EXCLUSIVE: BYRON CENTER, Mich. — Donald Trump’s running mate has a response to blunt advice from allies and fellow Republicans that the former president should stick to policy and message rather than question the size of crowds drawing Vice President Kamala Harris to rallies, her race or attacks on her intellect.
“I think one of the things that people love about Donald Trump in politics is that he doesn't mind speaking without thinking. He speaks his mind. He doesn't always have filters. I think that's a good thing and that's part of his appeal,” Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said Wednesday in a national exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
But Vance, speaking ahead of a campaign event in Michigan, also stressed that “if you look at this race, we're talking about policy. That's 90 percent of what we're doing. And I think that's going to continue to happen.”
Harris has been riding a wave of momentum — evidenced by public opinion polls, her surging fundraising and the large crowds she is drawing on the campaign trail — in the three and a half weeks since she replaced President Biden as head of the 2024 Democratic ticket.
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Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, headlines a Trump campaign event in Byron Center, Michigan, on Wednesday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
While he has criticized Harris on key issues such as border security, crime and inflation, Trump has also continually criticized the vice president and insulted her during speeches, press conferences and social media posts.
Sources close to Trump's political orbit told Fox News that the former president's top advisers are quietly trying to persuade him to tone down the insults to Harris and the questioning of the vice president's racial identity and instead focus on calling her an ultra-liberal and highlighting her stances on the border, crime and inflation.
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Trump's allies are also publicly calling for Trump to refocus his attention.
“You have to stop questioning the size of his crowds and start questioning his position,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday in an interview on Fox News' “America's Newsroom.”
McCarthy stressed that Trump has “a short time to do it, so don't sit back and do nothing. Get out there and start making your case.”
During an interview Tuesday with Bret Baier on Fox News' “Special Report,” former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — Trump's primary rival in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year — also had some unsolicited advice for her former boss.
Haley, who reiterated that she wants Trump to win the presidential election, stressed that “the campaign is not going to win by talking about how many people turn out. It's not going to win by talking about Kamala Harris' race. It's not going to win. Talking about whether she's dumb, she's not. You can't win by talking about that stuff. The American people are smart. Treat them like they are.”
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Following his interview with Fox News Digital, Vance was also asked about criticism of Trump by fellow Republicans as he answered questions from reporters at the conclusion of his campaign event at a trucking company in this southwestern Michigan city, south of Grand Rapids.
Former President Trump dances as he concludes a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on July 27. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“To those who say Donald Trump should do something different, I say that you had the opportunity to do something different by challenging him in three separate primaries, each and every one of which he won. I think Donald Trump has earned the right to run the kind of campaign he wants to run,” Vance said.
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But the senator added that “if you listen to what Donald J. Trump says, if you look at what I say, we are prosecuting the case against Kamala Harris on political grounds.”
And pointing to Harris, Vance said, “We would rather have an American president who is who he is, who is willing to offend us, who is willing to tell us the truth, who is not an impostor hiding behind a teleprompter.”
Get the latest updates on the 2024 election campaign, exclusive interviews and more in our Fox News digital election hub.
