MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said JD Vance was 'upset' and called Kamala Harris 'trash'

JD Vance's closing argument that the first female vice president in US history is “trash” doesn't quite land as he planned.

The Republican vice presidential nominee faced harsh and brutal criticism after telling a crowd in Atlanta on Monday night, “We're going to take out the trash in Washington, DC, and the trash's name is Kamala Harris.”

“Oh, oh, oh, JD Vance. “You just did a performance that I've never seen in my political life, and I worked for Sarah Palin,” MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said during a panel discussion with Tim Miller of “Bullwark” and actress Rosie Perez.

Wallace, a former Republican communications director, was so shocked that she had producers play Vance's clip a second and then a third time.

“In my humble opinion, the lights are going out,” she said. “Women. You can disagree with us. We've actually learned to use it in every form throughout our careers. But you call us trash?”

“It’s a complement to the childless cat lady thing,” said panelist Miller.

Shortly after Vance was nominated as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate in July, a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson came to light in which the Republican vice presidential nominee said the country was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable.” Their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and that’s why they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”

That interview “ignited a firestorm that reminded women — and men — why they hated Trump in the first place,” Miller said, adding that the “trash” comment had a similar effect.

During MSNBC Morning Joe On Tuesday, the guests continued to be in disbelief.

“This guy’s judgment is so flawed,” said former Sen. Claire McCaskill, pointing out that Republicans are already struggling to reach female voters. The “garbage” comment probably won’t help, she said.

“What’s wrong with this guy?” agreed Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. “He’s supposed to be smart! He wrote a book.”

Trump and his supporters have been fixated on “trash” imagery since comedian Tony Hinchcliffe opened the former president's Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27 with a firestorm of racist jokes, including calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”

In response, President Joe Biden tried to defend Puerto Ricans, and MAGA land jumped back on his garbled wording, accusing the president of calling all Trump supporters trash.

Has Trump since put on a cleaning vest and driven around in a garbage truck to get revenge on Biden, who isn't even the nominee? Megyn Kelly wrapped herself in trash bags; and Vance, as a closing statement, developed workshops on the topic of “Take Out the Trash.”

And yet even C-SPAN, the most neutral and modest political network, couldn't help but point out the Republicans' hypocrisy.

The network, best known for showing politicians strolling through half-empty rooms, posted Vance's clip on X, formerly Twitter, with a lengthy quote that fully summed up the madness.

“The citizens of this country are not trash,” Vance said, before adding 35 seconds later, “The trash’s name is Kamala Harris.”

Find The Daily Beast's coverage of the 2024 election here. Subscribe to The New Abnormal Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, stapler, Amazon Musicor Covered.