Donald Trump missteps stir growing Republican worry, campaign seeks Vance reset

Donald Trump's comments questioning Kamala Harris' Black identity and stumbles by his running mate JD Vance are prompting growing unease among Republicans.

In response to a backlash over Vance's remarks about childless women, the Trump campaign is seeking to help him move past the controversy by focusing on issues such as the border that resonate with the GOP base.

Republican allies outside the Trump campaign are downplaying their 2024 presidential nominee's recent statements about his Democratic rival and her race as they move into damage control mode with less than 100 days until Election Day. Some in the party are genuinely concerned, though.

"I think we’re starting to see the old Trump that a lot of Republicans got tired of in 2020, got tired of defending him,” Vermont GOP Chairman Paul Dame told USA TODAY, adding: “If the next three months is defined by more examples like this I think he’s going to see some of that soft centrist support deteriorate."

For his part, Vance must avoid "losing President Trump's confidence," said Marc Short, who served as chief of staff for former Vice President Mike Pence. “(Trump) forms opinions quickly too, so I think that’s probably a bigger risk.”

Dogging both Trump and Vance are their own controversial comments. For Trump, it's remarks about Harris during an event with Black journalists earlier this week that falsely asserted the nation's first female Black vice president was "Indian all the way" and suddenly "became a Black person." For Vance, it's comments he made in a resurfaced 2021 interview about the country being run by "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives" and another suggestion from that period that people with children should have more votes than people without kids.

Trump fielded multiple questions about Vance on Wednesday during a tense appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists' convention in Chicago, repeatedly arguing that his running mate is not against childless people while also dismissing the idea that the VP nominee matters much anyway.

"Historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference," Trump said. "You're voting for the president."

Trump doubles down

Heading into the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Dame said he was heartened by what he saw as a more focused and "cleaned up" Trump campaign. The Vermont Republican noted that he was especially impressed by Trump’s performance in the June 27 debate in Atlanta that ended up knocking President Joe Biden out of the entire race.

But Dame, who is a member of the Republican National Committee and served on the panel that adopted a new party platform pushed by Trump, said the former president's recent comments about Harris felt like a big regression.

His view is shared across large parts of the GOP, which sees plenty of solid openings to go after the Biden-Harris administration this summer and fall by talking about Democratic policies. “Rather than focusing on those positions, or on the border crisis or on inflation we’re debating whether she’s Indian American or African American,” Short said. “Seems a missed opportunity to me.”

In Washington this week, leading Republicans responded to Trump's remarks about the sitting Democratic vice president by saying they want to focus on Harris' record, not her racial identity. “Oh well, you know, he’s not serious,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told reporters in the U.S. Capitol. “He likes to goad you. You can’t take him seriously when he’s talking about stuff like this.”

“Ah yeah. I saw that. I wish we’d talk more about her failed policies,” added Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, one of two senators who are gunning to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell as GOP leader later this year. “She owns all of the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration and has taken the most extreme positions that you can possibly imagine.”

While Trump may have been trying to recapture the spotlight with his inflammatory criticism of Harris — he has repeatedly doubled down on social media — it also could backfire, said GOP consultant Alex Conant, who worked on Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“We’re talking about Trump for the first time in two weeks,” Conant said. “The risk is he’s reminding voters of the things they didn’t like in 2020, the reason why he’s not president now.”

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Is Vance another Sarah Palin or Dan Quayle?

Vance's allies and his skeptics told USA TODAY they don’t expect Trump to ditch his running mate, even while both ends of this debate admit he had a bad rollout. Trump's campaign argues the VP nominee is doing fine and is the victim of overzealous Democrats and the media.

"President Trump is thrilled with the choice he made with Senator Vance to be his running mate, and they are the perfect team to take back the White House," said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.

“My opinion is the left and the mainstream media is trying to label him in a way that won't resonate with everyday Americans," added Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a strong Trump ally who noted he hasn’t heard any concerns about Vance from those close to the former president.

Trump named Vance as his VP pick in mid-July, during the opening of the RNC and just two days after surviving an assassination attempt. The decision, announced after months of deliberation, meant Trump had passed over several more seasoned candidates who were seen as more mainstream GOP picks.

Vance, who turned 40 on Friday, is a freshman lawmaker first elected to the Senate in 2022. Among the VP contenders, he is most closely aligned with Trump’s brand of populist conservatism and got the biggest push to be picked from some of the more hard-right, ardently MAGA elements of the GOP who see in the senator a champion for their views.

While Vance's selection was viewed as Trump going with his heart and picking someone he had more of a connection with, some Republicans think the president should have gone with someone who had broader appeal. “When he was announced I'm like, this isn't the best choice…,” Dame said. “And I think it’s proving out that Vance is not adding people to the ticket.”

Specifically, Dame said other VP contenders such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio could have helped Trump reach “more traditional Republican voters, maybe some more of the Nikki Haley people.” Some of Vance’s comments that have since come back into the national spotlight reinforce his view that Vance won’t help Trump balance the ticket and pick up new voters.

“It looked like a pick made when Trump was confident he was facing Biden and I do think now that Kamala Harris is going to be the Democrats’ nominee the Vance pick looks like it was a wasted opportunity,” Dame said.

Playing cleanup for a running mate is a situation no presidential candidate wants to be in. Political experts likened Vance's latest stumbles to other off-beat VP picks who struggled as they rocketed into the national spotlight, such as Sarah Palin in 2008 and Dan Quayle in 1988. Now, after months where the Trump campaign had the initiative, Harris is riding a wave of media attention and campaign momentum. Polls show the race tightening, and Republicans are keeping their hopes up that a reset for their VP pick will help turn things around.

A Republican consultant close to the Trump campaign said Democrats unloaded their best opposition research on Vance — which they had months to gather — in the first few days of his rollout, but he weathered it and has been doing better over the last week, pointing to his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Nobody thinks what happened is awesome, there’s a lot of room for improvement," the Republican consultant said. "What you look for - is he getting better? And I think yeah, he’s getting better.”

For his part, Vance on Saturday during a rally in Atlanta said Democrats have criticized him as "weird" and also threw the line back at his opponents.

"We can handle the made up attacks by Democrats and by the media," Trump's running mate said, "because we're used to it by now."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump missteps stir GOP worry as campaign seeks Vance reset