TOPLINE
As his campaign grapples with devastating poll numbers, lagging fundraising and a major staffing reshuffle, Trump is increasingly using the White House’s bully pulpit to amplify his campaign’s message against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event about regulatory reform … [+] on the South Lawn of the White House on July 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. On Wednesday, President Trump announced a rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act. The administrations changes to the law aim to decrease the number of infrastructure projects that will be subject to federal NEPA review, hoping to shorten long permit processes and speed up approval. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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KEY FACTS
During a roundtable on Monday meant to highlight the contributions of law enforcement, Trump slammed Democrat-run cities for protests and recent upticks in violent crime and stated “if that’s what you want for a country you probably have to vote for sleepy Joe Biden.”
Trump doubled down on Monday during a Rose Garden speech to announce new punitive actions taken against China, tarring Biden’s record on China and declaring “Joe Biden’s entire career has been a gift to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Trump also claimed that the former vice president’s plan for net-zero carbon emissions for all new buildings by 2030 would “mean no windows, no nothing,” that he would “abolish the suburbs,” and that he has “gone so far right” (presumably intending to say left).
On Thursday, Trump once again hit at Biden during a speech focused on cutting regulations, asserting “our entire economy and our very way of life are threatened by Biden’s plan to transform our nation and subjugate our communities through the blunt force instrument of federal regulation.”
Trump also took aim at the recommendations made by the unity task forces created by Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for proposing re-entry into the Paris Climate Accord, which he called “job-killing” and “unfair,” and said would “cost our country trillions of dollars.”
Chief Critic
In a “fact-check” on Trump’s Rose Garden speech, the Biden campaign sought to parry Trump’s claims that Biden is soft on China while levying those same claims at Trump. “At every step of the way, Trump has failed America,” the statement said. “He failed our values when he endorsed the Chinese government’s repression of basic human rights and crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, he failed our workers with a bad trade deal, and he failed the American people when he refused to hold the Chinese government accountable for their misleading and incompetent response on COVID-19.”
Big Number
15%. Trump’s latest attacks on Biden come a day after Quinnipiac University released a poll of registered voters that showed Trump 15 points down nationally, down from an 8-point deficit in June.
News Peg
In addition to increasing his use of the bully pulpit as a campaign vehicle, Trump made a major campaign shake-up on Wednesday evening in an effort to reverse his flagging campaign’s course. Trump announced that campaign manager Brad Parscale–with whom he has reportedly had a sour relationship since his Tulsa rally in June garnered an underwhelming turnout–would be demoted to a senior advisor. Trump elevated veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien in his place.
What To Watch For
There’s scarce reason to suspect that Stepien’s appointment signals a major shift in strategy, which is reportedly determined primarily by Trump’s whims. In a statement on Thursday, Stepien praised the “unprecedentedly strong campaign” Parscale built with Trump, claiming “better fundraising” and a “better candidate,” even though Biden has outraised Trump two months in a row. Stepien also said he would “win more days” than Biden by “exposing him as a hapless tool of the extreme left,” largely in line with the message Trump has been pushing for months to no avail.
