The weird and pathetic reason why Trump can't stop attacking Kamala Harris

Donald Trump is certainly not known for his professionalism or powers of self-restraint but his attacks on Kamala Harris have been extreme, even by his standards.

From claiming she only “happened to turn Black” in recent years to suggesting that she has no “right” to be president, Trump has unleashed a torrent of personal affronts on the Democratic candidate since she was first named as Joe Biden’s successor.

And yet, according to new reports, these tirades are not part of his political strategy, but simply because he is blinded by the hostility he feels towards her.

The MAGA Commander-in-chief, 78, has allegedly been advised by his campaign team to dial down the slurs against Harris, 56, and focus instead on issues such as immigration and the economy.

However, Trump has admitted to two unnamed New York Times (NYT) sources that he can’t help himself because of the sheer intensity of the “animosity” he feels towards his opponents.

He allegedly told them that gets overwhelmed by his own antagonism towards his rivals – whether that be Hillary Clinton, Biden or, now, Harris – and therefore finds it almost impossibly hard not to take shots at them.

And whilst Trump’s use of jibes and attempted character assassinations are not specific to Harris – he has been using nicknames and insults in his speeches and social media posts for years – it’s certainly doing him no favours now.

Trump has been urged to dial down his often vicious and bizarre personal attacks on his Democratic rival(Getty Images)

Speaking at a rally in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday (20 August) he claimed that America’s first Black vice president had won the Democratic nomination after a “vicious, violent overthrow of a president" and called Chicago, which hosted the Democratic National Convention, “a war zone that’s worse than Afghanistan.”

His choice of location for the event was also seen as a provocation of Harris, with Howell known for its historic association with the Ku Klux Klan.

In the 1970s, Grand Dragon Robert Miles had a Howell mailing address and held meetings on a nearby farm. And, last month, around a dozen white supremacists chanted "Heil Hitler" and carried "White Lives Matter" signs during a march through the town.

Meanwhile, another group of demonstrators reportedly shouted: "We love Hitler, we love Trump" from a nearby highway overpass.

And yet, Trump’s own allies have urged him to limit his taunts of the 56-year-old.

“One of the ways to win over swing voters is not by personal attacks,” Kevin Madden, a longtime Republican strategist, told the NYT.

“By nature, they don’t love partisan politics, but they’re also not thrilled about the direction of the country and the performance of the economy,” he added.

“And every day Trump isn’t talking about that is a wasted day.”

Nevertheless, whilst the 78-year-old has placed a little more emphasis on policy in his speeches, and even on Truth Social, over the past few days, he shows no real inclination to rein in his particular brand of name-calling, rambling rants and bizarre fabrications.

“I think relatively to what [the Democrats] are doing, and how radical they are and how in many ways how sick they are, I think I’m doing a very calm campaign,” Trump told reporters recently.

“I have to do it my way,” he added.

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