‘I’m entitled to personal attacks’ against Harris, Trump asserts

The Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, holds a news conference outside the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on Aug. 15, 2024 in Bedminster, New Jersey. The food items were props to illustrate his criticisms about the effects of inflation. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday he sees no need to switch the tactics or tone of his bid for the White House now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee instead of President Joe Biden.

Speaking during a press conference at his golf club in New Jersey, the former president began with 45 minutes of comments on a myriad of issues before he took more than a dozen questions from reporters.

Trump argued that there was no need to limit his personal criticism of Harris since there are several criminal trials ongoing against him and because she has called him “weird” several times.

“I think I’m entitled to personal attacks,” Trump said. “I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence. And I think she’ll be a terrible president.”

Numerous Republicans, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who challenged Trump for the nomination though she now says she will vote for him, have called for Trump to focus more on the policy differences between the two political parties, and less on his personal grievances with Harris.

Trump, for example, sought to question Harris’ racial identity during his panel interview at the National Association of Black Journalists late last month.

Trump gave Thursday’s press conference outside and spoke while standing in between two tables of groceries and what appeared to be a large, blue doll house.

He used the props to make a case that prices are too high for American families, laying the blame for inflation at the feet of the Biden-Harris administration and insisting he’s the only person able to get prices back down.

Trump brushed aside his polling numbers in swing states, some of which have him trailing or inside the margin of error, in the match-up with Harris.

“I tend to poll low,” Trump said. “In some cases, really low.”

He also said that if reelected in November he hoped to develop a “friendly” relationship with Iran and to “get along” with China. The GOP has repeatedly criticized Democrats for being too lenient with both countries.

‘Another public meltdown’

The Harris-Walz campaign released a mock advisory for the press conference before it began Thursday, writing in an email that Trump was preparing to “hold another public meltdown in Bedminster, New Jersey.”

“Not so fresh off NABJ, Florida, and Twitter glitches, Donald Trump intends to deliver another self-obsessed rant full of his own personal grievances to distract from his toxic Project 2025 agenda, unpopular running mate, and increasing detachment from the reality of the voters who will decide this election,” the campaign wrote. “These remarks will not be artificial intelligence, but they certainly will lack intelligence.”

Spokesperson James Singer released a written statement afterward that Trump “huffed and puffed his opposition to lowering food costs for middle and working class Americans and prescription drug costs for seniors before pivoting back to his usual lies and delusions.”

Race remains in flux

Despite the new momentum at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket and Trump insisting he’s on track to win, neither candidate yet has a clear path to victory this November, experts say.

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, a nonpartisan publication that analyzes campaigns and rates whether races are leaning toward one political party or the other, has placed six states in its “toss-up” category for the Electoral College.

Arizona’s 11, Georgia’s 16, Michigan’s 15, Nevada’s six, Pennsylvania’s 19 and Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes could go to either Harris or Trump when voting wraps up, according to the political publication’s reporting.

Minnesota, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District and New Hampshire are all rated as leaning toward Harris with a total of 15 votes, while North Carolina and its 16 votes are leaning toward Trump.

All the other states are categorized as “solid” or “likely” going to either Trump or Harris, underlining the close nature of the campaign.

Walter told reporters on a call Thursday that Harris has a chance to sway swing voters during her speech to the Democratic National Convention next week.

“She has an opportunity here in that people are going to be more interested in watching this convention, certainly, than they were a month ago when Biden was on the top of the ticket,” she said. “And it’s an opportunity to speak beyond the Democratic base.”

The prime-time speech will give Harris a forum to address the major criticisms of her presidential run, including that she’s too liberal, isn’t the best person to handle the economy and that she’s weak on immigration policy, Walter said.

Trump and his temperament

Greg Strimple, president of GS Strategy Group, which is partnering with the Cook Political Report on a swing state project looking at voters’ views toward the candidates, said one of the bigger challenges for Trump’s campaign is getting the candidate to stay on message.

“This race has shifted from being a referendum on Biden’s age and economy to being a referendum on Trump and his temperament,” Strimple said on the call. “And despite the fact that Donald Trump is unable to get out of his way at the moment, his campaign is running ads that are right on message.”

If Trump and his campaign aligned to push their belief that Harris is “too liberal, too inexperienced and a continuation of Biden on the economy,” that could help them to regain ground in polling and with voters ahead of Election Day, he said.

“There’s a lot of talk right now about the race being over, and I just kind of caution everyone that there is a path for Trump — it’s just whether he can take it,” Strimple said.

Patrick Toomey, a partner at BSG, which is also part of the swing state project, said on the call that voters shouldn’t rule out ups and downs in support for the candidates in the months ahead, citing potential upheaval from hurricane season or the ongoing wars in the Middle East.

“It’s just worth keeping in mind how many dramatic twists and turns there have been in this race so far,” Toomey said. “And the idea that because we’ve had this reset now things are set and nothing is going to change going forward, would be a mistake.”