New strategy? Trump brings cookies to the press conference

Berliner Morgenpost New strategy? Trump brings cookies to the press conference Article by Ben Bünte • 4 hours • 3 minutes reading time Cookies, Cheerios, Fruit Loops. Ketchup, mayo, mustard. Is this what Donald Trump's new strategy looks like? The former president invited people to a press conference at one of his golf clubs on Thursday (US local time). This time in Bedminster in New Jersey instead of his home club in Mar-a-Lago/Florida. And he brought tables full of food. Why? Republican circles have recently been increasingly calling for him to attack his rival Kamala Harris on substance and to tone down the crude insults. "Stop whining," Nikki Haley, a former rival within the party in the race for the candidacy, told him rather undiplomatically in a TV interview. The Republicans believe that Trump can score points with economic competence - and see weaknesses in this area in Harris. In the press conference, Trump threw around figures whose origins are unclear. For example, he claimed that "Kamala's price increases" would cost a typical US household $28,000. Elsewhere, he spoke of $1,100 a month more that a typical American family would have to spend. Again and again, he tried to blame the economic developments of the past few years on the vice president: "You don't have to imagine what a Kamala Harris presidency would mean, because you are already experiencing this nightmare." Trump repeats lies about "record inflation" Other statements by Trump can easily be refuted as untruths, as fact checks in US media show. As on other occasions, Trump claimed that there had been record inflation under Biden. In fact, inflation in June 2022 was very high at 9.1 percent, but far from the record in 1920, when the inflation rate was 23.7 percent. Most recently, the inflation rate had only been 2.9 percent. Under his own administration, however, there was no inflation at all, the ex-president claimed. That is also a lie. Inflation under Trump was low, also due to other external circumstances, but still there. During his term in office, prices rose by eight percent. Despite all the untruths, Trump was visibly pleased with the unusual appearance, even joking at one point that he might take a few things home with him. But the line-up aroused more than just the 78-year-old's interest. A CNN reporter reported that flies were also circling around the food. These had been standing in the sun for a while in temperatures just below 30 degrees.