In the heart of South Florida, former president Donald Trump made himself available Thursday to a group of journalists at his Mar-a-Lago resort, surprisingly lauding President Joe Biden as a formidable candidate and aggressively condemning Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumed Democratic nominee.
“[Biden] had a rough debate but that doesn’t mean you take it away like that. He had 14 million votes, [Harris] has no votes,” Trump passionately shared in regard to the primary races, cracking down on her proclaimed failures as a leader.
Since Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and officially endorsed Harris, Republicans have launched attacks on her character, identity and achievements as a representative for the state of California.
“She was appointed to head the border but she never went there,” Trump said. “She destroyed San Francisco and destroyed California as the [attorney general].”
The statements have gained traction far and wide but also deterrence from the Harris campaign which says she was appointed to curb immigration from Central Americans in March of 2021. Statistics show that immigration is down to its lowest in three years since June.
Despite the point of contention, Trump has declared Harris as “incompetent.”
“If she becomes president, our country will be a giant fail,” the former president stated before hammering down on his ability to connect with Black voters.
Trump has a clear lead in NPR, CNBC and BBC polls as of Aug. 8 and credits the success to the support of Black males, Jewish people and the Hispanic population.
“I was doing well with Black voters and still will. It’s possible that I won’t do as well with Black women,” Trump told journalists, adding that he is “going to give them security, safety and jobs.”
His most polarizing statement referred to the economy with projections that the country is on the verge of a “depression not a recession” that minority communities cannot afford to withstand.
“People are voting with their stomachs, meaning they’re going to the grocery store, they’re paying 50, 60, 70% more on food than they did just a couple years ago,” Trump asserted.
He criticized Biden’s decision to unleash oil reserves to combat rising gas prices stating resources are “meant for tragedy not votes for Biden and Kamala.”
Trump lauded tax cuts he instituted in 2017 that cut in the corporate tax rate “from 35% to 21%” and a shift toward a territorial tax system, which exempts certain foreign income of multinational corporations from tax and a 20% deduction for pass-through income according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
He projected economic fear for the future stating, “If they don’t renew them [tax cuts], it’s the equivalent of having a four times tax increase.”