This was supposed to be a reset, a chance for Donald Trump to reclaim the spotlight and some of the political momentum that Kamala Harris has captured.
But the minute he took the stage in battleground North Carolina, it was clear he would focus too much on the wrong numbers. He was supposed to talk about the economy and eventually did — but with disputable claims. Trump started off by focusing on polling numbers, 2020 Democratic Primary results and one sketch of Harris on the cover of Time magazine.
Trump filled the first 20 minutes with personal attacks and false claims—the opposite of what many supporters and allies have been asking him to do. They’ve asked him to stay on message, but he continues to make the race about personalities.
Perhaps the biggest blunder was when he noted he was there to speak about the economy but questioned its importance: “They say it’s the most important subject. I’m not sure it is, but they say it is the most important.”
Trump and Harris polls and crowd sizes
I’ve never met a voter, especially a voter in a battleground state, who cares about a candidate’s crowd size. Trump has measured his success in the number of buildings bearing his name, TV ratings and crowd sizes, so I understand why it matters to him. But I don’t know any American craving a data point in their life to show a politician’s crowd sizes. And while some Americans like to see polling results, the percentages don’t change their lives. Every second that Trump talked about polls in North Carolina Wednesday afternoon was a second he wasted. He should have devoted all of his time to talking about numbers that matter to Americans — not numbers that matter to him.
Trump can’t get out of the high 40s
Part of Trump’s obsession with polls lately is because Harris is gaining points, and he’s not. That’s partially because he’s not offering voters anything new. He’s focused on the past. The future he does mention is a dystopian wasteland, a third-world country where everything is bad and nothing is good.
“The American dream is dead,” Trump said in North Carolina.
Who will that inspire? Is that message more likely to make people support him or ask themselves why they should bother voting at all?
This is where he contrasts sharply with Harris, who paints a picture of a hopeful future. It seems to be working for her. She’s climbing into the low 50s in polls, and he’s been stuck in the high 40s.
Trump went high on promises, low on plans
He didn’t say how, but Trump promised to “rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again.” The former president also said he would cut energy and electricity prices in half within 18 months of taking office. Trump said Americans would be better off overall if he’s elected in November.
“Vote Trump and your incomes will soar. Your savings will grow. Young people will be able to afford a home. And we will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” he said, without laying out an economic plan.
Trump also renewed his call to eliminate taxes seniors pay on their Social Security benefits. He didn’t explain how the plan would work, but critics say it would cost more than a trillion dollars and exhaust federal programs faster.
Trump doesn’t realize 2024 isn’t 2016
Eight years ago, Trump ran against Hillary Clinton, a well-known entity from a powerful political family and part of the Washington establishment. He didn’t have to work hard to get half the country to hate her. Many people did, whether justified or not, long before his name appeared on a ballot. So, in 2016, the “lock her up” chants and making the race about personality worked for him.
But this year is not 2016. Harris is not Clinton. And she didn’t come into this race with half the country hating her. Spending multiple paragraphs of a speech on her laugh fills time, but it doesn’t move his campaign forward.
Trump is right on the crises, wrong on the causes
Trump said he gave President Joe Biden and Harris “an economic miracle” when he left office. “Now, you have an economic nightmare,” he said to his crowd in Asheville, North Carolina.
Renters and homeowners are burdened by higher prices. High interest rates have driven up monthly mortgage payments to sometimes double what they were five years ago, pushing homeownership out of reach for many. That has forced more renters into the market, and the competition has increased prices.
But Trump claimed the “colossal influx of migrants is driving rent absolutely through the roof.”
He also pointed to higher car insurance rates, which increased about 19%, according to Consumer Price Index numbers released earlier Wednesday. Rates haven’t increased that much since the 1970s, but they’re still lower than they were in March.
On a day when the Biden administration got some of its best numbers, with inflation reaching its lowest levels in three years, Trump could have emphasized that inflation is slowing down, but it’s not over. He could have focused his speech on how people feel at home when they go to the grocery store, pay the monthly bills and have little left over — if at all — for savings. But he resorted to old, tired insults and meaningless claims, putting the focus on his thoughts and feelings instead of those of the American people who are still struggling to make ends meet.
Candy Woodall is the opinion editor at The Baltimore Sun. She wants to know what you think of the presidential race and can be reached at cwoodall@baltsun.com.
