- Supporters in party dresses mingled with golfers and journalists at Trump's club
- He spoke to journalists for more than two hours as he tries to get back on track
- READ MORE: Follow all the day's latest developments at our politics live blog
Former president Donald Trump promised to keep up the personal attacks on Kamala Harris on Thursday evening, saying that he had plenty to be angry about during a rambling press conference delivered on the steps of his New Jersey golf course.
Behind him aides had arranged boxes of Cheerios, tubs of instant coffee and packets of Wonder Bread.
The point was to illustrate how prices had risen under the Biden-Harris administration.
But the event had also been designed as a chance to paint a picture of his new opponent as a dangerous leftist intent on destroying the country.
And he said he would pay no heed to allies who warn him that negative attacks turn off wavering voters.
Donald Trump addressed the media at his Bedminster golf club on Thursday. He was surrounded by grocery items designed to show how prices had risen under Kamala Harris
'I'm very angry at her because of what she's done to the country,' he told an decidedly unconventional press conference at his Bedminster golf club.
'I'm very angry at her that she would weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her.
'I think I'm entitled to personal attacks.'
There is never anything normal about a Trump press conference. And this was far from normal, from the moment he walked down the three steps from his clubhouse accompanied by whoops from supporters to the moment he finished taking questions in order to sign caps.
His campaign has been in the doldrums since Harris replaced Joe Biden, depriving Trump of a frail, fragile 81-year-old target.
Confidants said Thursday's press conference was long scheduled, along with the launch of 'Jewish Voices for Trump' afterwards. The whole point was to begin the business of defining Harris for the chunk of the population that don't know her well.
Yet it also had the air of a live-streamed pick-me-up, giving Trump the chance to set aside recent travails and revel in a typically freewheeling speech (almost an hour and 10 minutes) before sparring with journalists for almost as long.
He stuck close to his script at times, reeling off inflation statistics.
'Electricity prices are up 32 percent,' he said. 'Gasoline prices are up 50 percent and going higher. Meanwhile, real incomes are down by over $2,000 a year.'
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club
Trump had a spring in his step as he spoke for about 47 minutes before taking questions from journalists, some friendly and some hostile
At times his supporters, corralled by the side of the live cameras, whooped and cheered.
They arrived as if it was just another cocktail-hour mingle on the Bedminster scene. Staff whisked them around on golf buggies.
Full-lipped ladies in party frocks rubbed shoulders with polo-shirted golfers and a Greek Orthodox priest whose gold chain outgleamed anything worn by the women.
The ninth hole on the old course provided a backdrop to the whole surreal scene, and (at least in the eyes of his supporters) did nothing to undermine Trump's positioning as a man of the people.
His plan, he said, was simple. He would open up gas and oil production ('We will drill, baby, drill' in his words), driving energy prices down and bringing with them the cost of the weekly shop. He offered no numbers to support the scheme.
Trump positioned himself as a champion of working people as he went about defining Kamala Harris as a vice president who presided over rising prices
As well as journalists, Trump supporters attended the afternoon event in Bedminster
In contrast, he described Harris's effort to go after 'price-gouging' corporations as 'communist price controls.'
'If they worked, I'd go along with it too,' he said.
'But they don't work. They actually have the exact opposite impact and effect. It leads to food shortages, rationing, hunger, dramatically more inflation.'
He said she was bent on turning the U.S. into a northern Venezuela.
Beyond the press pen, he found a receptive audience.
'My question is, has Kamala Harris ever gone into a supermarket since she's become vice president?' asked Leora Levy, who ran for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut two years ago and wore a pin and White House scarf given to her by Melania Trump.
'Does she know how difficult it is for families to actually put food on the table?'
It was the latest event held to illustrate how Trump is prepared to meet the media head on, in contrast to Harris who has yet to sit down for an interview since becoming the Democratic candidate.
Trump reels off the prices of various goods during his press conference
'I haven't seen Cheerios in a long time,' said Trump in between describing his vote haul in the 2020 election. 'I'm going to take them back to my cottage'
And it came as Trump tries to regain the initiative after three weeks of surging donations and enthusiasm for Harris.
This week the Trump campaign shook up its top staff. It brought back Corey Lewandowski, who was Trump's first campaign manager back in 2015, as well as Tim Murtagh from his 2020 campaign, two figures from the MAGA Inc super PAC, and others.
Lewandowski, Taylor Budowich, a former Trump spokesman, Alex Pfeiffer, who was a producer for Tucker Carlson at Fox News before joining the super PAC, online campaigner Alex Bruesewitz and Tim Murtaugh will all advise senior campaign officials.
Trump has often proven impatient with staff when his numbers stutter.
This week a DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners poll found that Harris's entry into the race left him clinging to a two-point lead. Other polls were even less kind, showing him trailing his new rival.
J.L. Partners polled 1001 likely voters from Aug 7 to 11, using a mix of online, landline, cell phone and in-app techniques. The results come with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 points
Trump signs hats and shakes hands after completing his unorthodox press conference
Against that backdrop he has stepped up his appearances in front of the media, and on Monday held a two-hour online conversation with X owner Elon Musk.
But he has struggled to stay on message. An address in North Carolina on Wednesday, that was billed as a big economic set piece, included a list of his usual grievances and claims that California was now 'unliveable.'
Trump shrugged off the data as the sun dropped over Bedminster. 'I tend to poll low,' he said, reminiscing about how he shocked the world with his unexpected 2016 election win.
And he said the shake-up was not a sign of failing campaign.
'It's a sign that we want to close it out,' he said.
Every now and again, he admitted, his eye was drawn to the display of groceries. With the maple ham in plastic packaging sweating beside tubs of mayonnaise and Oreos, it was like a 1950s nostalgia trip.
'I haven't seen Cheerios in a long time,' said Trump in between describing his vote haul in the 2020 election. 'I'm going to take them back to my cottage.'
