Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) on Wednesday dismissed the concerns of Republicans who have been urging former President Donald Trump to stay on message and focus on policy rather than personally attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Trump has been flailing as he attempts to discredit Harris — spreading lies about everything from her race to her crowd sizes.
“The reason people love him is because he is his own man, he is unfiltered and he lets the American people see who he is,” Vance said during a campaign rally in Byron Center, Michigan. “We’d much rather have an American president who is who he is, who’s willing to offend us, who’s willing to tell us the truth, who isn’t a fake who hides behind a teleprompter but lets the American people see exactly who he is.”
“To the people who say Donald Trump should do something different: they had an opportunity to make Donald Trump do something different by challenging him over three separate primaries,” Vance said. “So, I think Donald Trump has earned the right to run the campaign he wants to run.”
Vance’s remarks come as some Trump allies, donors and advisers have expressed concerns about the nature of the former president’s attacks on Harris. Initially, some allies were worried about Trump and his extremist allies in Congress going full-on racist.
“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters after a closed door meeting with the Republican conference in July, during which Johnson and National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson asked their colleagues to stick to attacking Harris over her Biden administration record.
The warning came after some members of Congress started referring to Harris as a “DEI hire” in the wake of Biden’s endorsement of Harris as the Democratic nominee.
And since then — perhaps emboldened by Republican lawmakers, perhaps unhappy with the positive media coverage the Harris campaign has been receiving, or, perhaps, incapable of hiding his true nature — Trump took the personal attacks a step further.
Over the past couple of weeks, Trump has questioned Harris’ Black identity during an event at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, questioned her intellect, called her “stupid” and “crazy” and made fun of her laugh, coupled with other sexist remarks.
In response, some Trump loyalists have been urging the former president to shift his focus to policy.
“The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see: It’s fewer insults, more insight and that policy contrast,” Kellyanne Conway, former Trump White House advisor said during a Fox News interview.
“I think [Trump] and the Republican Party would be well served to focus on the policy contrast,” former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said during an NPR interview.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) chimed in with the same message.
“You’ve got to make this race not on personalities,” the former leader of the House said in a Fox News interview.
But on Wednesday night, Trump was unable to control his impulses.
During his campaign rally in the battleground state North Carolina, Trump was supposed to give a speech focused on the economy.
Instead he stuck to his usual script, spewing personal attacks on Harris.
Damn right, JD. Don’t let anything get in the way of ol’ man’s raving rants.
Follow that winner right over the edge!
The American Nazi Party in full view.
What policy? No one can seem to name one policy position Trump has.
(because he doesn’t have a singular one.)
He has one setting–a$shole.
That’s it. That’s his whole shtick.
You hate to see it… The two people that need most to change tactics are the ones at the top of the ticket, and one of them only listens to Trump and Peter Thiel and the other one is Trump and doesn’t listen to anyone.
Oh yeah! Go baby go!
Give drump more reasons to dig the ticket into a whole!
Undermine his handlers who are begging him to stop being so weird!
Push back on your own campaign staff!
Campaign in disarray!
From the bottom of my heart, thanks JD, you fucking idiot!!