Former President Donald Trump is employing one of his tried-and-true strategies to dim Vice President Kamala Harris’ postconvention glow: going full workhorse.
Out to prove age is just a number, the 78-year-old candidate has revved up his visits to the battleground states, sat down for interviews with popular podcasters and fueled his presence on X, the social media platform he previously used to circumvent the mainstream media.
His tweets are once again driving the television talk show conversations as he unleashes withering personal attacks against Ms. Harris and other political opponents, including the Department of Justice.
“While Kamala Harris hides in safe spaces and has dodged the press for 38 days, President Trump and Senator Vance have barnstormed the country, maintained an aggressive campaign schedule, and sat down for numerous interviews,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
Ms. Harris will answer the calls for an interview by sitting down Thursday with CNN’s Dana Bash. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will be at her side.
In their widespread events and TV news appearances, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance are working to define Ms. Harris as a flip-flopper who cannot be trusted. They dismiss the idea that she is ready to face the nation’s most significant challenges when she runs from the news media and has been President Biden’s sidekick for three-plus years.
Ms. Leavitt predicted that the “honeymoon is coming to an end as more and more Americans realize how dangerously liberal Kamala Harris truly is,” she said.
The more assertive approach is a marked departure from early August when Mr. Trump and his campaign grappled with the historic shake-up at the top of the Democratic ticket and juggling how best to handle Ms. Harris.
It also distances him from Ms. Harris’ disappearing act.
“By being everywhere and anywhere, he shows he has the courage and ability to stand up to the scrutiny of the news media,” said Steve Mitchell, a Michigan-based Republican Party strategist. “By doing so, he is contrasting himself with his opponent, who seems afraid to talk to anybody and won’t even do an interview with CNN without having her security blanket in the vice presidential candidate.
“He is trying to smoke her out to get her to do more interviews because his hope is that she is going to become, as one person on the street called her the other day, ‘Lettuce head’ — speaking only in lettuce and word salads,” Mr. Mitchell said.
With nine weeks until the election, Ms. Harris has seized the momentum in the race.
Since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, she has erased Mr. Trump’s lead in battleground state polls and raised $540 million, including $82 million during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week.
Republican Party strategist John Feehery said Mr. Trump has plenty of time to change the trajectory of the race.
“Elections really start after Labor Day, no matter what all the smart people think,” Mr. Feehery said. “So it makes total sense for him to hit it hard now.”
He said Mr. Trump is a master of dominating earned media and will continue to push that advantage.
“Kamala might have the media on her side, reflexively, but nobody plays the media better than Trump,” Mr. Feehery said. “He is relentless.”
Ms. Harris faces mounting criticism — fed by Mr. Trump, his allies and a frustrated Washington press corps — over her refusal to engage with the news media, expand on her policy visions and interact with voters in less choreographed ways.
For the first time since the convention in Chicago, Ms. Harris returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday with a bus tour of southern Georgia. It culminates with a rally in Savannah and the CNN interview.
Her next scheduled events are on Monday, when she has a Labor Day campaign event in Detroit and a joint appearance with Mr. Biden in Pittsburgh.
Mr. Trump traveled last week to Pennsylvania to discuss the economy, Michigan to focus on crime and safety, North Carolina to talk about national security, Arizona to highlight the border and Nevada to promote his no-tax-on-tips pledge.
This week, he started by addressing the National Guard Association’s conference in Detroit.
While there, he received the endorsement of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat. Days earlier, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hopped aboard the Trump train.
Mr. Trump plans to return to Michigan on Thursday to discuss the economy, inflation and manufacturing at a metal service center. He is also scheduled to hold a town hall event in Wisconsin.
From there, he plans to hold a rally in Pennsylvania before heading to Washington to speak at the “Joyful Warrior” summit hosted by Moms for Liberty, a conservative group.
Republican Party strategist Kevin Sheridan said the Trump campaign’s more aggressive approach carries both risk and reward.
On the one hand, he said, it “cements the idea that you’re the hardest-working band on the scene,” and on the other hand, the “downside is going off message at your fifth rally of the week and losing a few media cycles.”
“It’s a second-tier vibe issue, but it could matter in a close election when Kamala and Walz are hiding,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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