Trump is visiting battleground states this week as he struggles to adjust to Harris as his new rival

• By Jill Colvin and Adriana Gomez Licon/The Associated Press

As Democrats kick off their convention in Chicago, Donald Trump is trying to regain his footing after weeks of struggling to adjust to Vice President Kamala Harris as his rival.

The former president and GOP nominee delivered a speech at a factory in York on Monday as he attempts to undercut the Democratic celebration with a jam-packed schedule. He is holding daily events in battleground states tied to subjects where Republicans think they hold an advantage, including the economy, crime and safety, national security and the border.

He criticized Harris to factory workers and supporters gathered at Precision Custom Components, a company that makes components for military and nuclear use.

It is Trump’s busiest week of campaigning since the winter, when he faced a large field of challengers in the Republican primary. And his focus on policy in battleground states reflects the concerns of Trump allies, who have urged him to try to broaden his appeal with swing voters as they grow more nervous about Harris’ competitiveness.

In the weeks since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, Trump has appeared at times in denial and has launched a series of deeply personal attacks on Harris. He has lied about her crowds by claiming images of them were generated by AI, talked about her looks, and played on racist tropes by questioning her racial identity as she runs to become the first woman, the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office.

The outbursts have raised concerns among allies that Trump is damaging his chances.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he wanted Trump to focus on his plans for the economy and the U.S.-Mexico border. “Policy is the key to the White House,” Graham said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Some supporters at Trump’s rallies agree with that advice.

“He needs to quit talking about Biden other than Harris piggybacking on those policies,” said Kory Jeno, a 53-year-old from Swannanoa, North Carolina, who was waiting to see Trump speak last week in nearby Asheville. 

Others have urged him to ramp up his schedule and to pivot away from rallies, where large crowds of his most ardent supporters cheer on his most incendiary rhetoric.

“The big rallies are fine, but I like him when he goes to a restaurant or just talks to anybody off the street,” said Bruce Fields, 70, who works in commercial real estate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “When he is talking to ordinary people, it adds a personal touch.”

The challenge for Republicans was on display last week, including on Saturday at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, when Trump repeatedly swerved from a message focused on the economy to personal attacks against Harris, including a declaration that he is “much better looking” than she is.

On Monday in York, he largely stuck to his prepared remarks as he slammed Harris’ approach to the economy and energy and pledged major new investments in power plants and energy infrastructure if he wins, including small nuclear plants.

Still, he veered into the personal, attacking Harris’ father, a Stanford University economics professor born in Jamaica, as a “Marxist,” and calling her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a “whack job.”
Trump aides deny they are engaged in any kind of effort to reset the campaign, even as they bring in new hires, including veterans of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 runs.

The former president’s advisers remain bullish about his chances. They insist that Harris and Democrats are caught up in a fleeting moment of excitement with their new nominee, and are confident voters will sour on the vice president as they learn more about her past comments and positions.

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Colvin reported from Bedminster, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York and Bill Barrow in Asheville, North Carolina, contributed to this report.