OAN Staff James Lalino
9:08 AM – Friday, August 16, 2024
Flanked by a table displaying breakfast cereals, fruit, bread, milk, coffee, bacon and charts listing how much prices have risen under the Biden Administration, President Donald Trump hosted a late afternoon press conference at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey on Thursday.
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The former president came out swinging against Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at length about the rising grocery prices on display next to him, her performance as border czar, record inflation, and her new policy proposals to battle price gouging. He also took questions from the press, something the Democrat Party nominee hasn’t done for nearly one month.
“You’re all going to be thrown into a communist system,” said Trump. “We call it the ‘Maduro Plan,’ like something straight out of Venezuela or the Soviet Union.” He also criticized Harris’s priorities for healthcare policy, claiming “You won’t have private healthcare anymore.”
In spite of the criticism President Trump has faced even from his supporters, he doubled down on the personal attacks against the vice president. “I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence. And I think she’ll be a terrible president,” he said.
“Whether the personal attacks are good, bad, she certainly attacks me, personally. She actually called me ‘weird,’” said Trump. He then went on to defend his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, from the Democrat’s “weird” accusations, citing Vance’s educational accomplishments.
The press conference came after news broke earlier in the day of new campaign hires. Joining the 2024 team are Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh, and the MAGA Inc. super PAC’s Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer and Alex Bruesewitz. “As we head into the home stretch of this election, we are continuing to add to our impressive campaign team,” Trump’s 2024 co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a joint statement.
When asked about the new hires, Trump replied, “We have great people. Susie [Wiles] is fantastic, as you know, and Chris [LaCivita] is fantastic. They’re leading it. Corey Lewandowski’s coming in.”
Trump, reflective on the failed assassination attempt last month, put a positive spin on what is widely viewed as a flawed operation by the Secret Service. “There were mistakes made, no question about it. But there was a lot of bravery also, we have to remember that,” he said.
The former president’s campaign schedule has been unusually lax for him, with Senator Vance the one hitting the campaign trail hard and doing the Sunday shows, as of late. Some supporters view it as a strategy to conserve energy while the media’s “sugar high” on Harris wears off.
This is the second week in a row that Trump has held a press conference at one of his properties. It is not clear if this will be a weekly occurrence.
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