Washington:

US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris appears to be taking a leaf out of rival Donald Trump’s playbook by focusing on evoking emotion, rather than explaining policy, on the campaign trail — and she’s hoping her appeal to “joy” will help her beat the Republican at his own game.

Since taking over from President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s ticket in July, Harris has had to run her campaign in fast-forward, with just months to go before the November election.

With few exceptions she has avoided press conferences, interviews and lengthy discussions on policy. Instead, her official coronation at the Democratic National Convention focused on one pervasive theme: “joy.”

And the vibe-heavy approach appears to be working.

While Biden was lagging behind Trump, Harris has pulled back into the race, with the two candidates running neck-and-neck in six key battleground states, according to the latest polls. 

The shift to evoking a primarily emotional message, experts say, is effective political strategy.

“We think we think like scientists, carefully and objectively weighing the evidence and facts before us,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a communications professor at Texas A&M University.

“But we actually think like lawyers, building a case for our preferred position.”

The appeal to so-called emotional truths — things that “feel true,” even if they are not rooted in empirical evidence — is powerful, she said. 

“When speakers try to persuade based on affective truth it’s harder to hold them accountable because it’s difficult to argue against a feeling.”

Moving away from Biden

The shift from Biden’s campaign — which presented an argument based heavily on Trump being “a threat to democracy” — has been striking.

Since he dropped out, a New York Times/Siena poll “found that anger and resignation had been subsiding among voters of both parties, while joy had jumped.”

Mashail Malik, an assistant professor of government at Harvard University, said Harris’s shift can be explained by the “exhaustion” that negative emotions can cause.

“I think fear was failing to fully inspire a wider range of potential Democratic voters, many of whom are exhausted from the negativity that had so overtaken the news cycle,” she said. 

“The messaging about joy seems designed to alleviate some of this exhaustion and to offer an alternative to fear.”

Moreover, she argues, it offers a way for Harris to differentiate herself from her current boss Biden.

That gets much harder when drilling down on issues, rather than atmospherics.

On US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, for example, Harris has tried to satisfy Democratic critics mostly through a shift in tone on the massive loss of civilian Palestinian life. That, however, is not likely to heal the small but significant rift in the party.

Trump’s appeals

Republican candidate Trump has been using appeals to emotions for years, with his speeches often heavy on rhetoric and light on facts — or filled with outright fictions.

This campaign, the former president has focused on what he calls an “invasion” of migrants into the United States. He calls US cities “war zones.”

“Kamala Harris will deliver crime, chaos, destruction and death,” he said in a recent campaign speech in Michigan. 

In an August 27 interview with talk show host Phil McGraw, Trump repeated a frequent line from his stump speech: “If she wins, they’re going to destroy our country.”

The apocalyptic messaging might be misleading but it speaks to emotions that Trump’s supporters consider true.

Malik said Trump’s appeals to pride and resentment are “very similar to populist leaders around the world, including not only in Europe but also in Latin America and South Asia.”

“It’s a familiar story,” she said. “And it usually doesn’t end well.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Donald Trump has revealed his initial plans, should he be voted to power in the 2024 US presidential election. Mr Trump said he will set up a task force shortly after assuming office, aimed at conducting a thorough financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.

Donald Trump went on to say that once the audit is complete, the new task force will then make recommendations for drastic reforms, which he believes, is the need of the hour.

Elaborating his plan about the committee and who will head it, Donald Trump said that SpaceX, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk shall head the task force, adding that Mr Musk has already agreed to take up the responsibility. A video of Donald Trump announcing this was shared on social media website X by local media outlet CSpan News Network.

Elon Musk too, welcomed Donald Trump’s decision stating that such a move is “badly needed.”

This is badly needed https://t.co/H9AKYbDssZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2024

Talking more about his plans for the United States, Mr Trump said he aims to “Make America the world’s capital for crypto and bitcoin.” He also said he plans to eliminate at least ten old regulations and will bring in ten new ones to replace them.

Addressing the Economic Club of New York, Donald Trump said on September 5, “To stop this onslaught at lower prices, I’m pledging today that in my second term we will eliminate a minimum of ten old regulations. For every one new regulation, we’ll be able to do that quite easily. Actually, and instead of attacking industries of the future, we will embrace them, including making America the world capital for crypto and bitcoin.”

Donald Trump heaped praise on Elon Musk saying, “At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement, that’s a nice smart guy. He knows what he’s doing. Very much appreciated. I will create a Government Efficiency Commission task with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms we need to do. It can’t go on the way we are now. And Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force, be interesting if he has the time be good one to do it, but he’s agreed,” Donald Trump said.

“At the suggestion of @elonmusk…I will create a Government Efficiency Commission tasked with conducting a complete financial & performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. And Elon…has agreed to head that task force.” pic.twitter.com/ep2WU9ySRT

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 5, 2024

Mr Trump spoke about how improper and fraudulent payments cost US taxpayers an estimated “hundreds of billions of dollars” in 2022. He announced that the commission will create an action plan to eliminate payments within months and added that it will “save trillions of dollars”, according to the video posted by CSpan on X.

Donald Trump said, “In 2022, fraud and improper payments alone cost taxpayers an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars. As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars trillions. It’s massive for the same service that you have right now, trillions of dollars is wasted and gone, and nobody knows where it went further, taming inaction and bringing prices way down.”

He also pledged to make ‘Trump tax cuts’ permanent and announced that there will be no tax on tips. He alleged that US Vice President Kamala Harris copied his plan and announced to impose no tax on tips. He claimed that Kamala Harris will not move ahead with it and will stick to her plan.

Mr Trump said, “The 5th pillar of my plan is to make the Trump tax cuts permanent. They are massive tax cuts, biggest ever permanent and to cut tax even more, and we will have no tax on tips, something which they copied four weeks after I said it. She got upset and said no tax on tips. I said I just said that she is actually copying a lot of my plan. In fact, we’re going to send her a MAGA sometime in the next week….But we also know she doesn’t mean it. She’s going to stick with what has been about and also no tax on Social security benefits.”

Pledging to save social security, Donald Trump said that he will not impose tax on the benefits of people in social security, stressing that they have been wiped out by inflation.

Mr Trump said, “People in social security have been wiped out by inflation and now on top of it, we tax their benefits. We’re not going to tax their benefits. We have so many different ways of making so much money. This country, the potential is so incredible. We don’t have to take it away from people on social security. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to save social security. She’s going to destroy Social Security.”

The former US President said that his administration has proved that targeted tax cuts do not increase the deficit. He said that it reduces the deficit by growing the economy and raising revenue, according to the video posted by CSpan on X.

He said, “After we gave the massive tax cuts, we took in the following year with a much lower rate. Billions and billions of dollars more than we did the previous year with a high rate, think of that. So, with a much lower rate, we took in more money because people were incentivised.”

Speaking about reducing the corporate tax burden, Mr Trump said he plans to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 15 per cent for companies that make their product in the US.

“Corporate tax revenues are 31 per cent higher today than before, my tax law was signed with all of those cuts 31 percent higher. To further support the revival of American manufacturing, my plan calls for expanded R&D tax credits, 100 percent bonus depreciation, expensing for no manufacturing investments, and a reduction in corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 per cent solely for companies that make their product in America,” he said.

Responding to the video which shows Donald Trump announcing his plans, Elon Musk took to X to post, “This is badly needed.”
 

Washington:

President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail together for the first time Monday, in a public display of unity after she replaced him as candidate and revived Democratic election hopes.

To mark the Labor Day holiday, the pair were set to attend an event with union members in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Biden, 81, bowed out of the presidential race in late July under mounting pressure after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

His rapid endorsement of Vice President Harris, 59, saw her shore up party support and she became the formal Democratic nominee just weeks later.

Riding a wave of fresh enthusiasm, she has held packed rallies in key swing states across the country and raked in cash donations for the final two-month stretch of the campaign.

Polls show her entry improving the party’s chances at defeating Republican Trump, but with the race still neck and neck.

Before her event with Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris spoke to another union crowd in Detroit, Michigan, seeking to boost support from working-class voters that Trump claims as his base.

Flanked by leaders of the national teachers and autoworkers unions, Harris told the Detroit crowd that Trump “intends to pull us back, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize.”

“We’re not going back!” the crowd chanted, using one of her campaign slogans.

Trump took the weekend off from campaigning, and did not have public events scheduled Monday.

“For a candidate that claims to be rallying the support of workers, why is Donald Trump M.I.A. on Labor Day?” the Harris campaign needled in a statement.

The Republican, in a post on his Truth Social platform, touted his first term economic record and accused Harris and Biden of having “undone all of that.”

– Swing states –

Harris last appeared with Biden after his speech two weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

As she works to define her platform, the vice president has sought to promise change, while avoiding criticism of Biden’s tenure.

On the issue of organized labor, she has tied herself closely to Biden.

“The most pro-labor administration in history, under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, support for union membership has grown to its highest level in half a century,” her campaign said in a statement.

Harris has faced scrutiny for pivoting from liberal positions she ran on when competing against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020.

Harris had previously pledged to ban fracking — a major source of income in Pennsylvania — but now has ruled that out.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that will decide the election, and is viewed as possibly the one on which the outcome will hinge.

In Pittsburgh on Monday, Harris and Biden will speak at a union hall where they will meet local members.

Harris is expected to say that Pittsburgh-headquartered US Steel — which Japan’s Nippon Steel is seeking to buy — should remain domestically owned, a campaign official said.

Monday’s joint appearance with Biden is also seen as launching the two-month sprint to the November vote, with Labor Day marking the traditional end to the US summer.

Earlier Monday, Harris joined Biden at the White House for a briefing on hostages and ceasefire negotiations in the Israel-Hamas war.

Six hostages were killed in Gaza over the weekend, including a US citizen.

Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, separately campaigned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Potterville:

Donald Trump said Thursday he would have the government or insurance companies cover the cost of in-vitro fertilization for “all Americans who need it” in a second term — although he declined to say how he would pay for it.

Reproductive rights have been a major vulnerablity for the Republican White House nominee ever since the Supreme Court gutted federal protections for abortion access in 2022.

Trump’s weakness was further exacerbated after an Alabama court ruled in February that frozen embryos created via IVF should be considered children.

Trump said he supported IVF after several clinics paused their care following the Alabama decision.

“I’m announcing today in a major statement that, under the Trump administration, your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment,” he told a rally in Potterville, Michigan.

He offered no detail on how his proposal would work, including how it would be funded, but when the announcement was previewed in an interview with NBC ahead of the event, Trump said one option would be to have insurance companies pay “under a mandate.”

Experts say the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling effectively granted states the final say on questions of personhood, paving the way for wide-reaching impacts on other areas of reproductive health, including IVF.

Few Americans have insurance plans that cover fertility treatments in any case, with costs of $20,000 or more for a single, 18-month round of IVF treatment too expensive for many.

The ex-president added that under a second Trump term, new parents would be able to deduct “major newborn expenses” from their tax bill, proclaiming that “we’re pro-family.”

Although his support for IVF has been consistent since the February ruling, Trump claimed numerous ideological positions on abortion before settling on his current view that the legalities around the procedure should be up to the states.

He told NBC News in 1999 he was “very pro-choice” before announcing he was “pro-life” in 2011 and that women who seek abortions should get “some form of punishment” in 2016.

Trump has taken credit for installing the Supreme Court justices who struck down federal abortion rights, and signaled Thursday how he may vote in a Florida referendum this fall which seeks to reverse his home state’s six-week ban.

“I want more than six weeks,” he told the Daily Mail. “I think six weeks is a mistake. And I’ll be expressing that soon, but I want more than six weeks.”

Trump and his election rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, are campaigning in swing states this week as they embark on the most intense phase of the campaign.

Harris, rallying in Savannah, Georgia, told supporters Trump would sign a national abortion ban into law if he won.

“Ours is a fight for the future. And it is a fight for freedom. Like the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body, and not have her government tell her what to do,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris launched a $50 million advertising blitz on Tuesday, capitalizing on the momentum of a fledgling campaign against Republican rival Donald Trump with a one-minute spot titled “Fearless.”

It was Harris’ first big ad buy since consolidating support for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed her.

In addition to garnering the backing of big-money donors, Harris has sparked newfound energy among groups such as young voters that Biden had been struggling to win over.

Public opinion polls in the last week have shown Harris, 59, closing the gap with 78-year-old Trump, who still leads in some national surveys.

The ads will be rolled out on television as well as streaming and social channels across election battleground states in the weeks before the Democratic National Convention that starts on Aug. 19.

The first ad in the campaign begins with images of Harris as a little girl and follows her progression to a prosecutor, attorney general and U.S. vice president. “The one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless,” the ad says.

Since stepping into her new role, Harris has focused on Trump’s felony convictions in a hush-money trial involving a porn star and the other criminal charges he faces, and portrayed him as responsible for a wave of anti-abortion measures in Republican-led states around the country.

The Harris campaign’s ad buy dwarfed the $10 million advertising buy announced by Trump’s campaign on Monday, to be launched in six battleground states this week as it tries to counter a surge of voter enthusiasm and donations for Harris.

That was Trump’s biggest ad buy since January.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Donald Trump’s advantage over Kamala Harris on the economy and crime is eroding among U.S. voters, a sign the Democratic vice president’s campaign is gathering momentum ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The three-day poll, conducted Aug. 23-25, showed Republican former President Trump’s approach to the economy and employment was preferred by 43% of registered voters compared to 40% who preferred Harris’s approach. The 3 percentage point difference was too small to be significant given the poll’s 4 percentage point margin of error. A prior Reuters/Ipsos poll in late July showed Trump with an 11-point advantage on the economy.

On crime and corruption, Harris and Trump were tied with 40% support for each, showing more movement toward Harris, who trailed Trump by 5 points in the July poll.

Recent national polls have shown Harris building a small lead over Trump since she entered the race on July 21 following President Joe Biden’s decision to fold his campaign. The Reuters/Ipsos poll from late July showed Harris up by 1 point, 43% to 42%.

It remains to be seen how the race will be affected by independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision on Friday to suspend his campaign. Kennedy, who had attracted the support of about 8% of voters in a July poll, subsequently endorsed Trump.

Trump’s campaign speeches frequently criticize the Biden administration’s management of the economy as households continue to feel the sting of several years of high inflation. Harris has pledged to get prices under control through efforts like cracking down on “price gouging” by grocers.

The new poll showed the economy was the biggest issue for 26% of registered voters, compared to 22% who picked political extremism and threats to democracy and 13% who picked immigration.

Voters picked Harris over Trump on the issue of extremism by 42% to 36%. Trump had an advantage on immigration policy, picked by 45% of voters compared to Harris’ 37%.

Neither of the two candidates is broadly liked, with 59% of voters saying they have an unfavorable view of Trump and 52% saying the same of Harris. Harris was viewed favorably by 47% of voters, compared to 39% for Trump. 

The poll gathered responses online from 1,028 adults nationwide, including 902 registered voters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to drop out of the race for the White House, US media reported on Wednesday, with the independent candidate due to make a major address later in the week.

The New York Times and CNN reported that Kennedy, whose support was at 8.7 percent in a nationwide poll by The Hill this week, would back Republican nominee Donald Trump upon dropping out.

Analysts say that in the tight race between the Democratic Party’s Kamala Harris and Trump for the presidency, the votes of Kennedy’s supporters could determine the outcome in some battleground states.

Kennedy, the scion of America’s most famous political clan, is an environmental lawyer and long-time vaccine skeptic whose campaign struggled to gain traction with mainstream voters.

On Wednesday, his campaign said he would make an address to the nation on Friday from the swing state of Arizona, where Trump is also due to hold a campaign event that day.

“Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will address the nation live on Friday about the present historical moment and his path forward,” read a brief statement from RFK Jr.’s campaign.

The New York Times on Wednesday cited three anonymous sources as saying Kennedy would end his campaign and potentially endorse Trump.

CNN cited two anonymous sources who reported Kennedy was expected to suspend his campaign on Friday.

AFP has reached out to Kennedy’s campaign for comment on the reports. 

In a podcast interview this week, Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan hinted that he could withdraw in favor of Trump.

The Republican nominee told CNN on Tuesday that he would “certainly” be open to Kennedy playing a role in his administration if he was elected.

“He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy,” Trump told CNN. “I’ve known him for a very long time.

“I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”

Known for sometimes bizarre pronouncements and for spreading often dangerous health-related conspiracy theories, Kennedy has faced a number of setbacks in his electoral campaign.

This month, a judge in New York claimed that Kennedy had falsely claimed residency in the state and barred him from ballots there.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chicago:

He met Kamala Harris on a blind date, and on Tuesday her husband Doug Emhoff tried to convince Americans to love her too after an equally whirlwind introduction. The first “Second Gentleman” in US history wooed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a speech that highlighted the human side of the party’s presidential nominee.

Delegates chanted “Doug” as the 59-year-old — who gave up his high-flying legal career to support Harris as vice president — regaled them with the tale of how they met and how she then became the stepmother to his kids.

“I love you and I’m so proud of how you’re stepping up for all of us,” Emhoff said.

And he said their personal history showed she was ready to be the country’s first female commander-in-chief — which would make him its first ever First Gentleman.

“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at an important time in my life. At this moment in this nation’s history she is exactly the right president.”

Harris posted a picture of herself on Air Force Two, watching him speak while she returned from a rally in Milwaukee. “Love you Dougie,” she wrote.

‘Heyyyy, it’s Doug’

The Harris campaign regards Emhoff as something of a secret weapon, a ready-made speaker who can familiarize Americans with the vice president after her rapid rise following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.

He has taken a very visible role as cheerleader-in-chief for his 59-year-old wife ever since Biden first picked her as his running mate back in 2020.

More recently, the father-of-two has been her attack dog against Donald Trump as the Republican former president unleashes personal and racially tinged insults at the Democrat.

But his speech in Chicago focused on the personal as much as the political.

As the crowd waved “Doug” signs, Emhoff told the story of how he and Harris were set up on a blind date by one of his legal clients.

The day after, Emhoff called Harris early in the morning, got her answerphone and “just started rambling. ‘Heyyyy, it’s Doug… I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth.”

Harris, however, thought the message was “adorable”, saved it, and they married the following year. Now she plays the message to him every anniversary, he said.

“This Thursday will be our 10th wedding anniversary… that same night I’ll be hearing my wife, Kamala Harris accept your nomination for President of the United States.”

‘Momala’

Their marriage made Kamala Harris a stepmother to Emhoff’s then-teenage children Cole and Ella — who both dubbed her “Momala”.

Cole Emhoff introduced him on stage, after narrating a video showing snapshots from Emhoff’s life and gently ribbing his dad.

His son said their “blended family wasn’t used to politics,” but when Harris became first a California senator and then vice president, they all stepped up.

“It felt like Doug was a bit out of place on Capitol Hill, I thought ‘what is my goofy dad doing here?’ But he embraced it.”

Emhoff himself has admitted that it didn’t all come easily, especially when he took a leave of absence from his entertainment law job, which was earning him around $1 million a year.

Biden helped him at the time, saying to him “I know this must have been tough.”

Since then, Kamala has called Emhoff her rock as Harris blazed a trail as the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history

He too set a milestone, becoming the first ever Jewish spouse of a US president or vice president.

Under the Biden administration, Emhoff took on an increasingly high profile role, giving speeches calling out anti-Semitism after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.

He also performed ceremonial duties including leading the US delegation at the closing of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But for one person at least, Emhoff doesn’t take the back seat.

“My mother is the only person in the whole world who thinks Kamala is the lucky one for marrying me,” he quipped.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

US Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamal Harris has thanked US President Joe Biden for his “lifetime of service” to the nation. Addressing the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Indian-origin leader said the country was “forever grateful” to the 81-year-old for his leadership.

“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president, Joe Biden. Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation. We are forever grateful to you,” she said in a surprise speech on the first day of the party’s convention. 

The 59-year-old leader is expected to officially accept her nomination for the November US elections at the convention. 

Usually, the presidential nominees deliver their remarks on the final day of the convention. But Harris broke with tradition and was greeted by loud cheers from the crowd.

“People from every corner of our country and every walk of life are here and this November we will come together and declare with one voice that we are moving forward. Let us always remember — when we fight, we win,” she said.

At the end of the four-day convention, which concludes on August 22, Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be nominated as the Democratic candidates for US’ president and vice president.

Biden is expected to deliver a ‘swan song’ address and endorse his deputy against Donald Trump, the former US President.

Former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also expected to speak. The Democrats will also honour Hilary Clinton, their official candidate who lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 US Presidential Elections.

Washington:

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump will hold a press conference at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday, his latest effort to steal the spotlight back from Democratic rival Kamala Harris, who has dominated headlines since her late entry into the race.

Trump’s event is aimed at drawing a contrast with Vice President Harris, who has rarely taken questions from reporters since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in late July. Harris has said she plans to do her first formal press interview by the end of the month.

Trump held a similar press event at his Florida resort last week, where he spoke for more than an hour, bashing Harris over immigration and the economy and falsely claiming that his campaign crowds have been much larger than hers.

The Harris campaign sent out a mock “media advisory” for Trump’s press conference on Thursday with the headline, “Donald Trump to Ramble Incoherently and Spread Dangerous Lies in Public, but at Different Home,” a reference to his Bedminster estate.

Hours earlier, the Trump campaign announced five hires, including Corey Lewandowski, who served as Trump’s first campaign manager during his successful 2016 campaign. Lewandowski voiced his excitement on joining the campaign, posting on X: “Let Trump, Be Trump!”

It was not immediately clear what those additions would mean for the campaign’s day-to-day operations and hierarchy. One campaign official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters, said the campaign needed more “soldiers” in the race’s closing months and that the hires were not indicative of any broader shakeup.

“Corey Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, Alex Pfeiffer, Alex Bruesewitz, and Tim Murtaugh are all veterans of prior Trump campaigns and their unmatched experience will help President Trump prosecute the case against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the most radical ticket in American history,” Trump co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

Budowich was most recently the executive director of MAGA Inc, the main outside super PAC supporting Trump’s bid, while Pfeiffer served as the communications director there. It is common for staff to move between campaigns and their affiliated super PACs, as it can allow each organization to have greater visibility into the other operations. Legally, campaigns and super PACs have limits on how much they can coordinate.

Bruesewitz is a pro-Trump political consultant known for his social media savvy, and Murtaugh was communications director of Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 bid.

Lewandowski was forced out of Trump’s 2016 bid in the months before the election, though Trump later said he regretted it. Lewandowski was later forced out of a pro-Trump super PAC in 2021 after a donor’s wife accused him of unwanted sexual advances.

Trump intends to use Thursday’s press conference to criticize Harris over inflation and the economy, a campaign official said.

His campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday also was billed as being focused on the economy, but Trump veered a number of times into other topics and personal attacks on Harris.

Harris is scheduled to deliver a speech on economic policy on Friday in North Carolina.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)