Slipping within the polls, Donald Trump agreed Thursday to a September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and upped the stress on his Democratic opponent to reply questions from the media.
“She’s barely competent,” Trump stated of the vice chairman at a information convention at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Seaside, Fla., property. “She’s not good sufficient to do a information convention.”
In a rambling 65-minute alternate with reporters, the previous president lobbed a string of insults at Harris, repeated wild and deceptive claims and portrayed the U.S. in stark, apocalyptic phrases: “We may actually be on the throes of the Despair,” he stated. “We’re in nice hazard of being in World Battle III.”
Trump accused Harris of destroying California and San Francisco. “Every thing she’s touched,” he stated, “has turned to unhealthy issues.”
The GOP nominee — who has lengthy engaged in a contentious relationship with mainstream media retailers he dubs “faux information” — challenged reporters to do a extra thorough job of interrogating Harris.
“I simply hope that the media turns into extra diligent, extra sincere, frankly — as a result of in the event that they’re not going to be sincere, it’s going to be a lot more durable to carry our nation again,” Trump stated. “We’ve got a really, very sick nation proper now.”
As Trump answered questions from reporters, ABC confirmed on the social media web site X that the 2 presidential candidates have agreed to a debate subsequent month. Trump advised reporters he was additionally prepared to take part in extra September debates with Fox Information and NBC.
In response, Harris stated on X: “I hear that Donald Trump has lastly dedicated to debating me on September 10. I look ahead to it.”
After a marketing campaign rally in Michigan, Harris advised the press pool Thursday afternoon that she was prepared for a sit-down interview. “I would like us to get an interview scheduled earlier than the tip of the month,” she stated.
Trump relied on many acquainted GOP speaking factors as he forged Harris as a “radical leftist” and a “loser” who’s weak on crime and the border. He questioned the style during which she had grow to be the Democratic nominee after Biden stepped down, noting that in 2019 she dropped out early within the 2020 presidential main.
“She was the primary loser,” he stated of Harris, who bowed out in 2019 after former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania and former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. “The truth that you will get no votes, lose within the main system … after which be picked to run for president appears to be really unconstitutional.”
In criticizing Harris’ intelligence, Trump made the deceptive declare that she “couldn’t move her bar examination.” Harris failed California’s bar examination on her first try in 1989, however handed in 1990, a 12 months after her commencement.
“No person was killed on Jan. 6,” he stated. In actual fact, a number of folks died within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, together with a Trump supporter who was fatally shot by the Capitol Police.
“We’re main Georgia by rather a lot,” he stated the identical day that the non-partisan Cook dinner Political Report shifted its scores for Georgia, Arizona and Nevada from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up.”
Because the race turns into extra aggressive — Democrats are seeing a swell of grassroots enthusiasm and polls present Harris gaining floor — Trump advised reporters his technique had not modified.
“I haven’t recalibrated technique in any respect,” Trump stated. “It’s the identical insurance policies: open borders, weak on crime.”
Requested about abortion, he stated it was “a lot much less of a problem” within the marketing campaign.
Harris, he stated, was “worse than Biden.” He in contrast her unfavorably to his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton: “By way of intelligence, “ Trump stated, “Hillary was far superior.”
Former President Trump speaks to reporters throughout Thursday’s information convention at Mar-a-Lago.
(Alex Brandon / Related Press)
After the information convention, the Harris marketing campaign delivered a withering overview to reporters in an e mail titled: “Donald Trump’s Very Good, Very Regular Press Convention.”
Their subheading: “Break up Display screen: Pleasure and Freedom vs. Regardless of the Hell That Was.”
“Donald Trump took a break from taking a break to placed on some pants and host a p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ public meltdown,” the Harris marketing campaign wrote earlier than operating by way of an extended record of his false claims. “He hasn’t campaigned all week. He isn’t going to a single swing state this week. However he positive is mad Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are getting huge crowds throughout the battlegrounds.”
The previous president’s marketing campaign momentum has lagged since President Biden abruptly ended his presidential re-election marketing campaign and endorsed Harris. Nationwide polling exhibits Trump’s lead amongst possible voters falling away in essential battleground states as Harris has dominated information protection over the past week, formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination and naming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her operating mate.
On Thursday morning, Trump tried push again, assailing Harris on Fact Social for failing to interact with the media and arguing her insurance policies on immigration, the atmosphere, LGBTQ+ points and the Center East have been “CATASTROPHIC.”
“Kamala refuses to do interviews as a result of her group realizes she is unable to reply questions, very like Biden was not in a position to reply questions, however for various causes,” Trump wrote. “He’s simply plain ‘shot,’ and he or she is simply plain ‘Incompetent.’
“If she is Elected, our County, and certainly the World, will endure a 1929 Fashion Nice Despair,” Trump added.
Harris — who secured the Democratic nomination with out the scrutiny of a public main marketing campaign or debate — has not engaged in any substantial on-the-record interviews with reporters within the 18 days since Biden withdrew.
Over the past week, the vice chairman has cris-crossed the nation, delivering barely totally different variations of the identical stump speech in battleground states similar to Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Final week, she responded briefly to a query from the media as she and Biden welcomed American prisoners residence from Russia.
Trump vowed on social media Thursday to “expose” the vice chairman “the identical means I uncovered Crooked Joe, Hillary, and everybody else throughout Debates – Solely I believe Kamala shall be simpler!”
Over the previous couple of days, Trump has posted a flurry of false claims and fanciful hypothesis on social media. On Tuesday, he claimed that Biden would present up on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago and try to reclaim the nomination from Harris. “He feels that he made a traditionally tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency, a COUP, to the folks within the World he most hates, and he needs it again, NOW!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump additionally asserted Thursday with out proof that journalists under-report the dimensions of the crowds at his rallies.
Simply weeks in the past, Trump was seen by many political observers as unassailable after he survived a July 13 assassination try at a rally, leaping up and hoisting his fist within the air.
However over the past two weeks, he has invited a string of destructive publicity. On July 31, he engaged in a hostile back-and-forth with Black journalists in Chicago, drawing outrage for falsely accusing Harris of shifting the best way she talked about her racial identification.
On Saturday, Trump drew criticism from fellow Republicans after choosing a battle at an Atlanta rally with fashionable GOP determine, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, blaming Kemp for his 2020 loss to Biden.
“He’s a nasty man. He’s a disloyal man. And he’s a really common governor,” Trump stated of Kemp, who received reelection towards Stacey Abrams in 2022 by 7.5 proportion factors.
GOP strategists have characterised the current uptick in Democratic enthusiasm as a fleeting “Harris honeymoon.” However polls present Harris gaining floor on Trump nationally and in a number of essential battleground states.
State polling averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight.com present important motion in the direction of Harris within the “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from July 21, when Trump was main by 2 to 4 factors. Harris now has a slight lead, inside the margin of error, in these states of 0.7 to 1.6 factors.
“Three weeks in the past, Donald Trump was main President Joe Biden within the Cook dinner Political Report nationwide vote tracker by about 2.5%,” Amy Walter, Cook dinner’s editor in chief, wrote Thursday. “At the moment, Kamala Harris leads Trump by lower than one level, a shift of greater than three factors in Harris’ route.”
