#US2024: Trump prepares for Kamala Harris in case Biden chickens out

WASHINGTON − The low-key phase of Donald Trump‘s White House campaign − prompted by the turmoil over President Joe Biden and whether he’ll drop out of the 2024 race − is about to come to an end.

After a few relatively quiet days after their historic first debate, Trump and his team are back to taunting Biden, planning political rallies, preparing to roll out a vice presidential pick, and gearing up for their nominating convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee.

They’re also showing signs of preparing to run against − and attack − Vice President Kamala Harris, their likely foe if Biden opts to leave the ticket after his disastrous debate performance June 27.

“Respects to our potentially new Democrat Challenger, Laffin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump said in a Fourth of July message posted on Truth Social.

Two Trump rallies next week

Trump has not held a public event since a Virginia rally on June 28, the day after the debate. Biden’s struggles in the face-off has brought calls for him to drop out.

Though Trump’s weekend schedule was blank, the former president on Tuesday will attack the “catastrophic consequences” of Biden’s presidency at an event in Doral, Florida, near Miami.

A week from Saturday, Trump plans to “emphasize the horrendous effects” of the Biden era at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh in the western part of the Keystone State.

The Trump team’s planning comes as Biden travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for a speech and a high-profile interview on ABC News − and tries to save his campaign amid calls from some members of his party to step down.

Biden is also trying to redirect attention back to Trump. In a statement, the Biden campaign said he plans to “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy.”

Speaking to supporters Friday in Madison, Biden vowed to stay in the race and to keep arguing that Trump is a threat to democracy who is also a convicted felon.

The president noted that a New York City jury found Trump guilty of an illegal hush money scheme, a civil jury jury found him liable for sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll and a judge ruled that he had committed bank loan fraud.

“Donald Trump isn’t just a convicted criminal, he’s a one-man crime wave,” Biden said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in each of his criminal cases and he claims that all the legal actions against are politically motivated. He was able to clear his immediate schedule when his sentencing in the Manhattan hush money case, once set for July 11, got pushed back to September.

Trump v. Biden – or Trump v. Harris

The Trump team is retooling in the oddest of situations: They’re still not certain who their Democratic opponent will be, Biden or Harris.

In the days after the debate, Trump and his aides said they expected the incumbent president to hang on to the Democratic nomination.

In more recent days, Trump and aides began talking about Harris winding up as their opponent.

In a video he posted on Truth Social, Trump told supporters he encountered on a golf course that he now expects to run against Harris. He also bragged about the debate against “old broken-down” Biden, saying he is “quitting the race … I got him out of there.”

“That means we have Kamala.” Trump added. “I think she’s going to better. She’s so bad.”

In taunting Biden, Trump has even challenged him to another debate, this one with no moderators.

The two candidates have already agreed to a second debate on Sept. 10, though it is now less than certain who the Democratic participant will be.

Running mate announcement within two weeks

The Trump campaign also plans to roll out its vice presidential nominee − perhaps next week or perhaps during the week of the GOP convention later this month in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

Trump is focused on three top candidates, aides and allies have said: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Though the Trump campaign has been relatively low-key, the GOP vice presidential aspirants have been vocal about the fallout from the debate. “This is the most consequential, historic debate in history,” Burgum said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

The polls

The Trump campaign has been happy to stay out of the way during a weeklong news cycle focused on Biden’s troubles.

That includes new polls showing Trump has picked up considerable ground since the debate. As of Friday, poll averages compiled by the Real Clear Politics website give Trump a lead nationwide of more than 3 percentage points.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also devoted a string of Truth Social posts Friday to poll numbers in battleground states.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY