Amidst reports that he has become unglued by having to compete with Kamala Harris for the presidency, Donald Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. And if the goal was to reassure people that (1) he is not at all freaked out by the vice president’s rising poll numbers and (2) he is the best candidate for the White House, he was not exactly successful!
Trump repeatedly insulted Harris’s intelligence, calling her “barely competent,” saying that she “can't do a news conference” because “she’s not smart enough,” and claiming that she’s “not as smart” as Joe Biden. (As a reminder, Trump thinks there were airports during the Revolutionary War and that it’s safe to inject bleach into the body; he’s also been described as an idiot by numerous people who worked for him.)
Trump also claimed he was willing to do three debates with Harris: Sept. 4 with Fox News, Sept. 10 with ABC News, and Sept. 25 with NBC News (the announcement required a clarification from Trump’s campaign regarding the host networks). Both campaigns had agreed to the Sept. 10 debate when President Joe Biden was still the presumptive nominee, but Trump canceled when Harris replaced Biden.
Harris’ campaign hasn’t said whether it’s agreed to all three dates, but Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two on Thursday evening that she was “looking forward” to the Sept. 10 debate, adding: “I hope he shows up.”
Trump recognized some changing patterns with his new opponent, acknowledging he may not be as popular with Black women, one of Democrats’ key voting blocs. He expressed a lot of confidence in his support from Black men.
“It could be I’ll be affected somewhat with Black females but we’re really doing well,” he said. “And I think ultimately they’ll like me better because I’m going to give them security, safety and jobs. I’m going to give them a good economy.”
They argued the fundamentals of the race have not changed and the mood of the country remains sour, with Americans frustrated by the state of the economy, the administration and the country’s directions.
They argued that while Harris has energized the Democratic base — which Biden had not done — she will not be able to win over Republicans or convert independents or the persuadable voters they are focused on targeting.
Trump’s campaign plans to spend the next three months hammering Harris as “failed, weak and dangerously liberal,” blaming her for every one of the the Biden administration’s unpopular policies and mocking her mannerisms and speaking style.
Trump suggested abortion will not be a major issue in the campaign and the outcome in November.
He insisted that the matter “has become much less of an issue” since the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion services and returned control of the matter to state governments. But the issue is widely seen as a general election liability, and Trump named states such as Ohio and Kansas that have since voted to protect abortion rights.
Trump also said he expected Florida “will go in a little more liberal way than people thought” when it votes to repeal an abortion ban later this year, but he did not respond to questions asking how he would vote.
Trump argued that Democrats, Republicans and “everybody” are pleased with the results of the 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Trump’s actions within the GOP, however, suggest he knows that Democrats already have capitalized on Republican opposition to abortion rights and could do so again this fall. Trump single-handedly ensured that the Republican Party platform adopted at the 2024 convention in Milwaukee does not call for a national ban on abortion, and he has said repeatedly that hardliners in the party could cost the GOP in November.
The court’s decision, issued months ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, is widely cited as a reason that Democrats fared much better than expected in House and Senate contests. And Democrats have hammered Trump in paid advertisements blaming him and the justices he appointed for ending Roe.
Donald Trump falsely claimed during the press conference that “nobody was killed on Jan. 6,” the date in 2021 when pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol amid Congress’ effort to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory after Trump refused to concede.
Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego was shot and killed by a police officer as she climbed through a broken part of a Capitol door during the violent riot that breached the building.
To be sure, Trump has often cited Babbitt’s death while lamenting the treatment of those who first attended a rally outside the White House that day, then marched to the Capitol, many of whom fought with police and entered the the building.
“I think those people were treated very badly. When you compare it to other things that took place in this country where a lot of people were killed,” Trump said Thursday, adding “nobody was killed on Jan. 6.”
He also falsely claimed more people attended his speech at a “Stop the Steal” rally before the riot than the famous March on Washington in 1963, the iconic event at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Trump was asked about Biden’s comments in a CBS interview that he was “not confident” there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Trump were to lose.
“He should have brought this up at the debate if he had a problem. Of course there’ll be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time.”
While Biden was inaugurated on schedule, Washington was on lockdown that day, with the streets patrolled by military personnel and domestic police two weeks after Trump’s supporters had attacked the Capitol.
