Trump returns to X as Republicans urge him to get back on message
Former President Trump is back on X.
Trump has barely used the social media site since he was banned by the previous management regime in 2021, opting instead to use the TruthSocial platform that he owns.
But Trump was busy posting all day Monday on X, and tonight he’ll be interviewed by X owner Elon Musk, bringing together two of the most famous and polarizing figures on the planet.
Musk said the interview will be “unscripted with no limits on subject matter.”
The European Union is warning Musk not to allow misinformation to spread on X during the interview.
Trump had posted seven times Monday on X as of this writing. He’s been posting hype videos, sloganeering and posting new attack ads against Vice President Harris.
“Are you better off now than you were when I was president? Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We’re a nation in decline. Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!”
The Wall Street Journal has the inside story on how Musk is working to get Trump elected through a new super PAC.
“In weekly meetings, consultants and vendors for a super political-action committee updated him on their progress toward the discussed goal of turning out 800,000 people to vote for Donald Trump in battleground states.”
Trump’s move back to X, which played a big role in his efforts to drive the narrative during his first term in office, comes as his campaign struggles to recalibrate following Harris’s entrance into the race.
Trump spent the weekend making baseless accusations that pictures showing thousands of people showing up to Harris’s rallies had been digitally altered to increase the crowd size.
Republicans are eager for Trump to get back on message and to highlight the policy divides between himself and Harris.
Trump’s longtime adviser Peter Navarro made this case on the War Room podcast, where he’s filling in for host Steve Bannon, who is in prison:
“He needs votes, and the current rally formula is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences — policy differences — between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in key battleground states. Instead, when Trump attacks Harris personally rather than on policy, Harris’s support among swing voters rises, particularly among women. It’s just a fact of life, right now.”
The Hill’s Brett Samuels has more on this dynamic here.
New polls show Harris is not just making strides in the top-line polling numbers — she’s also making big gains on the issues voters care most about.
An eye-opening Financial Times survey finds Harris has closed the gap with Trump on who is most trusted to handle the economy. Trump has long held the advantage over Democrats on the economy, so it remains to be seen whether the poll is an outlier.
The latest New York Times/Siena College battlegrounds survey find Harris leading Trump by 2 points on the issues voters consider most important to them. Trump led President Biden on that same question by 10 points nationally in June.
Those policy gains for Harris come before she’s officially released her policy proposals.
Harris’s advisers have quietly walked back many of her positions from 2020, when she tacked hard to the left on immigration, policing, and other issues. The campaign says she no longer supports a ban on fracking.
Harris is running ads saying she’ll crack down on illegal immigration, a big pivot from 2020 when she said she’d decriminalize illegal border crossings and overhaul
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Harris has dabbled with broad policy proposals at campaign rallies. This weekend, she mirrored a Trump proposal to end taxes on tips. She has spoken broadly about some initiatives, such as cracking down on “illegal price-gouging” and implementing rent caps.
Republicans — and some in the news media — are frustrated that Harris is refusing to hold a press conference or sit for interviews. Harris says her advisers are considering whether or not she should conduct an interview before Labor Day.
But so far, Harris has made tremendous strides by entering the race as a generic Democrat, rallying soft liberals that had become disillusioned with Biden atop the ticket.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said on CNN that Trump’s polling struggles are due to his inability to focus on the issues, turning the campaign into a referendum on his personality.
“If it’s about issues, Trump is much more likely to be successful. If it’s about attributes, Harris is much more likely to be successful, because quite frankly, people like her more than they like him. It’s something that, if he’s watching this right now, his head is exploding — and that’s part of the problem.”
President Biden will step back into the campaign spotlight for the first time since exiting the race last month.
Biden will appear with Vice President Harris at a White House event Thursday in Maryland to “discuss the progress they are making to lower costs for the American people.”
It’s their first joint trip since Biden dropped out of the race.
Biden will head Tuesday to New Orleans to promote his Cancer Moonshot program.
Next Monday, Biden will address the Democratic National Convention.
Biden said
he’d campaign across Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to try to help Harris win the biggest Electoral College prize on the battlegrounds map.
“I’m going to be campaigning in other states as well and I’m going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”
Over the weekend, Biden gave his first interview since dropping out to CBS Sunday Morning.
He said he quit the race because down ballot Democrats told him they were headed for defeat if he remained at the top of the ticket.
“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say, why did … and I thought it’d be a real distraction, number one.”
Biden faced enormous pressure from Democrats to step aside following his debate debacle and polls that showed him losing big to former
President Trump.
Biden has seen his favorability rating rise since dropping out of the race, as polls showed a strong majority of voters believed he was too old to serve a second term.
Vice President Harris’s swift rise in the race for the White House is giving Democrats confidence they can maintain a majority in the Senate despite a difficult map.
Republicans only need to net two seats to win the upper chamber. They’re expected to win in West Virginia, where Sen. Joe Manchin (I) is retiring and Gov. Jim Justice (R) is the heavy favorite.
Next on the GOP to-do list: Knocking off Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in traditionally red states, although polls show a tight race for both.
Harris is giving Senate Democrats a jolt of enthusiasm and new hope that they might prevail.
The Hill’sAl Weaver discussed the state of play with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is up for reelection:
“The energy upsurge is dramatic. I’ve even talked to red-staters who said, ‘Well, no Democrat’s winning my state’s electoral votes, but in order for me to win my race, I need to have young voters energized — and they’re energized’.”
Former President Trumpcampaigned in Montana last week and took direct aim at Tester, who is in a tight race against Republican businessman Tim Sheehy.
The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports that Tester is keeping Harris at arm’s length in the ruby red state.
Over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans have reason to be optimistic about their chances of reclaiming the Senate — with a big caveat.
“This is the best map I’ve ever seen, but I’ve seen us screw up maps before.” — McConnell to The Gathering host Erick Erickson in Georgia.
Both Michigan Senate hopefuls say they were targeted in ‘swatting’ incidents.
U.S. sends warship to Middle East as tensions rise
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a missile submarine to the Middle East to support Israel’s military operations.
President Biden insists a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas is still possible, although Hamas says it will not take part in negotiations between the U.S. and allies this week.
The Middle East is on edge, with fears growing that the war in Gaza is expanding and that Israel could soon be at war with Hezbollah in Iran.
“I’m working literally every single day — and my whole team — to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.” — Biden said in an interview with CBS’sRobert Costa.
Israel expanded its evacuation orders in Gaza on Sunday, signaling new attacks on Hamas are likely coming soon.
Israel said it’s widening the humanitarian zone in response to Hamas’s “exploitation” of the zone “for terrorist acts and the continuous firing of rockets towards the State of Israel.”
At least 80 people were killed in an airstrike over the weekend on a school in Gaza that Israel said was being used as a command center for Hamas.
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