{"id":2327479,"date":"2024-08-20T12:08:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-defends-strategy-of-personal-attacks-he-admits-could-hurt-i-have-to-do-that-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:11:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:11:44","slug":"trump-defends-strategy-of-personal-attacks-he-admits-could-hurt-i-have-to-do-that-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-defends-strategy-of-personal-attacks-he-admits-could-hurt-i-have-to-do-that-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump defends strategy of personal attacks he admits could hurt: \u2018I have to do that\u2019 &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-defends-strategy-of-personal-attacks-he-admits-could-hurt-i-have-to-do-that-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2327479&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a \u2064recent CBS interview, former President\u200b Donald Trump defended\u200c his strategy of making personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, even admitting that\u200b such tactics may not be beneficial for \u2062winning the upcoming election. Trump stated that while he doesn&#8217;t believe these attacks are a winning message, he feels compelled to express his opinions, insisting that\u200b questioning Harris&#8217;s\u200d intelligence is not an insult but\u2062 a fact. \u2062His comments\u200c come as Harris prepares to secure her position as the Democratic nominee at the Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has shifted his campaign\u2062 focus towards criticizing Harris&#8217;s\u2063 performance on economic issues, aiming to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/louisiana-democrats-seek-to-grab-centrist-vote-as-republicans-eye-governors-seat\/\" title=\"Democrats in Louisiana are vying for democratic support as Republicans vie for governor.\">attract centrist voters<\/a>. This approach comes\u2064 after the Harris\u200b campaign outlined its economic\u200c policies, highlighting\u2062 measures to fight price-gouging and increase corporate taxes. In contrast, Trump plans to advocate for tax cuts and stricter \u2062immigration policies. \u200bDespite encouragement from top Republicans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nikki-haley-goes-off-after-ramaswamy-defends-tiktok-during-the-debate-we-cant-trust-you\/\" title=\"Nikki Haley slams Ramaswamy for defending TikTok: &#039;You&#039;re not trustworthy&#039;\">avoid personal insults<\/a>, Trump remained steadfast in his\u200d belief that he should speak \u2063freely about Harris&#8217;s capabilities. Following \u2063a recent rally \u2063incident where his life was threatened, he expressed a newfound \u200ddesire for national unity, indicating a softer tone in his campaigning.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump defends strategy of personal attacks he admits could hurt: &lsquo;I have to do that&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1734019\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> insisted he is duty-bound to hurl insults at Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Kamala Harris<\/a> despite conceding that doing so might not help him win the election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oLE35fZmtmU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>questioned<\/a> if he thinks launching personal attacks on Harris is a winning message this election cycle during a CBS interview on Monday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; Trump responded. The GOP nominee added he believes focusing on &ldquo;the bad job&rdquo; Harris had done on inflation and other economic issues is the strategy that will push centrist voters into the Republican camp.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Harris is set to become her party&rsquo;s nominee on Thursday, the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. After her swift ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket last month, the GOP was forced to rethink an election strategy previously focused on targeting President Joe Biden&rsquo;s record.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Harris speaks during the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last week, the Harris campaign began unveiling its first concrete policies, detailing an economic blueprint centered on countering &ldquo;price-gouging&rdquo; and increasing corporate taxes. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has outlined an agenda focused on lowering the cost of living by instituting tax cuts, deporting millions of illegal immigrants, and placing tariffs on imports.<\/p>\n<p>Top Republicans have told Trump to run a campaign focused on contrasting his policies with Harris&rsquo;s, encouraging him to steer away from calling the vice president &ldquo;stupid,&rdquo; among other personal attacks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, Trump defended his swashbuckling rhetoric about Harris&rsquo;s intelligence, saying on Monday, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always spoken my mind.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I have to do that,&rdquo; he told CBS host Caitlin Huey-Burns when pressed on why he continued to question the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/carson-points-out-that-every-democratic-plan-has-backfired-in-trumps-favor-as-seen-in-the-bible-2\/\" title=\"Carson points out that every Democratic plan has backfired in Trump&#039;s favor, as seen in the Bible\">vice president&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s intellect on the campaign trail. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider that an insult &mdash; I consider that a fact.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;s a very bright person. I do feel that. I mean, I think that&rsquo;s right. I think I am a very bright person, and a lot of people say that,&rdquo; he said in the interview. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;s a very bright person. And you know what? Our country needs a very smart person, and I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;s a very smart person.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the Butler County rally where Trump narrowly missed being assassinated, the GOP leader sounded a new and softer tone from his typical fiery rhetoric, reflecting that the harrowing experience had changed his outlook on the campaign and calling for national unity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is helped off the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But in the weeks since July&rsquo;s Republican National Convention, where he said that &ldquo;the discord and division in our society must be healed,&rdquo; Trump has returned to his sharp-elbows persona.<\/p>\n<p>His latest defense of the attack dog strategy comes after Trump received blowback from numerous Republican colleagues for getting distracted by personality instead of focusing on policy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Donald Trump, the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,&rdquo; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Trump ally, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3125315\/lindsey-graham-concedes-trump-may-not-win-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>warned<\/a> on Sunday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If you have a policy debate for president, he wins,&rdquo; Graham reflected.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>RealClearPolitics <\/em>polling average indicates Trump is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/president\/general\/2024#!\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>trailing<\/a> Harris by 1.5 percentage points. Before Biden made his historic campaign exit on July 21, Trump held roughly the same lead over the incumbent Democrat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1734019\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1734019\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump defends his approach of making personal attacks, which he acknowledges could be detrimental: &#8216;I have to do that.&#8217; The former President stated that he feels obligated to insult Vice President Kamala Harris, even though he admits it may not be a winning strategy for the upcoming election. During a CBS interview on Monday, Trump was asked if he believes that targeting Harris personally would resonate positively this election cycle. He replied, &#8220;No, I don\u2019t think so,&#8221; but expressed confidence that emphasizing Harris&#8217;s poor performance on inflation and economic issues would attract centrist voters to the Republican side.<\/p>\n<p>Harris is expected to become her party&#8217;s nominee on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Following her rapid rise in the Democratic ranks last month, Republicans had to adjust their campaign strategy from focusing solely on President Joe Biden\u2019s record. Last week, Harris&#8217;s campaign began rolling out its initial policy proposals aimed at combating &#8220;price-gouging&#8221; and increasing corporate taxes. In contrast, Trump&#8217;s campaign has proposed lowering living costs through tax cuts and stricter immigration policies.<\/p>\n<p>Despite advice from top Republicans urging him to focus more on policy comparisons rather than personal insults\u2014like calling Harris \u201cstupid\u201d\u2014Trump defended his blunt remarks about her intelligence during the interview with CBS host Caitlin Huey-Burns. He stated, \u201cI\u2019ve always spoken my mind,\u201d adding that he views his comments as factual rather than insulting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think she\u2019s a very bright person,\u201d Trump asserted during the interview. \u201cOur country needs someone very smart for leadership.\u201d Following an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler County earlier this month, Trump adopted a somewhat softer tone regarding national unity but has since reverted back to his combative style as seen after July\u2019s Republican National Convention where he called for healing societal divisions.<\/p>\n<p>His recent defense of personal attacks comes amid criticism from fellow Republicans who believe he&#8217;s becoming too focused on personalities instead of policies. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ally of Trump\u2019s warned over the weekend that while Trump&#8217;s provocative style may not secure him victory in this election cycle; if it were purely about policy debates for president\u2014he would prevail.<\/p>\n<p>Current polling averages show Trump trailing Harris by 1.5 percentage points\u2014a shift from when he held a similar lead over Biden before Biden exited the race historically on July 21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2327480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Trump-Pump.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[3998,38266,32504,3634,32076],"class_list":["post-2327479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-defense","tag-personal-attacks","tag-political-strategy","tag-trump","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Trump-Pump.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2327479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2327479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2327479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2327479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}