Trump refuses to live in the shadow of the Democratic convention

Photo: Julia Nikhinson Associated Press Donald Trump held a campaign event Monday, Aug. 19, in York, Pennsylvania. The Democratic convention began the same day.

Fabien Deglise in Chicago

Published at 0:00 Analysis

• United States

As the Democratic National Convention has been in full swing in Chicago since Monday, Donald Trump is desperately trying to divert the spotlight from his new opponent, Kamala Harris, by multiplying attacks against her and press briefings throughout the week in several key states of this electoral campaign.

Monday evening, a few hours before the political high mass took off at the United Center in Chicago, the populist went to a small business in York, Pennsylvania, to talk about economics. An opportunity for him to once again define the democrat as a “communist” threat placed over the country, by repeatedly calling her “Comrade Kamala”. He claimed in passing that the father of the vice-president, an eminent professor of economics at Stanford University, is a “Marxist professor” who taught his daughter things well.

“I wonder if [the Democrats] knew that when they overthrew Joe Biden and had their coup,” he said, repeating a far-fetched accusation seeking to deny the legitimacy of the candidacy of Kamala Harris, which followed the decision taken by Joe Biden to withdraw from the electoral race on July 21. The vice president was officially entrusted with the mission of wearing the colors of her party, Tuesday evening, to the ecstasy and excitement, by the thousands of delegates from across the country gathered in Chicago.

“I wonder if they knew where she came from, what her ideology was. But you could see it a little bit through this weirdo,” Trump continued, speaking of his opponent’s father.

Since Sunday, Donald Trump has continued to attract attention. On his social network, he has posted several images generated by artificial intelligence and suggesting that he has received the support of Taylor Swift and the singer's fans in his new race to take over the keys to the White House. In 2020, Swift supported Joe Biden's candidacy and rejected Trump's radical conservatism. He also released a doctored image showing Kamala Harris speaking at a political rally under flags of the former Soviet Union.

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“It’s a circus, a clown show,” said Samir Qaisar, a Revolutionary Communist Party USA activist who came to demonstrate Monday outside the Democratic National Convention as part of a coalition of several political and social groups. “Kamala Harris is anything but a communist.” She is pro-capitalism, pro-Wall Street, pro-Israel — she is American imperialism personified. With his disinformation, Trump is complicating our work by confusing people.”

From Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon, the populist stayed the course by once again mocking Kamala Harris' laughter and portraying her as an inert politician in the face of rising crime in the United States. This trend, however, only seems to exist in Republican statements: after peaking under Donald Trump's government, crime has been falling in the country since 2022, according to the latest FBI data, and is now at its lowest in nearly 50 years.

Photo: Fabien Deglise Le Devoir

Des enfantillages

“There’s a sense of panic among Republicans about our growing movement,” said Conner Brumley, a young delegate from Kentucky whom we met on the floor of the Democratic convention. “My generation is exhausted by this polarization, this anger, this populism… We’re entering a historic moment for democracy, and they’re worried about it. We have a former president who was convicted of criminal charges, who continues to spew his hatred, his lies, and who attacks the foundations of democracy. Do we really want to be represented by him? ?”

The question seems to be being asked by several Republicans, who this week decided to converge on Washington to show their disavowal of a party that is under the thumb of Donald Trump, and this, by now supporting the candidacy of Kamala Harris.

On Monday night, at the opening of the convention, Rich Logis, a former Trump supporter who introduced himself as a “full-fledged member of MAGA,” the name of the movement created by Donald Trump, came to denounce him in a video message, accusing him of having “betrayed the country” by his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, it was the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, Republican John Giles, who spoke in favor of the vice president, preceding the former Republican representative of Illinois Adam Kinzinger, a strong critical voice of the ex-president, and Geoff Duncan, who was lieutenant governor of Georgia when Mr. Trump sought to reverse the result of the 2020 election in that state. The latter two have confirmed their presence in Chicago this week.

To this chorus of defections to the Democrats, retired conservative U.S. appeals court judge J. Michael Luttig added his voice in recent days by saying he would vote Democrat for the first time this year. “In the 2024 presidential election, there is only one political party and one presidential candidate who can stand as the defenders and protectors of American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law,” the man, appointed to the post under George Bush Sr., wrote in a public statement. “Accordingly, I will vote without hesitation for the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris.”

These plate movements also worry several allies of Donald Trump, who, last week, asked him to talk more about politics and limit personal attacks against his Democratic opponent.

< p>“I want our election campaign to lead us to victory,” former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said on Fox News. “But we won’t win by making crowd size comparisons. We won't win by talking about Kamala Harris' race,” recurring themes in Donald Trump's public statements. “The American people are intelligent. You have to respect your intelligence,” she added.

On Wednesday, the former president will continue his offensive against the Democratic National Convention by going to speak about national security at a rally in North Carolina alongside his running mate, J.D. Vance, before heading to Arizona on Thursday to cultivate the fear of immigration, which his party manages to exploit very well.

This report was financed with the support of the Journalism Fund international Transat- Duty .