Just a week ago, a cocky Trump campaign had been anticipating being able to walk over an 81-year-old President Joe Biden in this fall's elections.
Now, however, the campaign is facing a new Democratic candidate in Vice President Kamala Harris who is not only younger than President Biden — but also younger than the GOP'sown candidate.
Trump allies tell The Bulwark's Marc Caputo that they are well aware that the race will no longer be the cakewalk they had once hoped it would be.
Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.
"Politics is downstream of culture and Trump was a cultural figure before he was a political one," one Trump adviser tells the publication. "But Kamala is making a run for it. We underestimate her cultural appeal and her power at our peril.”
ALSO READ: Boebert, MTG and far-fight friends derail Speaker Mike Johnson’s summer plans
Another Trump ally told Caputo that Harris' rise has given them a much-needed reality check about the 2024 race.
“It’s going to be harder. But the team had grown complacent,” a campaign insider told Caputo. “There was all this licking of our chops and what we were going to do in the White House. In some ways, this was a great wake-up call. People are back to work.”
The campaign still hopes it can drag down Harris by tying her to Biden's record on border security and by painting her as soft on crime.
All the same, the campaign now knows it will have to spend more on ads to negatively define Harris than it would have had to spend had Biden remained the nominee.
"What we could have gotten in earned media, we will have to now pay for," the campaign insider said.
・Trump's gains with Black voters evaporate as Kamala Harris enters race
・Trump campaign repeatedly smears Black veteran beaten by cops as it attacks Kamala Harris
・Fox News cuts off Kamala Harris' first campaign speech after she comes for Donald Trump
・'You morons': Trump campaign busted for attack on Kamala Harris' disability outreach
・'Prosecutor, meet felon': Nicolle Wallace mocks Trump’s new race against Kamala Harris
2024-07-26T15:23:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd