...
By Aila Slisco
Writer
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Former President Donald Trump was "flailing wildly" while attempting to attack Vice President Kamala Harris during a news conference on economic policies, according to a former key adviser to ex-President Barack Obama.
Speaking at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday, the former president told reporters that he feels "entitled to personal attacks" on Harris because he does not "have a lot of respect for her" or "her intelligence."
While Trump blamed Harris for President Joe Biden's economic policies and illustrated inflation with a display of cereal boxes, he also strayed off topic by repeating false claims that his 2020 election loss was illegitimate and re-airing grievances about his legal troubles.
Read More on News
In a series of posts to X, formerly Twitter, David Axelrod, who served as chief strategist for both of Obama's successful presidential campaigns, compared Trump's display to "a rattled old boxer" desperately attempting to attack a younger fighter in the form of Harris.
...
"'I think I'm entitled to personal attacks.' Trump seems like a rattled old boxer," Axelrod wrote. "Trapped in the corner by a younger, agile fighter, and flailing wildly."
"This is really something," he added in a subsequent post. "It is like watching someone have a nervous breakdown in public. He can't control himself."
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Trump campaign via email on Thursday night.
Following the news conference, the Harris campaign issued a statement on "whatever that was," saying that "we aren't sure what we just watched and neither is America."
"At his country club, Donald Trump, huffed and puffed his opposition to lowering food costs for middle and working class Americans and prescription drug costs for seniors before pivoting back to his usual lies and delusions," campaign spokesperson James Singer said.
"The American people cannot trust a word Donald Trump says, but they can trust Vice President Kamala Harris, who has spent her life taking on fraudsters, cheaters, and criminals like Donald Trump to make our country safer and lower costs for the middle class," he added.
In addition to straying off topic, there was more than one eyebrow-raising moment for the former president while he was speaking about economic issues during the news conference.
At one point, Trump claimed that "virtually 100 percent" of new jobs created over the past year had "gone to migrants." He then bizarrely said that he "heard" the true figure was a number "substantially more than and actually beyond" 100 percent, which is mathematically impossible.
After warning that Harris would cause Social Security to "blow up like you've never seen before" and cause the "bankruptcy" of the entire country if she enters the Oval Office, Trump insisted that the U.S. was already "living through that nightmare" of a Harris presidency.
The former president also predicted "a stock market crash like 1929" if he does not win in November, a warning that he previously issued before his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Fox News, which was airing the news conference live, displayed a chyron showing that the stock market was up significantly as Trump made his bleak prediction.
Update 08/15/24, 7:40 p.m.: This article was updated with new information.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines