US elections: Trump looks to crash Harris’ party and take back spotlight

The frantically arranged week belies Trump’s concerns that he’s lost the ability to drive the news cycle as he did when President Joe Biden, 81, was still running for reelection.

“Trump has come to grips with the fact that he is in a different race,” said former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a close ally. “He wants more energy. He wants different ideas.”

His campaign took the spotlight battle directly to the Democratic National Convention, holding daily press conferences on the economy, national security and immigration in the Trump Hotel in Chicago, just a few miles away from the arena where Harris formally accepted her party’s nomination as the first Black woman and the first Asian-American at the top of the ticket.

“President Donald J. Trump spent every moment this week highlighting the issues at the heart of Americans while Kamala Harris spent the week avoiding her own DNC and refusing to answer questions on her far-left views like getting rid of cash bail,” campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said.

Following the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, Trump’s team was riding high, fresh off Trump surviving an assassination attempt and with Democrats embroiled in an internal battle over whether to force Biden out of the race. Victory seemed all but assured. Even superstitious staffers discussed the jobs they’d like to fill in a second Trump White House. 

Strategy shift

 

Harris’ entrance into the presidential race a month ago upended the Trump campaign’s strategy, which was centered on attacking Biden’s age and handling of the economy. Harris, 59, has dedicated far more time than Biden did to large-scale energetic campaign stops. And she’s worked to separate herself from the president’s economic record, tarnished in the minds of many voters by high grocery and housing costs.

Frustrated about the state of the race, Trump, 78, has added several senior aides to the campaign ranks, including Corey Lewandowski, his first campaign manager from 2016, who coined the phrase “let Trump be Trump.” He also hired Taylor Budowich, who most recently ran a pro-Trump super political action committee, and Tim Murtaugh, a former spokesperson on his 2020 campaign. 

Lewandowski will operate at the same level as campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, according to a campaign official, both of whom are expected to stay in their roles. He will not oversee personnel or campaign spending, but he will be involved in strategy, another ally said. Lewandowski traveled with Trump last weekend to Pennsylvania, foreshadowing that he will enjoy close proximity to the former president.  

The addition of new staff at the top level could bring more chaos to a campaign that has benefited from little in-fighting among staff. Trump prefers a decentralized power structure around him, former aides say, even if it often leads to jockeying within his inner circle.

“Sometimes, if you are getting things to reshape, a little bit of drama is good,” Gingrich added.

Trump himself, in a post on Truth Social, insisted that “The Enthusiasm is GREAT, and the Management Team, headed up by Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, is THE BEST. Many people want to join the Campaign for the final push.”

Defining moment

 

Yet his attacks about her shying away from reporters, along with a sense that her campaign has not put out detailed enough policy plans, are starting to stick.

Trump is not heeding his staff’s advice that he stick to bashing Harris on the economy, inflation and immigration — policy areas where polling shows he has a clear advantage over his rival. At rallies this week he’s told crowds they’re pleading with him to avoid calling Harris names because she’s a woman and to tone down the personal attacks. Trump joked at a rally Wednesday that he’d fire his campaign staff after crowds cheered that he should continue with the insults.

Expanding map

 

Harris has found ways to needle Trump this week, holding a rally with her running mate Tim Walz in Milwaukee in the same arena Republicans held their convention last month, an effort to taunt Trump over their ability to draw large crowds. The DNC has also drawn larger television audiences than the RNC, according to Nielsen data — a blow to the former president, who often boasts about the size of his audience.

Harris’ entry in the race revived what was a largely unenthusiastic Democratic Party with Biden the expected nominee. Her candidacy has changed the electoral map, too, putting back into play swing states that the Trump campaign thought they would easily win, including Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

With Biden, “it was blue wall or bust,” said Chauncey McLean, president of Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Democrats, referring to the Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania group of states. 

“It’s pretty white-knuckle driving to only have one path,” McLean said, adding that Democrats are now “ecstatic” because they have multiple ways to win in November.

Trump’s mood has improved as he’s been campaigning more and advisers privately say that the Harris honeymoon will end by Labour Day in early September.

“When you ask voters whether they’d rather return to the Trump economy, or stay with the Biden economy, we win that two-to-one,” Trump’s top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, said in mid-August at a briefing with reporters in Palm Beach, Florida. “The fundamentals of the race have not changed.”

First Published: Aug 24 2024 | 8:53 AM IST