Former president and self-proclaimed genius Donald Trump told a small crowd in a small North Carolina venue what to expect Wednesday: “We’re talking about something called the economy.”
Oh yeah. This thing called economics. I’ve heard of it.
He continued: “We do this as an intellectual discourse.”
Well. Many Republicans have encouraged Trump to stop talking and hurling insults and to steer his campaign toward a consistent message.
Trump’s economic speech went off the rails as expected
“You’re all intellectuals today,” Trump said in the 2,400-seat Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville. “Today we’re doing it and we’re doing it now and it’s very important. They say it’s the most important issue. I think the crime is there, I think the border is there, personally.”
“We have a lot of important issues to deal with because our country has become a third world nation, we are literally a third world nation. We are a banana republic in many ways, and we are not going to let that happen because we are going into a tailspin.”
The Trump campaign spiral continues: Trump rambles and stammers throughout his interview with Elon Musk. It was an absolute disaster.
Oh dear. Trump spends less time on the tracks than a disused train car. And so his highly intellectual speech on a subject called economics has predictably become a stupid speech on a bunch of subjects that have nothing to do with economics.
Like making fun of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ laugh.
Trump proves again in North Carolina that insults are all he has
“For nearly four years, Kamala has been cackling while the American economy has burned,” Trump said, likely mispronouncing the word “cackled” because he has trouble with words.
“What happened to her laugh? I haven’t heard it in a week. That’s why they’re stopping her from going on stage, that’s why she disappeared.”
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have been touring states recently, attending far more events than Trump and drawing crowds far larger than the one that showed up Wednesday to hear her occasional reference to the economy.
“That’s the laugh of a madwoman, I tell you,” Trump continued. “She’s crazy.”
Calling Harris crazy and mocking her laughter are the kinds of things Republicans have been warning Trump not to do. But he couldn’t help himself, later calling Harris an “incompetent socialist nutcase.”
“Kamabla”? Trump is not only losing the election, he is losing his mind.
Trump’s understanding of how the economy works seems questionable to say the least.
When he did deign to talk about the economy, Trump would say things like this, referring to last week’s brief stock market crash, which he dubbed the “KAMALA CRASH!!!”:
“A lot of people say the only reason the stock market is up is because people think I’m going to win. Have you heard that before? But a few weeks ago, they didn’t think that.”
First, no one thinks Trump had anything to do with the stock market rally. And then, to think that last week’s plunge—from which markets quickly recovered—was due to a brief belief that Harris might win the election? Which makes me wonder if Trump even knows how to spell the word “economy.”
An economic discourse on… rape?
Of course, no intellectual presidential campaign speech on the economy would be complete without a lengthy foray into the debate about immigrants and rape. That’s why Trump declared: “Rape and murder, rape and beating, rape and whatever, and sometimes even outright murder. These people are brutal. These are people who come out of the toughest prisons in the world, from all over the world, and we can’t take them in.”
Immigrants commit crimes at much lower rates than U.S. citizens, but, you know… THE ECONOMY!
Speaking of the economy, while Trump occasionally mentioned the word—without providing any concrete policy proposals other than specious claims that he would single-handedly fix everything—the US inflation rate hit a three-year low.
The Economy Is Just Not the Disaster Trump and the GOP Make It Out To Be
And that’s the heart of one of Trump’s biggest problems. The economy is doing pretty well. Unemployment is low, the stock market is at record highs, and inflation continues to fall.
Last April, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi told CNBC: “The U.S. economy is leading the way for the global economy. It’s moving the global economic train.”
Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists and expert analysis on the topics of the day, delivered right to your device via the USA TODAY app. Don’t have the app? Download it for free from your App Store.
So calling America a third-world country while attacking the vice president’s childish laughter and fearmongering about a nonexistent immigrant crime wave won’t do much to tip the scales in Harris’ favor since she took over the Democratic ticket less than a month ago.
Republicans are frustrated with Trump’s campaign, and they know he needs to show voters something that will help him get back on his feet. His intellectual discourse on the so-called economy has shown no one anything.
It was just another misstep by an aging candidate who fails to see that his rhetoric has become obsolete.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
You can read a variety of opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion homepage, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What economy? Trump’s rally speech shows Harris insults are all he has
