The Harris campaign delivered the perfect response to Trump’s press conference, where the more he talked, the more he sank.
Trump called it a news conference, but the event he held was an act of political implosion.
The Harris campaign released the following statement after Trump’s performance:
Donald Trump took a break from taking a break to put on some pants and host a p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ public meltdown.
We have a lot to say about it. Here are some initial thoughts â with more to come.
He hasnât campaigned all week. He isnât going to a single swing state this week. But he sure is mad Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are getting big crowds across the battlegrounds.
The facts were hard to track and harder to find in Donald Trumpâs Mar-a-Lago meltdown this afternoon.
He lied. He attacked the media. He made excuses for why heâs off the campaign trail.
Weâre here to help because his staff clearly isnât.
But first, an important reminder on the question Donald didnât answer: how he will vote on the Florida abortion referendum. (He has been ducking this question since April.)
We worked to pin down reality so Donald Trump, bless his heart, doesnât have to. Here are the facts:
We had 12,000 and 15,000 people in Wisconsin and Michigan yesterday, respectively (Not 2,000.)
The ABC debate is September 10th. Not the 25th.
People have spoken to bigger crowds than Donald Trump. (Obama, Clinton, literally anyone at Lollapalooza, Coachella, the World Cupâ¦)
January 6th was decidedly nothing like MLKâs âI Have a Dreamâ speech. And Trump did not get a bigger crowd than Martin Luther King Jr. on that historic day.
There was famously not a âpeaceful transferâ of power after the 2020 election, which Donald Trump fought to overturn. (Famously.)
Five police officers died because of January 6th.
Donald Trump said he was off the trail this week because of the Democratic convention. (That convention is not happening this week.)
Trump said they have commercials at a level no one else does. (He is being drastically outspent on the airwaves.)
Governor Josh Shapiro is actually a great guy.
Project 2025 author Tom Homan, the âfatherâ of Trumpâs cruel child separation policy, is not a person to praise.
Jewish people should not âhave their head examinedâ for not supporting him. (Thatâs actually antisemitic.)
Trump said he was not complaining. He in fact very much was.
Trump does not know the difference between asylum seekers and an insane asylum.
Donald Trump does not âcherishâ the Constitution.
Abortion is not âless of an issueâ for voters. It is not âsubdued.â It is not a âsmall issueâ for voters, despite how much Donald Trump wants it to be.
Donald Trump did not answer the abortion question âvery well in the debate.â
Everybody did not want Roe v. Wade overturned. The American people do not support states banning abortion.
After-birth abortion does not exist.
Minnesota and Virginia are not the same. Â
Donald Trump doesnât know what progressive means.
Kamala Harris does not want to take away everyoneâs guns. Tim Walz is a gun owner.
Vice President Harris does not support an arms embargo on Israel.
Donald Trump could not remember Tim Walzâs name.
Donald Trumpâs tax cuts are not the biggest in history.
We donât know what âthe transgender became such a big thingâ is supposed to mean.
Donald Trump will cut Social Security â just like he proposed every year he was in office.
Government was not weaponized against Trump and Steve Bannon.
Mail ballots are secure.
We agree â Elon IS a different kind of guy.
There are no polls that say Donald Trump is going to win in a landslide.
The MAGA base is not 75% of the country.
Sometimes, campaigns can’t help themselves, and they lack the discipline to step back and let their opponent self-destruct.
This wasn’t a problem for the Harris-Walz campaign. They aren’t getting into the insult game or the tit-for-tat with Trump that he likes so much.
Donald Trump has been politically drowning since President Biden stepped aside and Vice President Harris entered the race. The moment that the Democratic coalition unified around Harris, the nation’s political gravity shifted, and Trump has been losing ground ever since.
The news conference was an attempt by a desperate candidate to get the momentum back. Kamala Harris could have made the mistake of jumping into the fray with Trump and coming down to his level.
She didn’t.
Donald Trump is drowning, and Harris will not rescue him.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association