Former President Donald Trump vowed to continue personal attacks on Kamala Harris on Thursday night, saying he had plenty to be angry about during a rambling news conference held on the steps of his New Jersey golf course.
Behind him, his assistants had arranged boxes of Cheerios, tubs of instant coffee and packages of Wonder Bread.
The goal was to illustrate how prices had risen under the Biden-Harris administration.
But the event had also been designed as an opportunity to paint a picture of his new opponent as a dangerous leftist bent on destroying the country.
And he said he would ignore allies who warn him that negative attacks scare away undecided voters.
Donald Trump addressed the media at his Bedminster golf club on Thursday. He was surrounded by grocery items designed to show how prices had risen under Kamala Harris.
“I’m very angry with her for what she’s done to the country,” he said at a decidedly unconventional news conference at his Bedminster golf club.
‘I’m very angry with her because she has used the justice system as a weapon against me and other people. I’m very angry with her.
“I think I have a right to personal attacks.”
There is never anything normal about a Trump press conference. And this one was anything but normal, from the moment he walked down the three steps of his clubhouse to cheers from his supporters to the moment he finished answering questions to sign caps.
His campaign has been in a rut since Harris replaced Joe Biden, depriving Trump of a fragile, 81-year-old target.
Confidants said Thursday’s news conference had been planned for some time, along with the launch of “Jewish Voices for Trump” afterward. The goal was to begin defining Harris for the portion of the population that doesn’t know her well.
Yet it also had the air of a live broadcast to cheer him up, giving Trump a chance to put aside his recent troubles and revel in a typically freewheeling speech (lasting nearly an hour and 10 minutes) before sparring with reporters for almost as long.
At times he stuck to his script, reciting statistics on inflation.
“Electricity prices have increased by 32 percent,” he said. “Gasoline prices have increased by 50 percent and are still rising. Meanwhile, real incomes have declined by more than $2,000 a year.”
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 7 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpg.webp)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 9 Trump spoke enthusiastically for about 47 minutes before taking questions from reporters, some friendly and some hostile.](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766701_864_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpeg.webp)
Trump spoke enthusiastically for about 47 minutes before taking questions from reporters, some friendly and some hostile.
At times, his supporters, huddled next to the live cameras, shouted and cheered.
They arrived as if they were just another cocktail party on the Bedminster scene, driven around by staff in golf carts.
Full-lipped women in party dresses rubbed shoulders with golfers in polo shirts and a Greek Orthodox priest whose gold chain shone brighter than anything the women were wearing.
The ninth hole of the old course provided a backdrop for the entire surreal scene and (at least in the eyes of his supporters) did nothing to undermine Trump’s positioning as a man of the people.
His plan, he said, was simple: He would open up oil and gas production (“We’re gonna drill, baby, we’re gonna drill,” he said), which would drive down energy prices and bring down the cost of weekly groceries. He offered no figures to back up the plan.
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 11 Trump positioned himself as a champion of workers by casting Kamala Harris as a vice president who presided over price gouging.](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766707_125_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpeg.webp)
Trump positioned himself as a champion of workers by casting Kamala Harris as a vice president who presided over price gouging.
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 13 In addition to journalists, the afternoon event in Bedminster was attended by Trump supporters.](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766712_793_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpg.webp)
In addition to journalists, the afternoon event in Bedminster was attended by Trump supporters.
Instead, he described Harris’s effort to go after corporations that “price goug” as “communist price controls.”
“If they worked, I would do it too,” he said.
“But they don’t work. In fact, they have the opposite impact and effect: they cause food shortages, rationing, hunger and much higher inflation.”
She said she was determined to turn the United States into a northern Venezuela.
Beyond the press, he found a receptive audience.
“My question is, has Kamala Harris ever been in a grocery store since she became vice president?” asked Leora Levy, who ran for U.S. Senate in Connecticut two years ago and wore a White House pin and scarf gifted to her by Melania Trump.
Do you know how difficult it is for families to put food on the table?
It was the latest event held to illustrate how Trump is prepared to directly confront the media, in contrast to Harris, who has yet to sit down for an interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 15 Trump lists prices of various products during his press conference](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766718_245_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpeg.webp)
Trump lists prices of various products during his press conference
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 17 1723766724 4 Trump says he has right to attack Kamala despite warnings](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766724_4_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpg.webp)
“I haven’t seen Cheerios in a long time,” Trump said as he described his haul of votes in the 2020 election. “I’m going to take them back to my cabin.”
And this comes as Trump tries to regain the initiative after three weeks of surging donations and enthusiasm for Harris.
This week, the Trump campaign reshuffled its staff. Corey Lewandowski, who served as Trump’s first campaign manager in 2015, returned, as did Tim Murtagh from his 2020 campaign, two figures from the MAGA Inc. super PAC and others.
Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, a former Trump spokesman, Alex Pfeiffer, who was a producer for Tucker Carlson at Fox News before joining the super PAC, online activist Alex Bruesewitz and Tim Murtaugh will advise senior campaign officials.
Trump has often shown himself to be impatient with his staff when their numbers falter.
This week, a DailyMail.com/JL Partners poll found Harris’s entry into the race left him clinging to a two-point lead. Other polls were even less kind, showing him trailing his new rival.
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 19 JL Partners surveyed 1,001 likely voters between August 7 and 11, using a combination of online, landline, cellphone and app techniques. Results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 points.](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766730_832_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpeg.webp)
JL Partners surveyed 1,001 likely voters between August 7 and 11, using a combination of online, landline, cellphone and app techniques. Results have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 points.
![Trump says he has 'right' to attack Kamala despite warnings from allies: Donald lists everything that makes him angry as he uses tables of Cheerios and Wonder Bread to say her policies will turn America into Venezuela 21 Trump signs caps and shakes hands after ending his unorthodox press conference](https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/cwv-webp-images/2024/08/1723766736_489_Trump-says-he-has-right-to-attack-Kamala-despite-warnings.jpg.webp)
Trump signs caps and shakes hands after ending his unorthodox press conference
In that context, he has stepped up his media appearances and on Monday held a two-hour online conversation with X owner Elon Musk.
But he has struggled to stay on message. A speech in North Carolina on Wednesday, billed as a major economic rally, included a list of his usual complaints and claims that California was now “unlivable.”
Trump shrugged off the data as the sun set over Bedminster. “I tend to poll low,” he said, recalling how he stunned the world with his unexpected election victory in 2016.
And he said the change was not a sign of a campaign failure.
“It’s a sign that we want to close it,” he said.
Every now and then, she admitted, her gaze was drawn to the grocery display. With the plastic-wrapped maple ham sweating next to tubs of mayonnaise and Oreo cookies, it was like a nostalgic trip back to the 1950s.
“I haven’t seen Cheerios in a long time,” Trump said as he described his haul of votes in the 2020 election. “I’m going to take them back to my cabin.”
And with that, the press conference ended in an even more Trumpian way, greeting fans and signing caps.
“I’m going to cry”