Former President Trump said he was better looking than Vice President Harris, continuing to personally attack his Democratic opponent.

“I’m much prettier than her. I’m a better-looking person than Kamala,” former US President Donald Trump told a crowd at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on August 17, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump made the statement in response to the recent Time magazine cover featuring Harris, which used a drawing instead of a photo. “Time didn’t take a picture of her, they had an artist draw her. They took a lot of pictures that didn’t work, so they hired an artist to do a portrait,” Trump said.

Mr. Trump speaks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on August 17. Photo: AP

This is the second time Mr. Trump has attacked Ms. Harris’s portrait published on the cover of Time magazine on August 12. In an interview with billionaire Elon Musk the same day, he said Ms. Harris has been “pampered” by the media since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate.

“The Time magazine picture of her makes her look like the most beautiful actress alive,” Trump complained to Musk. “She looks like our wonderful first lady Melania. Melania doesn’t look anything like Kamala, of course she’s a beautiful woman, so we’re not going to discuss it.”

During the rally in Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Trump also attacked President Joe Biden, mentioning that the White House owner withdrew from the November election and let Ms. Harris become the Democratic candidate.

“What happened to Biden? I ran against Biden and now I’m running against somebody else. I said, who am I running against? Harris? Who is that?”, Mr. Trump said.

Joseph Costello, a spokesman for Ms Harris’ campaign, disputed the former president’s statement, saying he “held a new rally but used the same old tricks”.

Image of Ms. Harris on the cover of Time magazine on August 12. Photo: Time

“Donald Trump cannot lie about his dangerous Project 2025 agenda, which would raise taxes on working families by $3,900, end the Affordable Care Act, and strip away our freedoms. So he resorts to lies, smears, and attacks,” Costello said.

Pennsylvania is one of the key battleground states in the US presidential election. In 2016, Mr. Trump won this state by a narrow margin, but lost Pennsylvania in 2020. The latest poll from Hill and Decision Desk HQ shows that Ms. Harris’s support rate is higher than Mr. Trump’s in Pennsylvania.