Trump aims to drag down Harris as he scrambles to keep up in tight race

The Republican nominee’s advisers and allies are clear-eyed about the unlikelihood of improving his standing. That leaves one option: damaging hers.

By Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Marianne LeVine
September 2, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Donald Trump’s team is approaching the final nine weeks of the presidential campaign as a race to drag Kamala Harris down. … Americans’ views of the Republican nominee have barely budged over the past nine years, spanning three White House bids, two impeachments, an insurrection, four indictments and an assassination attempt. He remains deeply divisive, with enthusiastic support and intense opposition.

President Joe Biden was also broadly unpopular, but now Trump faces Harris, whose favorability rating is roughly even. An ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that 46 percent of likely voters viewed Harris favorably versus 43 percent unfavorably, while Trump’s ratings were 33 percent to 58 percent.

With little chance of improving Trump’s standing, Trump’s advisers see the only option as damaging hers. … “What matters is their ability to prosecute a case to the point where she feels like she needs to answer questions and that she’s on defense,” said Josh Holmes, a prominent GOP consultant. “I think it’s a serious paper tiger we’re dealing with here. I don’t think for 60 days they can keep the train on the tracks.”

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Many on Trump’s team are now tired of arguing with him and inclined to let him campaign his way. In August, he brought back his 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, despite past allegations of unwanted sexual advances. Lewandowski has been interviewing staffers about whether they are getting what they need and how they think the campaign is going, according to people who have talked with him. Campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called the staff “a world-class team.”

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Emily Guskin contributed to this report.

By Isaac Arnsdorf
Isaac Arnsdorf is a national political reporter covering the Trump campaign. His first book, "Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement’s Ground War to End Democracy," was published in 2024. Twitter

By Josh Dawsey
Josh Dawsey is a political enterprise and investigations reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2017 and previously covered the White House. Before that, he covered the White House for Politico, and New York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Wall Street Journal. Twitter

By Marianne LeVine
Marianne LeVine is a national political reporter for The Washington Post. Twitter