Former President Trump is back on X.
Trump has barely used the social media site since he was banned by the previous management regime in 2021, opting instead to use the TruthSocial platform that he owns.
But Trump was busy posting all day Monday on X, and tonight he'll be interviewed by X owner Elon Musk, bringing together two of the most famous and polarizing figures on the planet.
- Musk said the interview will be "unscripted with no limits on subject matter."
- The European Union is warning Musk not to allow misinformation to spread on X during the interview.
- Trump had posted seven times Monday on X as of this writing. He's been posting hype videos, sloganeering and posting new attack ads against Vice President Harris.
"Are you better off now than you were when I was president? Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We're a nation in decline. Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!"
The Wall Street Journal has the inside story on how Musk is working to get Trump elected through a new super PAC.
"In weekly meetings, consultants and vendors for a super political-action committee updated him on their progress toward the discussed goal of turning out 800,000 people to vote for Donald Trump in battleground states."
Trump's move back to X, which played a big role in his efforts to drive the narrative during his first term in office, comes as his campaign struggles to recalibrate following Harris's entrance into the race.
- Trump spent the weekend making baseless accusations that pictures showing thousands of people showing up to Harris's rallies had been digitally altered to increase the crowd size.
- Republicans are eager for Trump to get back on message and to highlight the policy divides between himself and Harris.
Trump's longtime adviser Peter Navarro made this case on the War Room podcast, where he's filling in for host Steve Bannon, who is in prison:
"He needs votes, and the current rally formula is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences — policy differences — between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in key battleground states. Instead, when Trump attacks Harris personally rather than on policy, Harris's support among swing voters rises, particularly among women. It's just a fact of life, right now."
The Hill's Brett Samuels has more on this dynamic here.
New polls show Harris is not just making strides in the top-line polling numbers — she's also making big gains on the issues voters care most about.
- An eye-opening Financial Times survey finds Harris has closed the gap with Trump on who is most trusted to handle the economy. Trump has long held the advantage over Democrats on the economy, so it remains to be seen whether the poll is an outlier.
- The latest New York Times/Siena College battlegrounds survey find Harris leading Trump by 2 points on the issues voters consider most important to them. Trump led President Biden on that same question by 10 points nationally in June.
Those policy gains for Harris come before she's officially released her policy proposals.
- Harris's advisers have quietly walked back many of her positions from 2020, when she tacked hard to the left on immigration, policing, and other issues. The campaign says she no longer supports a ban on fracking.
- Harris is running ads saying she'll crack down on illegal immigration, a big pivot from 2020 when she said she'd decriminalize illegal border crossings and overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Harris has dabbled with broad policy proposals at campaign rallies. This weekend, she mirrored a Trump proposal to end taxes on tips. She has spoken broadly about some initiatives, such as cracking down on "illegal price-gouging" and implementing rent caps.
Republicans — and some in the news media — are frustrated that Harris is refusing to hold a press conference or sit for interviews. Harris says her advisers are considering whether or not she should conduct an interview before Labor Day.
But so far, Harris has made tremendous strides by entering the race as a generic Democrat, rallying soft liberals that had become disillusioned with Biden atop the ticket.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said on CNN that Trump's polling struggles are due to his inability to focus on the issues, turning the campaign into a referendum on his personality.
"If it's about issues, Trump is much more likely to be successful. If it's about attributes, Harris is much more likely to be successful, because quite frankly, people like her more than they like him. It's something that, if he's watching this right now, his head is exploding — and that's part of the problem."
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