Donald Trump didn’t start taking questions from reporters until nearly an hour into his Thursday press conference, but one of the first questions led the former president to respond to what he called “personal attacks” — including being called “weird” by Democrats, led by Tim Walz.
After attacking Vice President Kamala Harris both on policy and by stating “I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence,” he turned to the Democratic pair’s use of the term “weird” to describe Republicans, which Walz popularized.
“She certainly attacks me, personally. She actually called me ‘weird,’” Trump began, before going on to defend both himself and particularly his running mate. “‘He’s weird.’ It was just a soundbite — and she called J.D. and I ‘weird.’ He’s not weird — he was a great student at Yale, he went to Ohio State, graduated in two years, at the top of his class and all of these different things.”
Turning to criticize Minnesota Gov. Walz, Trump continued, “And we have this guy that’s running a failed, really, a very failed state, who’s had a terrible career. I mean, you have him saying, ‘They’re weird’ — no, he’s a weird guy.”
Trump then pivoted, looking to turn the “weird” term around on Harris in a different way. “And she’s weird in her policy. Who wouldn’t want to have strong borders? Who doesn’t want to have lower taxes?”
Among other attacks of his own, Trump continued the standard conservative talking point of calling liberal policies “communist,” including remarking that under Harris, “You’re all going to be thrown into a communist system. You will be thrown into a system where everybody gets health care.”
Trump spoke next to a table full of common groceries, which he joked about taking back to his cottage at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey — particularly the Cheerios. The props were used to drive home the Trump-Vance campaign’s argument about inflation under President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris.
The former president also defended his stylistic approach during the long press conference, which featured numerous tangents throughout, including more talk about batteries — but this time, the batteries in electric vehicles as opposed to batteries and sharks.
“I think I’m doing a very calm campaign,” he said. “We are here. There is no shouting. Some of you will say he ranted and raved. I didn’t rant and rave. I’m a very calm person.”
As far as personal remarks of his own, Trump again brought up the illustration of Harris on the cover of Time Magazine after previously stating that it was so beautiful that it made her look reminiscent of his own wife, Melania. “They got a great artist to do it. What was that all about? The whole thing is crazy,” he said.
This is Trump’s second press conference in a week as the Trump campaign criticizes Harris for still not giving a press conference since taking over the top of the Democratic Party’s ticket. She has been running for less than a month and will be speaking at rallies and the Democratic National Convention next week, while her campaign has also committed to doing a sitdown interview by the end of the month.
You can watch Donald Trump’s full Thursday press conference in the video, below:
