Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered what had been billed as remarks focusing on his plans for the economy, but went on numerous tangents about President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and windmills.
The speech before an enthusiastic crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, came as Trump allies and advisers have been urging the former president to focus on his policy differences with Harris and veer away from personal attacks. While Trump outlined several areas where the two diverge on policy, those were overshadowed by insults lobbed at top Democrats.
“For four years, she’s crackled while the economy burned,” Trump said of Harris. “That’s the laugh of a crazy person, I tell you. She’s crazy.”
He also called her and Biden “stupid,” later dismissing Walz as “a clown.”
Trump said at one point that Wednesday’s event “isn’t a rally. This is, we’re talking about a thing called the economy. They wanted to do a speech on the economy.”
He did not identify who “they” are, but added: “They say it’s the most important subject. I think crime is right there. The border is right there, personally. We have a lot of important subjects, because our country has become a third world nation.”
Trump did lay out some policy proposals, including a previously unannounced goal.
“Under my leadership, the United States will commit to the ambitious goal of slashing energy and electricity prices by half, at least half” in the first 18 months of a second administration, Trump said.
He then added in a quick caveat: “And if it doesn’t work out, you say, ‘Oh well, I voted for him. I still got it down a lot.’”
Trump said Wednesday that he would bring prices down with “rapid approvals for new energy infrastructure,” unlocking new lands for drilling and reduced regulations, which he said would make the country “energy dominant.”
The U.S. is already producing more crude oil than any other country in history, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Trump went after Harris and Biden’s record on the economy and the border — two lines of attack that his allies have said should be more prominent in his stump speeches.
“Kamala has declared that tackling inflation will be a day one priority,” Trump said, “but day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. Why hasn’t she done it?”
“She’s a critic. That’s all she is,” he added.
Trump also predicted that if Harris wins the election “the result will be a Kamala economic crash, a 1929 style, depression.” He made a similar prediction about Biden in 2020.
The remarks also included numerous other tangents, including criticism of windmills — Trump has said he opposes spending on wind and solar power — and a dig at Biden when discussing next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“You know when he’s speaking? On Monday. Monday is — that’s the worst day, but that’s what they do, and it’s their own form of it’s just another, I guess, relatively, it’s a minor form of cheating,” he said.
Garrett Haake contributed.