Republicans are warning that Trump’s "provocateur" tactics and personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris threaten his chances of winning the presidential election in November.
Since Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Trump has been reluctant to accept her as his political opponent. He has instead taken to attacking her intelligence, questioning her identity as a Black woman and falsely claiming that her crowds are fake.
Though personal attacks are a strategy Trump has relied on since he entered politics, some Republicans warn Americans are growing tired of it.
“President Trump can win this election. If you have a policy debate, he wins,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. But if Trump continues to rely on personal attacks against Harris, he risks losing in November, Graham warned.
“Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” he said.
Lindsey Graham: "Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election." pic.twitter.com/g1RHToX8Xb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2024
Former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley conveyed a similar warning last week on Fox News.
“I want this campaign to win. But the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. It’s not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It’s not going to win talking about whether she’s dumb,” she said.
Trump should instead focus on appealing to independents and moderate Republicans and Democrats, Haley advised.
When asked about Haley’s message by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H., agreed with her advice.
“And so the message is very clear: if you stick to the issues, if you stick to what matters, this should be an easy race for Donald Trump, it really should," Sununu said.
At an event in New Jersey on Thursday, Trump said the congressional Medal of Freedom, which is awarded to civilians, is actually “much better” than the Medal of Honor, which is awarded to soldiers wounded in the line of combat.
“It’s actually much better, because everyone who gets the congressional Medal of Honor, that’s soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead,” Trump said.
The comment drew sharp criticism from Democrats and the veterans’ group Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), who called the comment “asinine.”
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Trump said he was “much better looking than Harris,” instead of focusing on his plans for the economy like he was supposed to.
It’s these kinds of controversial comments that worry some members of the GOP. During a Fox News panel on Sunday, former George W. Bush political strategist Karl Rove said that Trump is “fundamentally undisciplined” when it comes to conveying his political message.
Rove said that though Trump leads on many of the country’s top political issues- the economy, immigration and inflation, he listens to his “inner voice” before his advisers, resulting in “undisciplined form of communications” that are unpopular with Americans.
“Two-thirds of the American people think we're going in the wrong direction. He leads on the issue of who is better on the economy, who is better on inflation, and who is better on immigration,” Rove said on Fox News on Sunday.
“Why is he behind? Because he's making this race about things other than the three big issues in this campaign. The economy, inflation, immigration,” he said.
Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume shared similar concern on Sunday. He predicted that it will be a close race in November, but only because Trump is disliked by nearly half of voters.
Though Trump has a solid base of devoted supporters, he is unlikely to ever get more than 45% of the vote with that base, Hume said.
“Donald Trump, no matter how enthusiastic supporters are, nonetheless, is not a majority candidate. He might win, but he’s not a majority candidate,” he said.
“Because he’s Trump.” Fox News’ Brit Hume explains in just three words why Trump is struggling against Kamala Harris. (Video: Fox News) pic.twitter.com/HNksP4l1Zk
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) August 18, 2024
As the National Democratic Convention (DNC) kicks off this week, Trump will embark on his busiest campaign week in months, with daily events taking place across battleground states.
