Rozina Sabur
Deputy US Editor
17 September 2024 11:00am
When Donald Trump emerged, bloodied but unbowed, from a would-be assassin’s line of fire in July, he had a message for America.
The nation, he said, should “stand united, and show our true character as Americans” following the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania.
His conciliatory tone appeared to heed the advice of his senior campaign aides, who, insiders say, were acutely attuned to the mood of the undecided voters who will determine November’s election.
The critical constituency includes voters who, frustrated with the rising cost of living, are considering casting their ballots for Trump, but are wary of the chaos that engulfed his first term.
It is shocking that, just two months on, Trump and his campaign have been forced to consider their messaging in response to yet another apparent attempt on his life.
But this time around, the Republican candidate has taken a very different tack.
He pointed the finger of blame squarely at Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Their “rhetoric”, he said, was quite literally sending “bullets… flying”.
The claim may strike some as ironic, coming from a bombastic former president whose ad-hominem attacks are a hallmark of his political brand.
But it could also be a strategic error, with polls suggesting Trump holds the upper hand among voters on the two issues they have identified as their top concerns: immigration and the economy.
In his tirade against his opponents on Monday, Trump railed against not just Ms Harris, but the “rigged and highly partisan” debate he claims ABC News conducted last week.
He drew a connection between the Democrats and the numerous criminal and civil cases against him, to claim the country’s politics had reached “a whole new level of hatred, abuse and distrust”.
It was an angry message that resonated with his most ardent supporters.
The more outspoken have already speculated, without evidence, that the two incidents involving Trump may not be the product of lone wolves.
It echoes Trump’s narrative of a “deep state” establishment whose machinery is set against him. “They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you,” is his common refrain.
Yet it also risks alienating the moderate, swing voters who the Republican candidate must reach if he is to prevail in November and win back the White House.
Ms Harris, meanwhile, is shrewdly pursuing the same group.
In recent days her campaign has secured the endorsement of more than a dozen former staffers of Ronald Reagan, even claiming the late revered Republican president would have supported her.
And yet, it is Trump who is best positioned to echo Reagan’s winning campaign line: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Stark figures from the Federal Reserve in the last few days reveal the highest rate of Americans struggling with credit card bills in over a decade.
With 50 days until election day, the polls show no clear leader in the race.
Trump’s advisers know that focusing on substantive issues offers their best route to success, and they cannot afford any distractions.
Whether or not they can get their candidate to stay on message remains to be seen.
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