Trump and Vance tour swing states to dim DNC limelight

While the DNC is in full swing in Chicago, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are spending the week traveling to battleground states as part of their campaign’s way of counterprogramming. Trump’s schedule is packed this week, with more events than he’s done in several weeks.

Today, Trump made an appearance in Howell, Michigan, to “deliver a strong message on law and order, making it clear that crime, violence and hate of any form will have zero place in our country when he is back in the White House,” according to Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

Trump came under fire from Democrats for choosing Howell, part of Livingston County, which was rocked by white supremacist demonstrations last month with some chanting “Heil Hitler” and has links with the KKK. Trump addressed the violence that occurred, denouncing the criticism, as Biden held a rally in the town in 2021.  

Before that, Trump made an appearance in York, Pennsylvania, where he attacked Harris’s energy and economic policy just before key speakers took the stage at the convention. Pennsylvania has nineteen electoral votes up for grabs, a huge prize among the crucial swing states.  

“I am announcing today that when I return to the White House, I will end this anti-American-energy crusade and terminate Kamala’s so-called ‘Power Plant Rule,’” he told about 400 supporters in York on Monday. “Instead of shutting down power plants, we will open dozens and dozens more,” he added.  

He explained that the Environmental Protection Agency power plant rule reveals that Harris “stands for energy disappearance and factory obliteration. I stand for manufacturing dominance… Kamala is on a regulatory jihad to shutdown power plants all across America.”

The EPA’s recent rule on power plants requires them to limit carbon emissions by 90 percent, starting in 2032. “That’s why in California you have blackouts,” said Trump.  

Trump also attacked Harris for being a “Marxist,” calling her “Comrade Kamala.” He pointed to Harris’s father, an economist at Stanford, for “teaching her well.

“Her father is a Marxist professor… Can you imagine? Does anyone know that?” Trump said.  

“If Kamala gets in, the United States will rapidly become a deindustrialized third-world nation,” he told the crowd of Precision Custom Components factory employees. He said the company still benefits from his administration and praised them on their contribution to America’s energy economy and national defense. “Kamala puts America last. I put America first,” Trump said.  

The former president laid out his plan if he returns to office, including cutting the cost of energy, tax cuts and adding jobs. Pennsylvania is one of the largest energy producers in the US, and with Harris, the country will be like the “third world,” Trump said.  

He also said he would stop Japan from buying US steel and revoke “China’s most favored nation trade status.”  

Trump and Vance will also travel to Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia, with each campaign stop focusing on another key election issue.