Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to President Donald Trump, criticized the GOP candidate’s campaign rallies in an opinion piece yesterday, urging a strategic shift to include video clips and more policy content to secure more votes in the 2024 presidential election.
In the Washington Times, Navarro argued that Trump “needs votes,” stating that “the current rally formula is not sufficiently focused on the stark policy differences between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in battleground states.” He noted that when Trump opts for personal attacks on Vice President Harris instead of focusing on policy, it boosts her support among swing voters and not his.
Navarro served as a trade adviser under Trump. He was in custody for four months for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges.
The presidential race has shifted significantly in the past month after President Joe Biden exited the campaign on July 21 and then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has garnered widespread support from the Democratic Party.
As of Wednesday, most national poll aggregators show Harris leading Trump by a small margin in the national race; however, the presidency is determined by Electoral College votes, not the popular vote.
Former director of the US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro speaks on stage on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Navarro encouraged Trump to “reimagine” his rallies as an “interactive experience” where “instead of telling his rally audience that she supports an open border, defunding the police, defracking Pennsylvania, men competing in women’s sports or higher corporate taxes, Mr. Trump shows Ms. Harris expressing and revealing these stark differences in her own words on the Jumbotrons throughout the arena and on the TV sets of audiences watching the rally.”
In a more dynamic exchange, Navarro envisions the “simulated interactions” as platform for Trump to present “concrete solutions.” Emphasizing the need for specific policy content, Navarro suggested Trump “feature video clips from former and perhaps future Trump advisers and Cabinet officials offering details of the specific policy actions he plans to take to bring inflation under control, secure the border, bring peace to Ukraine and the Middle East and so on.”
He also recommended that Trump hold a press conference with “select advisers on the issues” before each rally.
Additionally, Navarro’s fourth “synergy” suggestion for the former president is to “intersperse his remarks with video clips from citizens harmed by the policies that the Harris-Biden White House has implemented,” including tailoring the campaign rally’s focus to address issues specific to the local community.
Navarro said that this approach would be easy, as “there is a cornucopia of video clips that expose both Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, for the ‘woke,’ radical, dangerous politicians that they are.”
His last piece of advice is for the GOP candidate to start his rallies “on time at five after the hour in prime time and end promptly in 55 minutes,” so that television outlets want to cover them.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment via email on Wednesday.
