Shift in Rhetoric and Strategy at Bedminster Golf Club
The pork sausage was a clue that this would be unusual, or at least intended to be. Donald Trump stood framed by the daily goods of an American shopping basket, like a grocery store worker in front of a concession stand: morning oats, bread, butter, and sausage.
Trump's Prepared Speech – A Departure from the Norm
Trump’s comments in a 45-minute pre-prepared address at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey indicated a change from the typical personal assaults on his opponent. Reading from a piece of paper, something different from his usually freewheeling approach, this was an attempt to concentrate on policy and, perhaps like the ground coffee beans that remained in shot throughout, in granular detail too.
The former president enumerated a rainbow of what he claimed to be price hikes under the present government. Flour is up 38%, he said. “Eggs, 46%.” Indeed, he questioned Kamala Harris’s IQ, asked whether she loved her country, and accused her of several times being a “communist”.” However, this was significantly less loaded on insults than in past times, and for some top Republican leaders, it would have been music to the ears.
Republican Concerns and Advice for Trump
Since Ms. Harris became the expected Democrat nominee, Republican circles have become increasingly concerned about Trump’s difficulty adjusting to the challenge she presents. “The winning formula for President Trump is quite plain to see,” claimed one of his former campaign managers. “It’s less trash and more insights.”
Others have also cringed as Trump attacked Ms Harris over her racial identity or made strange assertions that she participated in deep-fake fraud over the scale of the attendees at her rallies. “So stupid,” a conservative pundit said of the latter strategy. “Just focus on the darn border!”
Trump's Focus on Policy and Its Accuracy
That’s a little advice; he doesn’t have much problem obeying. However, his comments started with an emphasis on specific “big facts and very substantial truths,” as so frequently they more than stretched the scope of both. Though there is no evidence of the jail history of migrants crossing the border or their mental health status, he asserted once more that certain nations are emptying their prisons and “insane asylums” to flood the US with illegal immigrants. And he kept repeating—against official statistics and without any proof—that 100% of newly created jobs had gone to immigrants while spewing bogus assertions about winning the 2020 election.
But careful accuracy was probably not high on the list of requests from their candidate for those Republicans who sought a fresh approach to counter concerning polling data. Even the top list of rising supermarket prices—what Trump referred to as “Kamala’s price hikes”—appeared to generate many doubts. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index, the Reuters news agency noted that bread and coffee costs had dropped over the last year.
Connecting with Voters: Trump's Strategy and Challenges
Still, it is not the purpose. Factual or not, this was Trump relating to Americans on the subjects that matter; many still feel the consequences of the high inflation under President Biden. Harris still has to sit down for a formal media interview, so Trump pushed hard to strike some blows against her on her past, especially comments she made in 2020 amid mass demonstrations over police reform, where she seemed sympathetic to proposals to cut the police budget. Complicating her “would have been nice” if she had seen fit to give him credit, he also claimed—with some merit—that she had stolen his commitment to remove tax on tips in the US service industry.
Can Trump Maintain This New Approach?
Of course, the main concern is whether Trump can personally remain on track and follow these talking points. During the news conference, he was much his usual self, delivering long-winded diatribes on the physics of electric vehicles, a “drill baby drill” pledge to boost oil output, and, at one point, stating, “I’m a big fan of electricity.”
But something was lacking like a man from the meat marketing board being compelled to speak on the advantages of carrots for health. You couldn’t help but sense that none of this sat very quickly for a politician whose whole political approach has so frequently been driven by venom.
Trump's Stance on Personal Attacks
Letting reporters ask questions on the floor, he was asked whether he was distancing himself from his rival’s savage character assaults. He said, “They’re not nice to me.” “I believe I have a license to attack personally.”
