When President Donald J. Trump takes the stage at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday afternoon, it will be captivating to see whether the president delivers a focused, clear message on economic policy and inflation – returning to his pre-Butler form – or will Trump continue to struggle less than a month after the assassination attempt on his life?
The main topic of the speech is the economy, with a particular focus on the fight against inflation. It will be delivered to a smaller audience than at a typical Trump rally. The Thomas Wolfe Auditoriumwhich is also home to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, has a maximum capacity of 2,431 seats, which is a rounding error compared to previous Trump events.
Trump’s election campaign has already paid off $82,247.60 for a two-day rental plus security and other services.
On the way to Asheville, home of a University of North Carolina Campus and other schools, Trump leads into the deep, dim heart of the left-wing resistance in western North Carolina.
If Trump’s staff and the president successfully conduct this phase of their campaign, this speech will be the beginning of a series of sedate political addresses.The President will focus on politics and his Agenda 47 while his running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), continues to stalk and harass Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor of Minnesota, Timothy Walz.
A central part of Trump’s campaign strategy is to constantly spread substance and thus create a contrast to the lack of substance of the opposition.
The Republican Party’s 2024 platform was a miniature document compared to other platforms, but behind the scenes the campaign has hundreds of pages of policy analysis and proposals that will be released over the next 80 days.
In this program, which still represents Trump’s definitive agenda, Chapter 1 is: “Defeat inflation and bring all prices down rapidly.” Chapter 3 is: “Build the greatest economy in history.”
In addition to the policy speeches, the Trump campaign plans to hold conference calls with its political experts. These conference calls are designed to give sedate political reporters plenty of material to digest, and surprise visits from the president and Vance are designed to spice up the content.
Trump World is convinced that Harris cannot keep up with her policies.
One month later
Trump joked that after the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, everyone said people thought he had changed, but he himself claimed that was not true.
It is uncomplicated to see that the president may not have been aware of the impact the shooting had on him.
There are reports that the president has had difficulties with donors and staff, which is to be expected from a man who had an extraordinary near-death experience.
Americans are used to Trump being Trump, but there is a human context that cannot be ignored.
What happened to Trump was not the same as someone getting caught in a rip current or slipping and almost falling down the stairs.
When the rooftop gunman fired eight shots, one of which struck the president’s right ear, Trump was in one of the safest cocoons imaginable. Surrounded by 150 federal and local law enforcement officers and thousands of his adoring supporters, Trump was shot dead on live television – the first time in years that CNN decided to broadcast a rally live.
In miniature, Trump is dealing with a near-death experience, but at the same time he has realized that it was not an accident. It was an attempted murder.
This realization needs to be processed, but instead of taking the time to do so, Trump headed straight to Milwaukee and the hustle and bustle of the Republican National Convention, with all of his time commitments and his need to lend a hand others feel better about what happened to him.
The shooting of Butler also took its toll on the Trump campaign team.
Yes, almost instantly the world saw that Trump was safe and sound, pumping his fist and shouting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” But for the friends and family of the campaign team, there was also news that people were injured and one of them was dead—was it their mother, their son, or their husband?
Nobody knew. Everything was about Trump, so people were waiting and this trauma had to be processed.
And then there are the campaign staff. The advance team, the travel package, the staff in Florida – all the people who put their lives on hold to lend a hand Trump return to the White House. While the nation narrowly avoided a potential civil war, the Trump campaign staff were narrowly away from becoming professional widows.
No one has had time to process this, but the calendar is ticking like clockwork. Election Day is November 5, with early voting in September.
There is an venerable English saying: “And the flood and the time that you had were, schal beon iblescet,” which Gary Martin translated into modern English: “The tide stays, waits for no one, stays with no one, neither tide nor time waits for no one.”
This brings us back to the present.
The turning point is today – or not
The goal of the Trump campaign leadership is to return to the disciplined, policy-oriented approach it pursued between the debate with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on June 27 and the shooting on July 13.
When Trump takes the stage, he will face teleprompters that will present him with a shorter script aimed at lowering prices and restarting the economy.
The plan is to give the speech a boost so that it lasts longer than previous one-off attacks.
Despite the daily figures, which can be presented as an improvement, the economy under Biden is still suffering from the 20 percent loss of purchasing power over the past three years and the high interest rates fueled by the Federal Reserve’s attempts to contain these prices.
Biden’s successor as Democratic presidential nominee, Harris, is giving her own speech on the economy in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday. This was unintentional, as Harris is giving a speech she canceled because of Tropical Storm Debby, so it’s a case of two campaigns colliding.
That doesn’t mean North Carolina isn’t in the game.
The Real Clear Politics moving average According to a poll, Trump is ahead of Harris with 48 percent and 45 percent.
If Harris’ momentum continues, it will be reflected in second-tier swing states like North Carolina, so tonight we’ll find out how Trump meets that challenge.
