Pressure is mounting on Donald Trump to drop his racially biased, off-message criticism of Kamala Harris and accelerate his return to the campaign trail to talk about the issues at stake as the Republican nominee tries to navigate a new state of play in the country. presidential race.
Some of the comments were private, according to four sources briefed on the discussions, with lawmakers, donors and informal outside advisers asking Trump and top campaign aides to stick directly to the issues and stop attacks based on race or identity.
“If we can effectively put Biden’s record on him, it will go back to where it was,” said an outside consultant familiar with the dynamics of the race but not authorized to speak publicly. “Everyone knows what to do.”
Trump’s allies agreed that winning will require an “all of the above” strategy, one that includes a faster pace and the discipline of messaging he has wavered in recent weeks.
“He did it in 2016 and it’s close in 2020,” the outside counsel said. “He has the ability to send a positive message when he goes to these states. Look, it’s simple, compare his message with his message.”
The hope is that Trump will change his focus in a few days questioned Harris’s racial identity In an interview at a conference for black journalists, he floated baseless conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and criticized Brian Kemp, the popular Republican governor of Georgia, a key state where Trump’s campaign has boosted ad buys.
Trump’s staff has been working to identify what it sees as incremental wins over time to persuade him to change his message — refusing to air the comments, placating critics of Harris’ racial identity and showing the resulting bad press. Trump’s campaign told NBC News about it.
Trump’s allies are also publicly suggesting that he focus on the race. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., He went to Fox News During a program watched by Trump on Monday, he urged him to stop questioning the size of Harris’ crowd and instead examine his positions on the border, crime and inflation.
“You only have a short time to do this, so don’t sit back. Get out there and start making a case,” McCarthy said.
Trump campaigned for Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in Bozeman on Friday and held just one campaign rally this week in Asheville, North Carolina — a state he won in 2020 and 2016 and considered on the verge of becoming a swing state. Trump has an additional swing state event announced in Pennsylvania.
“You always have to evaluate the state of the race, and I would like to see more insults from the Trump campaign. Trump, man, is the campaign’s best asset. Put it in there,” said Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor who supports Trump. “I’d like to see the gloves come off in a full-throated campaign for Trump right after the Democratic convention closes.”
At a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home last week, Trump said he was not campaigning because he was leading the race — even though recent polls found Harris closing his lead over Biden. Trump defended his pace, saying he was “very competitive” and called the question “stupid.” He also attacked Harris as “evil” and went back on a diatribe over her racial identity.
Trump has argued that he is not ready to consider Harris’ agenda. “He doesn’t want to do interviews and the number 1 reason he doesn’t is his politics are very bad,” he said.
It’s that sentiment that prompted Trump’s shift in thinking when he said he would appear on the network to confront Harris on Thursday, after vowing to walk out of the ABC News debate. According to a source familiar with the comments, Trump has privately told allies that if Harris rejects other counteroffers, he has no choice but to attend the ABC News debate because he “needs to get him to talk.”
Campaign advisers briefed reporters and assured Trump that the fundamentals of the race had not changed, and Trump’s political director It led to X sharing a detailed account of the operation’s ground game. A recent CNBC national poll found Trump and Harris tied — a sign that his upward trajectory is at least slowing.
Any reprieve enjoyed by Democrats will not last long, Trump said at Mar-a-Lago: “The honeymoon period will be over.”
Some of Trump’s allies believe he can make a stronger case against Harris than he could against Biden, including new ads against Harris to paint him as a “dangerous liberal.”
“We could not put Biden in the extremist box. Harris will be an easier opponent in this respect,” the consultant said.
Harris has been riding high since replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee, and last month he raised a record amount of money. In the battleground states last week, Harris and his new running mate were greeted by throngs of supporters at every stop.
Harris has also been aggressively trying to position herself on issues that mattered to voters before Trump and the Republicans, including rally in Las Vegas on Saturdaywhere he went as far as endorsing an idea Trump had pushed, repealing taxes on tips.
The move comes after Harris delivered a tough message on immigration in Arizona the day before. it seemed incense Trump and his campaign, who accused him “imaging” their position to voters. “It was TRUMP’s idea – He has no idea, he can only steal from me” Trump wrgrass About Truth Social.
Harris also releases a new one 30 second spot He focused on border security, promising to “hire thousands more border agents.”
Trump and his campaign have been eager to show that Harris has surpassed him in other ways, noting that he has yet to sit down for an interview with reporters since taking over the Democratic nomination. They also argue that once voters are fully informed about his positions and history, the tide will turn on Harris.
“President Trump is gaining ground and leading in battleground states as the Harris-Biden policies of record high inflation, wide open borders and wars around the world are failing and hurting Americans of all backgrounds and working families want to return to this country. Days of no inflation, no secure borders, no cheap gas and no world peace under President Trump,” said Carolyn Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign. “As more voters realize how weak, failed and dangerously liberal Kamala Harris is, President Trump’s chances in these battleground states will only improve.”
The race to determine Harris and Walz is poised to explode in the coming weeks, with a pro-Trump super PAC launching a $100 million ad campaign ahead of Labor Day. Ads airing in seven major states over the next three weeks will focus on portraying Harris as a “radical extremist who favors criminals over victims, illegal immigrants over American citizens, and inflationary policies over jobs for American families.” a new memo MAGA Inc. from strategists David Lee and Chris Grant. Politics reported first plan.
MAGA Inc. It adds ad reservations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina and expands previously announced acquisitions in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. This is what James Blair, Trump’s political director, said in an appearance on Real America’s Voice last week. it’s a state-to-state race.
But Republicans see an opportunity for Trump to recapture the enthusiasm of the past few weeks, including the prospect of focusing on Harris’ record. “There’s so much going on that we don’t have enough commercial time,” said the unofficial adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person did not want to go ahead with the campaign.