US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he is “entitled” to personally attack his Democratic rival Kamala Harris because he “has little respect for her” and rejected calls from allies to refocus his campaign on policy issues in a bid to win back the White House.
Trump, 78, said he was “angry” at Vice President Harris, 59, for the way the Biden administration handled issues ranging from inflation to immigration.
The former president told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Thursday:
I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence. I think she’ll be a terrible president. I think it’s very important that we win. And whether the personal attacks are good or bad … she certainly attacks me personally.
Trump was responding to questions from members of his party urging him not to make personal attacks on Harris, who is the first woman of colour to run for president. He also said:
As far as the personal attacks (against Harris), I’m very angry at her because of what she’s done to the country. I’m very angry at her that she weaponised the justice system against me and other people. (I am) very angry at her. I think I’m entitled to personal attacks. She (Harris) actually called me weird. He’s weird, it was just a sound bite, and she called J D (Vance, his running mate) and I weird. He’s not weird. He was a great student at Yale, he went to Ohio State, graduated in two years at the top of his class and all of these different things. We have this guy that’s running failed, really a very failed state who had a terrible career. I mean, you have him saying they’re weird. No, he’s a weird guy.
Trump runs his campaign “in his own way”
Asked about former rival Nikki Haley’s comments that the Trump campaign needed to change strategy, Trump said he appreciated her advice but would run his campaign “in his own way.”
Trump has struggled to develop a consistent message directed at Harris, though Republicans say they have strong arguments against her on the economy and immigration. While the former president sometimes focused on the issues, he mocked Harris’s laugh and her intelligence. Trump was also heavily criticised after he questioned her racial identity during a speech last month.
He said Harris is “weird in her policy,” adding that “people don’t know who she is yet.” Trump said:
She is weird in her policy. Who wouldn’t want to have strongholds, who doesn’t want to have lower taxes? You know, all my life I’ve watched as politicians campaigned and I’ve always been on for the most part, on the other side. This is the only campaign I’ve ever heard of. When they’re saying we’re going to increase your taxes and then people say they’re going to vote for.
It was Trump’s second press conference in as many weeks as he tries to stop Harris from gaining ground after she replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee in late July.
Earlier this week, several of his colleagues and party aides, including former Trump White House aide Peter Navarro and former Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, also urged him to focus on policy rather than attacking Harris ahead of the November 5 presidential election.
While people “tell me I should be good,” Trump said Harris, Biden and other Democrats “want to put me in jail.” Trump is scheduled to be sentenced next month in the “hush money” case. The former president is also facing criminal charges in Washington and Atlanta for allegedly trying to steal the 2020 election from Biden.
