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Donald Trump has reportedly claimed that he can’t stop himself from personally attacking Kamala Harris because he harbors so much animosity toward her.
The former president has been repeatedly advised by his campaign team to focus on core issues like the economy and immigration rather than smears directed at Harris, which data shows deters undecided voters.
But Trump, 78, admitted to two people how much “animosity” he feels toward Harris, 59, and his other rivals, according to the New York Times.
He has come under fire in recent weeks for his racist comments about Ms Harris’ dual heritage, claiming that Harris had only “accidentally turned black” in recent years and that she frequently mispronounced her name.
He made similar personal attacks against his 2016 opponents, calling Hillary Clinton a “fraud” and his Republican opponents “low energy,” “liars” and “bird brains.”
Campaign strategists and allies, including GOP megadonor Steve Wynn, have called on the Republican nominee to show more restraint as Trump lags behind Harris in most swing states.
Wynn, a casino mogul who has known Trump for years, recently shared a private survey he conducted with Trump that found independent voters wanted a candidate who stuck to substantive policy issues, the New York Times reported.
With the race nearly tied between Harris and Trump, the next occupant of the White House will likely be determined by independent voters in several swing states.
Trump this week responded to Michelle Obama’s and Barack Obama’s harsh statements at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), suggesting that he was having difficulty following the advice of his campaign team.
The former president and first lady have repeatedly mocked Trump, who succeeded them to the White House in 2017, in prime-time televised speeches, a marked departure from their previous calls for Democrats to avoid denigrating their opponents.
Mrs Obama accused Trump of “ugly, misogynist, racist lies” while her husband mocked Trump for allegedly having “a strange obsession with crowd size” and made a crudely suggestive hand gesture.
Trump hit back at the couple for “making sarcastic remarks” at him during a rally, arguing that this justified his own behavior during the campaign.
“Do I still need to stick to politics?” he asked, echoing the warnings his campaign advisers had given him.
His campaign team has been preparing a series of events over the past week to undermine the Democrats’ four-day convention in Chicago, including a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to discuss immigration issues.
Vehemence
But insiders said some of those efforts have been hampered by Trump’s impromptu remarks at rallies and posts on social media platforms.
The fervor reached its peak on Thursday, when Harris delivered the closing speech at the convention.
Trump responded to the 35-minute speech, which was broadcast in real time on Truth Social, accusing Harris of “lying” and “just talking, doing nothing.”
He later called Fox News to air his complaint, but was unceremoniously cut off by the right-wing cable channel 10 minutes into his lengthy speech.
Harris’ campaign was revived by a party convention where party leaders and celebrities took to the stage to boost enthusiasm for the 59-year-old frontrunner, just a month after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.
It won the ratings battle against the Republicans’ own convention in Milwaukee last month, averaging 21.8 million viewers over four days, according to media data firm Neilsen.
The numbers beat the average television audience for the Republican national convention — 19.1 million — by 15%. It’s unclear how many people watched both conventions online.
The biggest TV viewership for either convention was the acceptance speeches of the party’s candidates. Trump’s speech, delivered just days after the assassination attempt, drew 28.4 million viewers. Harris narrowly beat that figure, drawing 28.9 million.
Survey jump
Harris and running mate Tim Walz hope to keep the momentum going by holding a bus tour of the hotly contested state of Georgia in the coming days.
Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio said the team expects the vice president to get another “small” but “temporary” boost of two to three points in post-convention polls, which is a common occurrence.
But he noted that Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis had a 17-point lead over George H. W. Bush after that year’s DNC in 1988, while Hillary Clinton had a seven-point lead over Trump after the 2016 convention. “We all know how these things turn out. These ups and downs don’t last long,” Mr. Fabrizio said.
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