As Democrats rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris as their new nominee, former President Donald Trump seems stuck in the past, struggling to pivot from his long-practiced attacks on Joe Biden to launching effective critiques against Harris. Despite his campaign’s efforts to shift focus, Trump’s brain appears slow to rewire for his new opponent.
For months, Trump had meticulously honed his criticism of Biden, preparing his rhetoric and strategy to challenge his former adversary. Now, as Harris steps into the spotlight, Trump is grappling to adjust his focus. His campaign has embarked on a weeklong tour in swing states, attempting to undermine Harris with policy-based attacks in controlled environments with limited crowds. Yet, Trump’s efforts appear more like a struggle to adapt rather than a fresh, strategic assault.
Trump’s fixation on Biden is evident. Even after Biden’s departure from the race and Harris’s ascension, Trump continues to post frequently about Biden on social media, clinging to past grievances and unwarranted claims of a potential Biden comeback.
“He’s nostalgic for where things were a month ago,” remarked a Republican familiar with Trump’s recent sentiments. “Understandably.”
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“Letting President Joe Biden go hasn’t been easy,” one adviser noted. When asked if Trump was likely to watch Biden’s speech that evening, the adviser replied, “Absolutely.”
The Trump campaign’s prior strategy involved attacking Biden with a House Republicans’ report on impeachment—a report that ultimately flopped, lacking evidence of wrongdoing and becoming obsolete with Biden no longer the nominee. Nevertheless, Trump persisted in his criticism of Biden, adding remarks to his speeches even as the Democratic landscape shifted.
In his recent speeches, Trump has tried to refocus his attacks on Harris, albeit with limited success. He has criticized her father, Donald Harris, a retired Stanford economist, as a “Marxist professor,” and questioned her ideological background. These attacks have been accompanied by Trump’s discredited assertions about Harris’s racial identity—a tactic that has drawn backlash and failed to resonate with voters.
This predicament has led Trump to resort to increasingly repugnant tactics. His social media posts have included offensive memes targeting Harris’s race, fake imagery, and songs that insinuate Harris engaged in sexual favors for political gain. Additionally, Trump has engaged in fear-mongering regarding Harris’s stance on immigration, further straining his attempts to find a compelling line of attack against her.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric now includes claims about Harris’s economic policies and false assertions regarding his legal battles. As he attempted to position himself as a defender of manufacturing workers, his critique of Harris’s policies as a “regulatory jihad” and his false claims about his legal exoneration have yet to hit the mark in the way his Biden-focused attacks once did.
Trump’s ongoing struggle to shift his focus from Biden to Harris underscores his difficulty in adapting his campaign strategy.
