Trump, Vance campaign in Pennsylvania as DNC kicks off in Chicago

As Democrats kicked off their convention in Chicago, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance focused on the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Vance spoke around 1 p.m. Monday during a campaign event at DiSorb Systems, Inc. in North Philadelphia. Trump, meanwhile, spoke during a campaign event at 5 p.m. Monday at Precision Components Group in York, Pennsylvania.

The economy and energy were the main topics for Monday’s rallies, which were part of a jam-packed schedule that includes daily events in battleground states tied to subjects where Republicans think they hold an advantage. It’s Trump’s busiest campaign week since the winter, when he faced challengers in the Republican primary.

“Kamala Harris is an economy wrecker and a country destroyer,” Trump told factory workers and supporters gathered at Precision Custom Components, a company that makes components for military and nuclear use.

And his focus on policy in battleground states reflects the concerns of Trump allies, who have urged him to try to broaden his appeal with swing voters as they grow more nervous about Harris’ competitiveness.

Trump is also scheduled to appear in Michigan on Tuesday to talk about crime and safety and North Carolina on Wednesday to talk about national security during a joint appearance with Vance. On Thursday, he'll travel to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona to talk about immigration before going to Arizona and Nevada on Friday.

Trump also held a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 18 in which he repeatedly swerved from a message focused on the economy into non sequiturs and personal attacks, including thrice declaring that he was better looking than Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump wound back and forth between hitting his points on economic policy and delivering a smattering of insults and impressions of President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron during Saturday's rally.

Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, responded to Trump in a statement by saying, “Another rally, same old show” and that Trump “ resorts to lies, name-calling, and confused rants,” because he can’t sell his agenda.

“The more Americans hear Trump speak, the clearer the choice this November: Vice President Harris is unifying voters with her positive vision to protect our freedoms, build up the middle class, and move America forward — and Donald Trump is trying to take us backwards,” Costello said.

Pennsylvania is a pivotal battleground state where Trump's campaign hopes conservative, white working-class voters near President Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton will boost Trump's chances of winning back the White House.

Trump's latest campaign push comes amid the Democratic National Convention that kicked off Monday in Chicago and will mark the party’s welcoming of Harris as their nominee. Her replacement of Biden less than four months before the November election has reinvigorated Democrats and their coalition. It has also presented a new challenge for Trump.

Trump hammered Harris on the economy, associating her with the Biden administration’s inflation woes and likening her latest proposal against price gouging to measures in communist nations. Trump has said a federal ban on price gouging for groceries would lead to food shortages, rationing and hunger. During Saturday's rally, he asked why she hadn’t worked to solve prices when she and Biden were sworn into office in 2021.

“Day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. So why didn’t she do it then? So this is day 1,305,” Trump said.

To address high prices, Trump said he would sign an executive order on his first day sworn in as president “directing every cabinet secretary and agency head to use every power we have to drive prices down, but we’re going to drive them down in a capitalist way, not in a communist way,” he said.

He predicted financial ruin for the country, and Pennsylvania in particular, if Harris wins, citing her past opposition to fracking, an oil and gas extraction process commonly used in the state. Her campaign has tried to soften her stance on fracking, saying she would not ban it, even though that was her position when she was seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.

“Your state’s going to be ruined anyway. She’s totally anti-fracking,” Trump said.

But he also meandered, going from ripping the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 to doing impressions of President Macron's French accent.

Trump laced in attacks on Harris’ laugh and said she was “not a very good wordsmith” and mocked the names of the CNN anchors who moderated the debate he had with Biden in June.

When he began musing on Harris’ recent image on the cover of Time magazine, he commented on the picture’s resemblance to classic Hollywood icons Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor and then took issue with a Wall Street Journal columnist remarking earlier this month on Harris’ beauty.

“I am much better looking than her,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd. “I’m a better looking person than Kamala.”

He also took issue with the way his style is typically portrayed in news reports.

“They will say he’s rambling. I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy,” he said.

Trump’s Saturday rally was his fifth at the arena in Wilkes-Barre, the largest city in Luzerne County, where he has had victories in the past two elections. Biden bested Trump in neighboring Lackawanna County, where the Democrat has long promoted his working-class roots in Scranton.

Meanwhile, Vance spoke to a crowd of supporters from all over the Philadelphia area and wasted no time talking about inflation.

“Food is up more than 20%. Gasoline is up 50%. And this is all because of the policies of Kamala Harris," Vance said on Monday.

He also reiterated statements made by Trump about the economy and how Harris has already been in office for years and failed to address the high costs of groceries and gas.

"She says that on day one she wants to make groceries and homes more affordable for American citizens, well Kamala Harris where have you been? Because you’ve been VP for about 1300 days. Day one was three and a half years ago. You should have been doing your job then and not promising to do it now," Vance said.

Supporters who showed up to hear Vance speak said they liked what he had to say.

"I think I like his message already, the message that he came from nothing," Shawn Upton, from Northfield, Atlantic County, said.

Brian Walsh, a small business owner, said what resonated with him from Vance's speech was his claim that the Harris campaign stated they were going to "fix all of the problems that they created but they’re in office right now and they haven’t fixed anything."

After the rally, Vance visited Pat's King of Steaks in South Philly and ordered a cheesesteak. Before ordering, Vance jokingly asked staff members at Pat's, "Why do you guys hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” The question was a likely reference to former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry ordering a cheesesteak "with Swiss" at Pat's while campaigning in Philly back in 2003, a move that drew strong criticism from Philly residents at the time.