Trump attacks Harris over inflation before laughing at her – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Former President Donald Trump tried to link Vice President Kamala Harris to high inflation during President Joe Biden's administration, but then resorted to spontaneous criticism that he said was urged on by his allies.

“Yesterday, Kamala unveiled her so-called economic plan. She says she's going to lower the cost of food and housing from day one. But day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago,” Trump said Saturday at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in the northeast of the state, near Scranton, where Biden was born.

In his 90-minute speech, Trump declared that he looked better than the vice president, but then quickly switched to personal attacks on Harris, the first black woman to run as a presidential candidate for a major party.

“People say be nice. Have you heard them laugh? That's the laugh of a madman. That's the laugh of a lunatic,” he said.

Trump added that his allies had urged him to limit the insults: “'Please, sir, don't call her a lunatic.' But she is.”

That approach has unsettled some Republicans and prompted the former president to focus more on issues like the economy and immigration, which voters say are central to their decision in November and where polls show Trump has the edge.

Judy Benson, 61, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, attended the rally with her 10-year-old grandson – it was her fourth Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre since 2015 – and said she doesn't like Harris' policies. But she said she wished Trump would avoid the personal attacks.

“He really should stop talking about her,” Benson said.

Trump defended his right to insult Harris, claiming the attacks would boost his campaign.

The Republican candidate has struggled to regain his footing in the new race against Harris after the vice president replaced Biden on her party's ticket. Harris has gained in the polls and appears to have expanded the electoral map by bringing into play swing states that Democrats had largely written off under Biden.

To win in Pennsylvania, Trump is trying to shore up his support among white working-class voters and capitalize on dissatisfaction with the Biden administration's handling of the economy. High inflation has hit American households hard and threatens to hurt Harris' campaign.

Economic Agenda

Harris unveiled an economic program earlier this week that would combat the burden of inflation with extensive new subsidies and tax breaks for poor and middle-class Americans. Trump has attacked that program as “communist,” and allies said Harris' initiatives to combat price gouging in grocery stores and provide a $25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers would only fuel inflation.

She will also campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend and is planning a bus tour that will begin in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and their spouses will join her ahead of the Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago, where they will accept their nominations.

Pennsylvania is one state where Harris' arrival has re-aligned the race. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016 – by less than a percentage point – and lost in another close race in 2020, this time by just over a percentage point.

According to RealClearPolitics' average, the race between Harris and Trump in Pennsylvania is dead, even though the Republican candidate had built a lead over Biden in polls in the state before the incumbent president dropped out of the race on July 21.

Biden's hometown

Luzerne County, where Trump held his rally on Saturday, and neighboring Lackawanna County, where Biden once lived in Scranton, are working-class districts that used to be Democratic but have since become more Republican as Trump's populist appeal helps the party gain traction with blue-collar voters. Biden won Lackawanna County in 2020, and although Trump won Luzerne overwhelmingly, his margin was smaller than in 2016.

Luzerne County Democratic Committee Chairman Thom Shubilla said Harris' focus on “kitchen table” issues will help address swing voters' concerns about high prices and the economy in the region and defuse tired attacks from Trump.

“The Trump attack is old news now,” Shubilla said. “We've been hearing the same thing from him for eight years, and it's a show that's been going on for far too long.”

Saturday's rally in Wilkes-Barre was Trump's second in Pennsylvania since an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler in western Pennsylvania.

Trump will also hold an event in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday – the same day that his running mate, Senator JD Vance, is speaking in Philadelphia, the state's most populous city.

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