Trump zigzags between economic remarks and personal insults at rally in critical Pennsylvania

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday 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 as he held a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The former president has seemed to struggle to adjust to his new opponent after Democrats replaced their nominee. Over the past week, he has diverged during campaign appearances away from the policies he was billed to speak about and instead diverted to a rotation of familiar attack lines and insults.

As he attacked Democrats for inflation at the top of his speech, Trump asked his crowd of supporters, “You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates her.”

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.

Trump's rally in Wilkes-Barre was in a swath of a pivotal battleground state where he hopes conservative, white working-class voters near Biden’s hometown of Scranton will boost the Republican's chances of winning back the White House.

His remarks Saturday came as Democrats prepare for their four-day national convention that kicks 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. On Saturday 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 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.

On Sunday, Harris plans a bus tour starting in Pittsburgh, with a stop in Rochester, a small town to the north. Trump has scheduled a visit Monday to a plant that manufactures nuclear fuel containers in York. Trump's running mate JD Vance is expected to be in Philadelphia that day.

Some of Biden's loyal supporters in Scranton, a former industrial city of 76,000, were upset to see party leaders put pressure on the president to step aside.

Diane Munley, 63, says she called dozens of members of Congress to vouch for Biden. Munley eventually came to terms with Biden's decision and is now very supportive of Harris.

“I can’t deny the enthusiasm that’s been going on with this ticket right now. I am so into it,” Munley said. “It just wasn’t happening with Joe, and I couldn’t see it at the time because I was so connected to him.”

Robert A. Bridy, 64, a laborer from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, traveled on Saturday to the rally to show support for Trump. He said the election feels tight in this state and added that his union and a close friend are trying to convince him to vote for Harris and other Democrats, but he has voted for Trump since 2016.

Bridy called Trump a “working class guy like us.” Trump is a billionaire who built his fortune in real estate.

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Darlene Superville in Arlington, Virginia contributed to this report.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

A supporters cheers at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Supporters cheer at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, arrives to speak at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Supporters cheer at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A supporters attends a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump looks up at a campaign video at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

The crowd waits for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump to speak at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

A person walks past cardboard cutouts of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump before a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Timothy Denhollander, of New Jersey, finishes a hot dog before a rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A supporter takes a selfie with a person wearing a Donald Trump mask before a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

"Breakdancer for Trump" Victor Moon poses in a Donald Trump mask before campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Merchandise is pictured before a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Merchandise is pictured before a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

A supporter walks past a cardboard cutout of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump before a campaign rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Trump is on tap to rally Pennsylvania voters near Biden's native Scranton and counter Harris' surge

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Trump is on tap to rally Pennsylvania voters near Biden's native Scranton and counter Harris' surge

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes stormed back from big early drops to finish higher, led by a handful of highly influential Big Tech companies. The S&P 500 gained 1.1% Wednesday after erasing a morning wipeout of 1.6%. A majority of the index’s stocks still finished lower for the day, but gains for Nvidia and other tech stocks were enough to drive it to a third straight gain and back within 2% of its all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 124 points, or 0.3%, after rallying back from a drop of 743 points. The Nasdaq composite jumped 2.2%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are falling Wednesday as traders scale back their expectations for how much relief the Federal Reserve will deliver next week when it begins cutting interest rates.

Seven out of every 10 stocks were sinking within the S&P 500, but the index was nevertheless 0.4% higher in afternoon trading after erasing a sharp slide from earlier in the morning. The gain was due almost entirely to the performance of just one highly influential stock: Nvidia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 76 points, or 0.2%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, after erasing almost all of an earlier drop of 743 points. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, was up 1.4% thanks to Nvidia and a handful of other Big Tech stocks.

The sharp see-saw trading, where the Nasdaq composite roared back from an earlier 1.4% slide, followed the government's latest update on inflation at the consumer level, which came in close to expectations. Overall inflation slowed to 2.5% in August from 2.9% in July, a touch better than expected. But prices rose more than expected from July into August when ignoring food and energy, and economists say that can be a better predictor of where inflation is heading.

All together, the data seemed to confirm that the Fed will indeed cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week, which would be the first such cut in more than four years. But it bolstered expectations that the Fed will begin with only a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point instead of the more severe half-point that some had been expecting.

“This isn’t the CPI report the market wanted to see,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

Investors have a long history of being overly optimistic about how much and when the Fed will cut interest rates, only to send stock prices lower after being confronted with reality. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can goose the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. companies and households to borrow. Cuts also give boosts to investment prices.

The downside of lower rates is that they can give inflation more fuel.

“We believe the market is pricing in more rate cuts than what will occur this year,” said Gargi Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas at BlackRock.

This time, the Fed at least has already indicated it’s about to begin lowering interest rates as it shifts from fighting high inflation toward protecting the job market and keeping the economy out of a recession. With inflation down from its peak of 9.1% two summers ago, the Fed is hoping to ease the brakes off the already slowing economy.

A worry on Wall Street is that the cuts may prove to be too late, with many U.S. shoppers already struggling under the weight of high prices and stretched ability to spend more.

Vera Bradley’s stock dropped 5.9% after the designer of handbags and the parent company of the Pura Vida brand reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It pointed to “stubbornly persistent macro consumer headwinds.”

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Trump Media & Technology Group sank 11.3% to worsen its rough run since March. The company behind former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has often risen and fallen with expectations for Trump’s re-election chances, and he’s coming off a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since closing above $66 in early March, the stock has tumbled to $16.53. That affects Trump particularly because he is the company’s largest shareholder.

On the winning side of the U.S. stock market were solar-energy companies, which are seen as doing better under a Democratic White House than a Republican one. First Solar jumped 14.4%.

Big Tech also once again lifted the market. A handful of these behemoths have pulled away from the rest of the stock market, accounting for most of the S&P 500's return through the early part of this year, in large part on hopes about profits coming from the artificial-intelligence boom.

They faltered during the summer on worries that investors had carried the stock prices too high, including a 27% drop for Nvidia at one point, but they've been firming in the last couple weeks.

Beside the 6.8% rise for Nvidia, gains of 1.5% for Amazon and 1.5% for Microsoft were also big forces lifting the S&P 500. Because these companies are among Wall Street's largest by market value, their movements pack more punch on the index than almost every other stock.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.66% from 3.64% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, rose more, to 3.65% from 3.59%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5% after a Japanese central bank official was quoted by Japanese media as indicating the Bank of Japan was getting ready to raise interest rates. The comments also pushed the value of the Japanese yen higher against the U.S. dollar, a move that earlier in the summer helped send financial markets around the world reeling.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

The American flag hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)