ABC Presidential Debate

Trump lashes out at Harris and Biden, pledges there will be a peaceful transfer of power: 5 takeaways

David Jackson, USA TODAY

Updated August 9, 2024 at 8:51 AM·5 min read

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris, pledged there will be a peaceful transfer after the 2024 election and compared the crowd sizes of his supporters to those at Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.

The former president also told reporters during a spot news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate that he wants to participate in three debates against Harris – before addressing issues ranging from Florida ballot measures to interest rates and the presidency.

Here are USA TODAY's top takeaways from Trump's remarks.

Attacking his new opponent

Trump, who has lost the lead he had on President Joe Biden in polls and is now in a dead heat with Harris, amped up attacks on his new opponent.

Trump targeted Biden and Harris' handling of the issues facing the nation, particularly the southern border. But his comments on Thursday were also personal, making false claims about the vice president's intelligence and race.

Harris is Black and Asian, and Trump in recent weeks has taken swipes at her racial identity. During an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists Annual Convention, he said "I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black."

Trump repeatedly said he is leading in the 2024 election, but polls have told a different story since Biden ended his campaign and Harris replaced him as the Democratic pick.

As the former president conducted his news conference at Mar-a-Lago, the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls actually give Harris a slight lead over Trump., 47.6% to 47.1% (though that margin is well within the margins of error of those surveys.)

But Trump didn't only knock Democrats during his press conference. He also targeted fellow Republican and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp,

While the former president has long attacked Kemp for not supporting his specious 2020 election fraud allegations, Trump told reporters: "I've never understood it. When you get somebody elected, they're supposed to like you."

In a statement, the Harris campaign on Thursday described Trump’s news conference as “a public meltdown … He lied. He attacked the media. He made excuses for why he’s off the campaign trail.”

Pledging a a peaceful transfer

Trump on Thursday also criticized Biden for saying that the transfer of power after the 2024 election might turn violent if the ex-president loses the race to Harris.

"Of course there will be a peaceful transfer," Trump said. "I just hope we have honest elections." The former president has falsely said for years that fraud impacted the result of the 2020 presidential election, claims that were denied by courts across the country.

In an interview this week with CBS News, Biden said he is "not confident at all" in a peaceful transfer if Trump is defeated.

"He means what he says ... we don't take him seriously ... He means it; all the stuff about 'If we lose, there'll be a bloodbath, it'll have been a stolen (election)," Biden told CBS News.

Trump earlier this year told a crowd of supporters in Ohio that "if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath," while talking about the American auto industry and Chinese imports.

Voting on abortion and marijuana

Trump did not disclose how he plans to vote on a pair of Florida state referendums on sensitive social issues: Protecting abortion rights and loosening marijuana laws. The measures would legalize recreational marijuana in Florida and guarantee abortion access in the state.

"I don’t want to tell you now," Trump said when asked about the abortion vote. "But Florida does have a vote coming up on that and I think probably the vote will go in a little more liberal way than people thought."

Weighing in on interest rates

At one point, Trump also said presidents should have "some say" over interest rates and monetary policy, an idea sure to draw opposition from investors who do not believe that markets should be subject to political whims. The Federal Reserve is supposed to be politically independent as it sets interest rates and makes other key decisions.

“I feel that the president should have at least say in there, yeah, I feel that strongly,” Trump said, adding “I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve, or the chairman.”

Comparing crowd size to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech

While attacking Harris, Trump downplayed the size of the crowds the vice president is drawing at campaign events, while exaggerating his own crowds. Trump's comments about the size his campaign rallies and other events date back to his 2017 inauguration.

At one point during his Thursday press conference, Trump said he has drawn crowds bigger than the one Martin Luther King, Jr., had during the 1963 civil rights march rally at the Lincoln Memorial as he delivered his now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

That event saw 250,000 people, and Trump's claim immediately drew rebukes from scholars like Pulitzer Prize-winning King biographer Jonathan Eig. The NAACP also immediately criticized Trump's comments.