Trump launches campaign blitz on the economy during Democratic convention

Former President Donald Trump launched a week of counterprogramming on Monday to make a mostly economic case against Vice President Kamala Harris as Democrats gather in Chicago, Illinois, to officially anoint Harris their presidential nominee.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, will visit each of the seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — with speeches focused on the economy, immigration and crime.
Meanwhile, “Trump campaign allies” will hold daily press conferences in the Windy City to pin the blame for high border crossings and the rising cost of living on Harris, who has, in turn, tried to come out in front of attacks with a newly revealed economic agenda.
But Harris’ proposals appear to have just added content for criticism from Republicans and others. The Democratic candidate says she will build on President Joe Biden’s proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy, increase subsidies for affordable housing, expand a cap on insulin prices and ban food “price gouging.” The Washington Post editorial board called Harris’ promises of price controls on groceries, rents and prescriptions “populist gimmicks.”
Harris’ policies are likely to lead to even higher inflation for Americans, according to Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who stood in front of signs highlighting grocery price increases at the Trump campaign’s first Chicago press conference on Monday morning.
“Her idea of having basic price controls, it’s never worked anywhere. This is pure socialism,” Scott said. “Socialism is death, destruction, shortages, and that’s exactly what will happen if Harris is elected.”
Scott predicted a recession if Harris is elected, pointing to Biden administration policies that may have contributed to higher energy prices and more burdensome regulations. Scott, the former CEO of one of the largest health care companies in the country, and Johnson, the former CEO of a plastics manufacturing company, both argued that the White House needed leadership from someone with a business background to address the problems afflicting the economy.
“I don’t think we can overstate the importance of the contrast between people who have the experience in the private sector, who know how the economy works, and career politicians, who don’t have a clue,” Johnson said. “Business is hard. And to understand that and to have sympathy for it is what is required in governmental leadership.”
Harris, a prosecutor by trade, worked in municipal attorneys offices before being elected as district attorney of San Francisco, 20 years ago. She later served as the elected attorney general of California and a U.S. Senator. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach, and served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, before being elected to the U.S. House.
Since becoming her party’s prospective nominee for president (Harris will officially accept the nomination Thursday), Harris has yet to participate in an interview with journalists. Republicans have accused news organizations of not applying enough scrutiny to her still-vague policy agenda, or how she has changed positions on several issues she raised during her 2020 bid for president.
Trump’s economic policy agenda — which, like Harris’, has been scant on details — centers around reducing environmental regulations, increasing U.S. energy production, imposing tariffs on foreign imports, deporting millions of immigrants and eliminating taxes on tips. Harris also now says she supports making income earned through tips tax free.
Polls conducted throughout the 2024 election cycle have shown that the health of the economy is the most important issue to the greatest number of voters. Most polls have shown Trump leading Harris on the issue, with more voters saying they trust Trump to handle the economy and inflation by nine percentage points, while one recent Financial Times poll shows the two candidates essentially tied on the economy.
Average U.S. inflation declined month-over-month in June for the first time in four years. The estimated core inflation for July, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, rose just 3.2% over the last 12 months, making it the smallest annual increase in that index since April 2021. But Americans are being impacted by much higher inflation in those “volatile” categories.
From January 2020 to June 2024, the cost of margarine has increased by nearly 57%, peanut butter has gone up by 49%, motor vehicle repair has gone up by nearly 48%, bread has gone up by 46%, uncooked beef has gone up by 44%, and eggs and sugar have gone up by 40%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the Consumer Price Index.
While Harris has attempted to distance herself from voters’ perceptions of Biden on the economy, the Trump-Vance ticket has done all it can to tie Harris to “Bidenomics.” Trump’s campaign has pointed to Harris’ tie-breaking votes on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and the potentially trillion dollar Inflation Reduction Act, as well as a recent White House statement saying there is no “daylight” between Biden and Harris on policy.
While inflation spiked after Biden entered office, some economists predict that Harris’ and Trump’s respective proposals could increase both inflation and the deficit. The U.S. national debt exceeds $35 trillion. The federal government now spends around $6 trillion a year, while bringing in less than $4.5 trillion in revenue. As interest rates have risen, the annual cost of paying interest on the national debt has increased from $476 billion in 2022, to $658 billion in 2023, to $900 billion in 2024.