Arizona senator Jeff Flake.

In her remarks, Harris also commented on Trump’s refusal to debate her again.

“I think it’s a disservice to the voters,” she said, before getting more blunt. “I also think it’s a pretty weak move.”

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