After DNC, Donald Trump works overtime to define Kamala Harris – and defend himself

WASHINGTON - The Democratic convention is over, and so is Donald Trump's counter-convention tour - but the former Republican president's struggle to keep up with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris goes on.

During a week-long tour of battleground states, it became clear that Trump must continue trying to define Harris, defend himself against mockery from Democrats, and deal with the fact that the incumbent vice president is pulling higher poll numbers than President Joe Biden did before his exit last month from the 2024 White House race.

Friday marked Trump's latest attempt to swing back.

On social media, the GOP presidential nominee tried to defuse the abortion issue by proclaiming that his administration "will be great for women and their reproductive rights." His comment drew even more mockery from Democrats who recounted how Trump's three appointees to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade and also pointed out that a large part of his political base wants to ban abortions.

As Trump conducted week-ending events in Nevada and Arizona, he also welcomed an endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, an independent who announced he'd be suspending his own run for president.

Now comes the post-convention phase of the campaign, one that figures to last at least until the first Trump-Harris debate, scheduled for Sept. 10 less than a mile away from the historic Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

In the meantime, Trump's to-do list includes:

Making up ground

Trump campaign officials expected Harris' poll numbers to rise in the wake of the Democratic convention. Now they will try to close the margin in the weeks ahead by playing up what Trump calls her "radical" record.

How best to do that is a dispute even within the Trump campaign, a subject the candidate has brought up in public.

Throughout his post-convention tour, Trump did cite inflation, immigration, wars in other countries, and the overall economy as big issues in the campaign against Harris; he has also kept up some of the most strident attacks ever made by a major party candidate, routinely labeling Harris as a "communist" and a "Marxist," language reminiscent of "Red Scares" of the past.

Make it personal? Policy? Both?

Some Republicans fear that Trump's stridency is turning off swing voters; Trump himself seems unsure.

The former president has spoken about the intra-party dispute over how to approach Harris and running mate Tim Walz.

During an event Wednesday in Asheboro, N.C., Trump said people often advise him to be nicer - “'please, sir, don’t get personal; talk about policy'" - and he asked the crowd of supporters two questions: "Should I get personal? Should I not get personal?"

The crowd responded overwhelmingly in favor of "personal."

After joking that "my advisers are fired," Trump then told supporters: "No, we’d rather keep it on policy. But sometimes it’s hard when you’re attacked from all ends."

Fence-mending

Moving past the Democratic convention, Trump is also trying to mend relations with some of the Republicans he has fought with over the years, particular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

During a recent rally in Atlanta, Trump attacked Kemp at length (again) for refusing to back up his protests of Biden's win in Georgia in the 2020 election. Many Republican questioned Trump's agitation, given the fact that Kemp supervises an effective get-out-the-vote operation in a a closely contested state.

On Thursday, just minutes before Harris' acceptance speech at the convention in Chicago, Trump reached out to the Georgia governor via Truth Social: "Thank you to #BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump later said he commented after watching a positive Kemp interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Trump also made up with Kennedy, a former opponent he has also described as radical. During a Las Vegas event for his "no tax on tips policy," Trump thanked Kennedy for "a very nice endorsement."

Playing defense

Trump also spent Democratic convention week playing defense, and that doesn't figure to stop anytime soon.

In Chicago, Harris and other Democrats repeatedly hit the Republican nominee over efforts to overthrow the 2020 election, his hush money trial conviction, the sexual abuse judgements against him, his threats to use the power of government to investigate political opponents, and conservative plans to cut essential services and restrict abortion rights.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man," Harris said in her acceptance speech. "But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious."

Trump, who live-tweeted his reactions to Harris in real time, posted at one point: "IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?"

The former president also found time this week to push back on an allegation lobbed at both him and running mate JD Vance: That they are "weird."

In kicking off his counter-convention tour in York, Pa., Trump referred to Biden and said: "You know, he said, we’re weird ... that JD and I are weird. I think we’re extremely normal people, like you, exactly like ... He’s weird."

Abortion

Trump did express particular concern about one issue: Abortion rights.

As his tour wrapped up Friday, Trump posted a cryptic comment on Truth Social saying: "My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights."

Democrats quickly pointed out that, when he was president, Trump nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to reverse the Roe v Wade abortion rights ruling. Trump has said that states should decide abortion policy, expressing implicit support for new laws that ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

"Donald Trump waged war on women’s reproductive freedom," said Ammar Moussa, rapid response director for the Harris campaign. "Now he’s trying to run away from his record. It won’t work."

Well before the Republican and Democratic conventions, Trump often mentioned the political risks for Republicans over abortion - and that's not going away during the last two-and-a-half months of the campaign.

Get ready to protest 2024 election

Democrats in Chicago also expressed concern that Trump would contest the vote if he loses in November, as happened four years ago when his protests led to the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

In television interviews, Trump said he would not protest the election if it is "free and fair." Four years ago, numerous officials told him the election was fair, but he pushed lawsuits and pressured lawmakers to change the outcome anyway.

"I think if I lose, this country will go into a tailspin, the likes of which it's never seen before - the likes of 1929 - but if I do, and it's free and fair, absolutely, I will accept the results," Trump told CBS News.

Trump said he believes there "many problems" in the 2020 election, but added: "I think things have been done over the last four-year period that will make this a free and fair election."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's post-DNC campaigning against Harris starts now