york, pennsylvania — As Democrats kicked off their convention in Chicago, Donald Trump sought Monday to regain his footing after weeks of adjusting to Vice President Kamala Harris as his rival.
The former president and GOP nominee spoke at a factory in Pennsylvania, the first in a string of stops aimed at undercutting the Democratic celebration. He is holding daily events in battleground states tied to subjects on which Republicans think they hold an advantage, including the economy, crime and safety, national security and the border.
“Kamala Harris is an economy wrecker and a country destroyer,” Trump told factory workers and supporters gathered at Precision Custom Components, a company that makes components for military and nuclear use.
This will be Trump’s busiest week of campaigning since the winter, when he faced a large field of challengers in the Republican primary. And his focus on policy in battleground states reflects the concerns of Trump allies, who have urged him to try to broaden his appeal with swing voters as they grow more nervous about Harris’ competitiveness.
Personal attacks
In the weeks since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, Trump has appeared at times in denial and has launched a series of deeply personal attacks on Harris. He has lied about her crowds by claiming images of them were generated by artificial intelligence, talked about her looks, and played on racist tropes by questioning her racial identity as she runs to become the first woman, the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office.
The outbursts have raised concerns among allies that Trump is damaging his chance in what they believe is a winnable race.
“If you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” echoing others’ concerns.
Graham said he wanted Trump to focus on his plans for the economy and the U.S.-Mexico border. “Policy is the key to the White House,” he said.
Some supporters at his rallies agree with that advice.
“He needs to quit talking about Biden other than Harris piggybacking on those policies,” said Kory Jeno, 53, of Swannanoa, North Carolina, who was waiting to see Trump speak last week in nearby Asheville. “He needs to keep the conversation on the issues and what he’s going to do for Americans instead of running off on tangents where he’s just bashing her and that sort of thing.”
Trump “needs to stop the personal attacks,” said Mary Ray, 75, who advised him to “be discreet when you’re talking.”
Asked whether she was thinking about Trump’s most incendiary personal attacks — calling Harris a “nasty woman” and questioning how she discusses her biracial heritage — Ray furrowed her brow and pursed her lips.
“It hurts him with other voters,” Ray said.
Others have urged him to ramp up his schedule and to pivot away from rallies, where large crowds of his most ardent supporters cheer on his most incendiary rhetoric.
“The big rallies are fine, but I like him when he goes to a restaurant or just talks to anybody off the street,” said Bruce Fields, 70, who works in commercial real estate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “When he is talking to ordinary people, it adds a personal touch.”
Medal message
But even at events billed as policy speeches, Trump often gets sidetracked and undercuts his own message.
The challenge for Republicans was on display last week, when Trump invited reporters to his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, to talk about the economy. As he stood before an assortment of grocery store items, Trump largely stuck to his intended message, talking about rising prices and blaming Biden and Harris for enacting policies that he said had caused them.
But later that night, he gave Democrats new fodder when he hosted an event about antisemitism with billionaire Republican donor Miriam Adelson. He said receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, was “much better” than receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, because recipients of the nation’s highest military honor are often badly injured or dead.
On Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump repeatedly swerved from a message focused on the economy to personal attacks against Harris, including a declaration that he is “much better looking” than she is.
On Monday, he largely stuck to his prepared remarks as he slammed Harris’ approach to the economy and energy and pledged major new investments in power plants and energy infrastructure if he wins, including small nuclear plants.
Still, he veered into the personal, attacking Harris’ father, a Stanford University economics professor born in Jamaica, as a “Marxist,” and calling her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a “whack job.”
“Between his movement and her laugh, there’s a lot of craziness,” he said.
Reset denied
Trump aides deny they are engaged in any kind of effort to reset the campaign, even as they bring in new hires, including veterans of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 runs for the White House.
The former president’s advisers remain bullish about his chances. They insist that Harris and Democrats are caught up in a fleeting moment of excitement with their new nominee and are confident voters will sour on the vice president as they learn more about her past comments and positions.
They intend to spend the race’s final stretch painting her as a liberal extremist and contrasting the candidates’ differing approaches on the economy, crime and immigration.
Some polls show Harris performing better than Biden in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, though most still suggest a tight race.
About half of U.S. adults — 48% — have a very or somewhat favorable view of Harris, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s somewhat better than the 41% of adults who say they have a favorable opinion of Trump.
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