Former President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted he was not changing up his campaign strategy, despite lagging poll numbers, staff shakeups, and reports that his allies have pleaded with him in recent days to run a more disciplined campaign.
The former president held an invitation-only press conference for reporters and a small group of supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Flanked by tables full of groceries and charts about rising prices, Trump began a conference intended to highlight inflation and economic woes during Biden’s four years in office.
However, the former president frequently got sidetracked by some of his favorite topics—the border, Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and his performance in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential races.
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During a brief question and answer session that came over 40 minutes after the speech began, one reporter asked if he was planning to heed his allies’ advice and end personal attacks against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’m very angry at her that she’d weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry,” Trump said. “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks. I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence.”
Trump also hit back at Harris for her campaign’s repeated insistence that he and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are “weird.” The attack originated from Harris’s vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“She certainly attacks me personally. She actually called me weird. She called JD [Vance] and me weird. He was a great student at Yale, went to Ohio State, graduated at the top of his class, all of these things… She is weird because of her policies. Who doesn’t want strong borders and lower taxes?”
Trump also threw cold water on rumors that his campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, were on their way out.
“We have great people,” Trump told the crowd of reporters. “Susie is fantastic, as you know. Chris is fantastic. They are leading it. Corey Lewandowski coming in. He will be a personal envoy at some level. They are doing a great job.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Trump campaign announced it would hire five more veteran staffers, alongside his former 2016 campaign manager—Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz, and Tim Murtaugh, all veterans of past Trump campaigns.
As campaign manager, Lewandowski was notable for his “let Trump be Trump” strategy in the early days of the Republican primary. “81 Days Left - Let Trump, Be Trump!” Lewandowski wrote triumphantly in a post on X announcing his new role.
Lewandowski was replaced in June 2016, about two months after he was charged with assaulting a female reporter in Jupiter, Florida. The charges against him were eventually dropped.
During the 2020 campaign, Lewandowski was made head of Trump's super PAC, Make America Great Again Action. He was ousted from that role after the wife of a Republican donor accused him of sexual misconduct and harassment after a dinner in Las Vegas in 2021.
Lewandowski was charged with misdemeanor battery again in 2022, but made a plea agreement with prosecutors to complete community service and impulse control counseling. The former Trump advisor did not admit any wrongdoing per the terms of his agreement.
Lewandowski was reportedly blacklisted from Trump properties and events after the accusation was made public.
Meanwhile, poll trackers like FiveThirtyEight have shown Harris gaining a competitive edge against Trump, including overtaking the former president in several important battleground states.
However, Trump did not address these poll numbers, instead insisting that he continues to lead Harris, without getting into specifics.
“We are going to beat her by a lot more than we led Biden by because he had a little group of people who had been voting for him for a long time. She doesn’t have that. People don’t know who she is,” Trump said.
Harris was elected to the Senate in California, winning a 2016 election in the largest state in the nation by population. Before that, she served as the Golden State’s attorney general and the San Francisco district attorney.
