Trump had a low bar to clear in NC rally: Just sound normal. Did he meet it? | Opinion
At an appearance in Asheville on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump had one job: stay sane.
The speech came as Trump has seemed increasingly unhinged in recent public statements and appearances. He’s questioned Harris’ Black heritage, suggested that the Harris campaign used AI to fake crowd sizes, and claimed without evidence that Harris is secretly operating as acting president because Joe Biden is incapacitated.
All of which has frustrated some in the Republican Party who wish he would just stay on message.
Did he?
The speech was touted as Trump delivering “remarks on the economy.” But it took Trump 10 minutes to even mention the economy, because he was busy ranting about Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign. In that time, he decried the “fake publicity” Harris is receiving and suggested that Democrats are “cheating” by replacing Joe Biden as the nominee. Trump also promised that he has some “good polls coming out,” despite the fact that the most recent polling shows Harris ahead of or tied with Trump in most battleground states, including North Carolina.
The speech didn’t veer into the truly weird, like his Harris fake crowd allegations. But Trump didn’t do much to convince people he is very normal, and he certainly didn’t do a particularly good job staying on message. When he did finally get to talking about the economy, Trump downplayed its importance, even though it was the intended focus of his entire speech.
“They say [the economy] is the most important issue, I’m not sure it is, but they say it is,” Trump said.
The rest of the speech was spent veering back and forth between the economy and other issues, including immigration. Among other topics: Harris’ intelligence, Harris’ policies, Harris’ media strategy, Harris’ career and Harris’ laugh.
“That’s the laugh of a crazy person, I’ll tell you. She’s crazy … That’s the laugh of a person with some big problems,” Trump said.
When Trump did address the economy, he did not do so in a concrete way, and he did not provide details about how he will fulfill many of the promises he made about inflation and energy production.
“Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar, your savings will grow, young people will be able to afford a home and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” Trump told the crowd.
How? Don’t ask!
Multiple times throughout the speech, Trump abruptly broke from his prepared remarks to insert his own, far-less-polished commentary. He would rattle off facts and figures from the teleprompter in rapid succession, only to abandon it in favor of inflammatory rhetoric or yet another grievance against Harris, Biden and the current administration.
Among Trump’s other bizarre statements on Wednesday:
Democrats may even replace Harris with yet another nominee before the election.
Harris will lay out a “fake economic plan” this week that is merely a copy of Trump’s own plan.
The only reason the stock market is up is because everybody thinks Trump is going to win. (Since Biden exited the race, Trump’s lead in the polls has been dwindling.)
Trump’s X interview with Elon Musk this week was “one of the most successful shows ever done.” (It was glitchy, convoluted and chock full of falsehoods.)
Trump vowed he would cut energy and electricity prices in half if he returns to the White House, but appeared to immediately walk his own statement back, saying “If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, oh well, I voted for him and he still got it down a lot.”
The bar Trump needed to clear on Wednesday was a low one: stick to the script, and don’t say anything weird. Yet, in true Trump fashion, he couldn’t manage to clear it.
