Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Chicago most of the week ahead of formally accepting her party’s presidential nomination on Thursday night of the Democratic National Convention that began on Monday. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), intend to keep busy while the DNC is taking place.
The Trump-Vance campaign unveiled a strategy on Sunday to “barnstorm” key battleground states and criticize Vice President Kamala Harris’s “failed record” as part of a series of events scheduled from Monday through Friday. On Monday, Trump will address economic and energy issues in York, Pennsylvania, while Vance will hold a similar event in Philadelphia. On Tuesday, the focus will shift to crime and safety, with Trump hosting an event in Detroit and Vance in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
On Wednesday, Trump and Vance will join forces for a national security event in Asheboro, North Carolina. Thursday will see Trump hosting an immigration-focused event in Montezuma Pass, Arizona, while Vance will hold a similar event in Valdosta, Georgia. On Friday, Trump is scheduled to lead a rally in Glendale, Arizona at 4 p.m. local time and a “No Tax On Tips” event in Las Vegas.
The campaign also listed other events taking place in cities across the battleground states with the same themes as the main events of that day. Trump campaign “allies” will hold daily press conferences in Chicago from Monday through Thursday.
“At the DNC, Kamala Harris will hide behind celebrities because everyday families know that she has been an absolute disaster for our nation, and real Americans are worse off now than four years ago,” noted Trump Campaign Senior Advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles in a statement. “Harris has failed to answer media questions for 28 days because she can’t explain away her record of supporting policies that cause inflation, bans on private health insurance, destroying American energy, and higher taxes.”
Their statement noted further: “As they meet Americans where they are in battleground states across the country, President Trump and Senator Vance will remind voters that under their leadership, we can end inflation, protect our communities from violent criminals, secure the border, and Make America Great Again.”
The Democratic National Convention runs from Monday through Thursday. President Joe Biden is set to speak, along with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will deliver his vice-presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday, while Kamala Harris will formally accept the presidential nomination and address the convention on Thursday night.
Biden will be giving a headliner speech at the Democratic National Convention on its opening night on Monday, but he’s not sticking around to watch his vice president, Kamala Harris, formally be nominated later this week. Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza speculated that Biden’s frustration with having been forced out of his reelection bid is driving his decision to leave the DNC right after his speech.
As reported by The Washington Post, Biden is scheduled to address the convention on its first night before heading to a vacation in California. Cillizza pointed out that Biden is speaking on “the least desirable night” and suggested that the president’s anger stems from the pressure to withdraw from his reelection campaign, which he views as an unsatisfactory end to his decades-long political career.
“I know the storyline coming out of that July 21st announcement was that he did what was good for the country, he put country over party. Sort of. I think it’s really important to be transparent about what happened,” Cillizza said. “Joe Biden had a terrible debate; it was clear he was not going to be able to win the race…And then he dropped out. And he dropped out because he was under massive pressure to drop out.”
“The party has rapidly moved on. That’s not an easy thing for Joe Biden to deal with, right? All of a sudden, he was losing the race and now Kamala Harris is winning the race. Democratic base voters were totally unenthused about him and now they’re super enthused,” he added. “If you are a human being, you understand why that would be difficult to grapple with. Joe Biden has been in politics since the early 1970s — 50 years. This is not how he wanted the last chapter of that book to go. He did not want the last chapter, one of the last big speeches he gives, to be on the first night of the Democratic National Convention and he is pissed because he feels as though he was pushed.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.