Trump puts noisy, crude campaign in spotlight, as Harris seeks to turn it against him
“The Republican nominee is closing out his third consecutive White House bid with a loud, ostentatious campaign that has thrust his conduct to the center of a photo-finish battle.
Donald Trump went viral with a carefully staged photo op at McDonalds, an apparent meditation about a golfing legend’s genitalia and crass insults at a charity banquet. He has dominated headlines after issuing dark threats, including deploying the military against the “enemy from within”; repeatedly declined to say he would accept the results of the election; and delivered long, roundabout speeches and an impromptu 39-minute dance session.
Kamala Harris is relying on brief, scripted campaign appearances, more traditional policy blueprints and fewer attention-grabbing moments. In the final stage of the race, Harris is increasing the time and resources she spends showcasing Trump — playing clips of his most incendiary comments at rallies, labeling him “unstable and unhinged” and running ads arguing he is unfit to serve.
Nine years after he rode down a golden escalator to launch his first campaign with a combative speech disparaging Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” Trump is closing out his third consecutive White House bid with a loud, ostentatious campaign that has thrust his conduct to the center of a photo-finish battle for the presidency. He has often overshadowed his rival with gimmicky events, menacing warnings, vulgar insults and false or unsubstantiated claims — leading to a final fortnight that both camps say has positioned them for success.
Trump’s team sees an advantage in being “the king of earned media,” as the former president’s campaign officials put it, using a term political insiders use to quantify attention in the news. But Democrats are betting that the constant exposure will work against Trump. The vice president has been eager to put Trump in the spotlight in her final weeks on the trail, highlighting his comments as evidence he is too dangerous to return to office.
“He’s basically proving at the end of this campaign that if he wants to, he can corner the attention market, and sometimes that’s for good and sometimes it’s for ill,” said Dave Kochel, a Republican consultant and veteran of presidential campaigns.
Harris campaign officials say they believe that allowing more Americans to see Trump will help convince undecided voters that he has become less stable since his presidency. Harris has long called Trump an “unserious man” and increasingly questioned Trump’s temperament, physical stamina and mental stability on the campaign trail.
Her team has recently made concerns prominent Republicans have aired about Trump a central plank of its pitch that he is too extreme. Harris aides say they are working to balance presenting Trump as a punchline and conveying the gravity of some of his remarks.
“There are things that he says that will be the subject of skits and laughter and jokes,” Harris said Monday during a town hall in Pennsylvania. “But words have meaning coming from someone who aspires to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. These are the things that are at stake.”
Many supporters have cheered the ex-president’s unfiltered rhetoric and unorthodox tactics on the campaign trail, which they have said they see as a welcome turn from the carefully calibrated language and events that have long defined many presidential campaign that both parties have run. Trump aides and allies say the former president is entertaining while portraying Harris as scripted. Campaign officials have celebrated and leaned into Trump’s ventures off-message. “Can someone [please] explain the Arnold Palmer story to the White Soys for Harris?” campaign adviser Jason Miller wrote on social media, using a derogatory term for men who support Harris.
Trump was in the headlines again on Monday after he declined to condemn violent threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency workers providing relief to Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene and reprised false allegations about the government’s response.
As a celebrity businessman and former reality TV star, Trump has long excelled at attracting attention with shock tactics. Many of Trump’s critics lament nonstop coverage of his antics in 2016 as a key factor in his unlikely political rise. But Trump’s appearances and interviews over the past week have veered even more off-script than usual, starting with a town hall in swing-state Pennsylvania.
Trump cut the questions short to just listen to music with his fans, swaying and bobbing for an extended interlude that quickly seized attention. Days later, Trump lobbed profanities and below-the-belt insults at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner in New York: “I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying men have periods. But then I met Tim Walz.”
Over the weekend, Trump said the late golfer Arnold Palmer’s competitors had remarked on seeing him in the showers. “They came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable,’” Trump said.
Trump’s antics have regularly landed him on social media feeds, late-night television show monologues and did-you-see-that conversations among voters. Democrats said they are happy to have the public fixated on him.
“As long as the news that Donald Trump is making is showing an old and confused candidate, then I say give him as much spotlight as you can,” said Morgan Jackson, a Democratic strategist in North Carolina.
During a rally Saturday in Atlanta, Harris addressed Trump’s explanation for his meandering, tangent-filled speaking style, telling supporters that this reflects instability rather than brilliance.
“When he does answer a question or speak at a rally, have you noticed he tends to go off script and ramble?” she said. “And generally for the life of him cannot finish a thought. And he has called it ‘The weave.’ But I think we here will call it nonsense!”
Last week, Harris also started pausing her rally speeches to roll tape of Trump. In one, he muses about deploying the military against people he calls the “enemy from within.” In another, Trump responds during a Fox News town hall to pro-Harris counterprogramming that included the family of a Georgia woman who died after doctors held off on removing fetal tissue from her uterus. “We’ll get better ratings, I promise,” Trump said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, in a statement, accused Harris of copying Trump’s “interactive rallies,” which have long featured clips of Harris that often get the crowd booing. Big screens at Trump’s events seek to put the focus on Harris, branding her “failed” and “dangerously liberal.”
Recently the programming includes video of Harris’s interview comments that “there is not a thing that comes to mind” that she would do differently from President Joe Biden.
“Whereas President Trump is the most famous and well-known person today and his presence instantly creates news buzz and excitement for voters wanting to turn the page from the disastrous four years of Harris’s failed policies,” Cheung said.
Trump has often used high-profile appearances to draw attention to false or evidence-free claims. He spoke in Aurora, Colo., earlier this month, where he cast a renewed spotlight on untrue allegations about Venezuelan gang members taking over residential buildings.
On Sunday, he stopped in at a McDonald’s restaurant, where he re-upped his unsubstantiated claim that Harris had never worked there. Harris has discussed working there as a college student, including when she ran for president in 2019.
Some Republican allies of Trump have encouraged him throughout the campaign to focus on policy issues such as the economy and immigration where he has an advantage. Trump’s insults and off-color comments make some in the party uncomfortable — but for others, it’s all part of Trump’s appeal.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) repeatedly tried to pivot away on Sunday when asked about the former president’s crude comments about Palmer. As host Jake Tapper pressed him, Johnson said: “He says things that are off the cuff. But I’m telling you, I’ve been in those events. I’ve been in those arenas, and people have a great time at those arenas.”
Justine McDaniel contributed to this report.“
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