New old tactics against Harris Trump chooses the frontal attack

While his advisors are urging him to focus on issues such as inflation or immigration, Donald Trump is openly going for confrontation against Kamala Harris: this already worked well for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Donald Trump is unhappy, write the Washington Post and the New York Times: while Kamala Harris' campaign is picking up speed, his advisors are urging him to focus on substantive issues. Inflation and immigration are issues on which his opponent could stumble. But the 78-year-old won't listen: He has his own plans.

Trump opts for a frontal attack on Harris and her designated deputy Tim Walz. He calls his opponent a "socialist", a "Bolshevik", a "Marxist" and , paradoxically, a "fascist" at the same time. "Comrade Kamala" is a "radical", is the message of his campaign.

In this election campaign, Trump is also deliberately hitting deep below the belt as time goes on. The New Yorker uses a highly controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery to blame Harris, in the presence of bereaved families, for the deaths of soldiers killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"Totally new level"

Trump calls Harris "crazy", "nuts" and "dumb as a rock". He doubts her skin color and identity. The father of five caused outrage when he posted a tasteless Truth Social post. Under the black and white picture of Harris and Hillary Clinton is the comment: "Funny how oral sex has affected their careers differently."

This is a "whole new level" of sexism, Anderson Cooper is gobsmacked. Furthermore, the CNN presenter reports almost incredulously that Trump has distributed QAnon subjects and a picture showing Joe Biden, his son Hunter, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci in prison garb.

Why is Trump behaving like this even though his opponents advise him against personal attacks? On the one hand, the Republican wants to drive people to the polls through "feelings of existential rage". On the other hand, he is trying to tarnish Harris' image in swing states in this way.

The same pattern as Hillary Clinton

"It makes a certain amount of sense to throw everything he can at Harris," analyzes CNN. In the northern swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump has never received more than 49 percent. It could therefore do more good to destructively break the Democrats' momentum than to hope to tap into new groups of voters there.

The 78-year-old is likely to remember that this tactic brought him his only electoral success to date in 2016: Hillary Clinton got it on her own body too late. The parallels begin with the mere mention of her first name and end in very personal attacks.

Ticker for the US election campaignNow live: Trump addresses the media ++ Harris ahead in polls

"In a way, she's a monster," Trump said about his rival eight years ago. "The legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, chaos and weakness. She is weak. She's a weak person. I know her." Sexism and vulgar remarks were also a topic and cause for criticism back then.

"The next two months will be brutal"

Trump wants to break the Democrats' momentum with power, but at the same time he also has to take countermeasures: The fact that he is now surprisingly in favor of having artificial insemination paid for by the state is likely to be an attempt to make up ground with the female electorate, who in particular are unlikely to appreciate the hard line against Harris.

The New Yorker can still turn the tide. "Don't be fooled," Harris campaign chief Jennifer O'Malley Dillion wrote to her fellow campaigners: "The next 65 days are going to be very tough. This race will remain incredibly close, and it will take extra work to [convince] the voters who decide this election."

And CNN predicts: "The next two months are likely to be brutal."