A pair of Christian students trolled by Kamala Harris and mercilessly mocked by the crowd at her rally at the University of Wisconsin-La Cross last week insist they were “there for the right reasons.”
Grant Beth and Luke Polaske, both juniors at the school, told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that they felt persecuted akin to Jesus and his early followers after they shouted such things as, “Christ is king!” when the Democratic vice president-turned-presidential candidate started talking about abortion rights.
One of them said Harris even sarcastically waved to him and gave him “an evil smirk” as he held up the cross around his neck and pointed to her while being booted with his pal.
“I was pushed by an elderly woman. We were heckled at, we were cursed at, we were mocked, and that’s the biggest thing for me personally,” Beth said. “In reflection of the event, Jesus was mocked. You know, his disciples were mocked, and that’s OK.
“In reality, we did God’s work, and we were there for the right reasons, and God is watching us in this moment,” he said. “I’m all about being a cordial person no matter your beliefs, but I do believe that we were sent there by God.”
The pair were shouting, “Christ is King!” and “Jesus is Lord!” while getting shoved by some of the rally-goers.
Eventually, Harris, 60, paused her speech and trolled them.
“You guys are at the wrong rally,” she needled to raucous applause from the crowd. “I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.”
The moment went viral on social media.
Harris’ speech at centered in part around the economy and other developments of the 2024 campaign cycle. At one point, she briefly opined on abortion and ripped into her GOP foe, former President Donald Trump, for nominating three of the US Supreme Court justices who helped overturn related protections first put into law by Roe v. Wade.
“When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as president of the United States, I will proudly, proudly sign it into law,” Harris vowed.
Polaske said the duo were roughly 20 to 30 yards away from where Harris was standing at the event at the time — and described her as giving “an evil smirk” to him at one point.
“She was actually waving to me. I took this cross off my neck that I wear, and as we were getting asked to leave, I held it up in the air and waved at her and pointed at her, and she looked directly in the eye, kind of gave me an evil smirk,” he recounted.
“I just want to clear that up and confirm that she 100% was talking to us,” he added about the online controversy that the vice president wasn’t speaking with them.
Beth contended that if Harris prevails against Trump Nov. 5, she will be adversarial to Christians.
“This is what you are going to get with a Kamala Harris presidency,” he argued. “You are going to get the Kamala Harris that alienates over 50% of the US population that is Christian. You’re going to get the Kamala Harris that skips the Al Smith Memorial Dinner.”
Harris opted against attending the Al Smith Memorial Dinner, a famous annual Catholic charity event in Manhattan, last week and sent a prerecorded video skit instead. The dinner has been attended by presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle for more than four decades.
Instead, Harris campaigned earlier in the day at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The vice president grew up in an interfaith house and had gone to both a Hindu temple and a Baptist church while coming of age. She has long been a parishioner at the Rev. Amos Brown’s Third Baptist Church. He was reportedly one of the first calls Harris made after President Biden dropped out of the race, paving the way for her run.
On Sunday, during her birthday, Harris spoke at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, roughly a half-hour drive from Atlanta, Ga.
The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to a Post request for comment Sunday.
