'I haven't changed, maybe I've got worse': Trump steps up attack

Early in his speech in Minnesota on the night of July 27, former president Donald Trump made clear just how quickly he has jettisoned the appeal for national unity that he made after he survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania two weeks ago.

- 

"I want to be nice," Trump said. "They all say, 'I think he's changed.

I think he's changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him." But to a cheering crowd of thousands, Trump quickly conceded the point. "No, I haven't changed," he said. "Maybe I've got worse. Because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day."

Propelled by the upheaval in the presidential race caused by President Joe Biden's decision to end his campaign six days ago, Trump on July 27 once more escalated his attacks against US Vice-President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee.

During a speech lasting roughly 90 minutes, Trump lied about her views on abortion in an effort to paint her as extreme, and mocked her laugh and her demeanour.

Trump spent considerable time attacking Ms Harris' views on public safety, taking aim at her efforts to portray herself as a "rule of law" prosecutor who contrasts starkly with Trump's two impeachments, four criminal indictments and 34 felony convictions.

As he rallied 97km from Minneapolis, where the killing of Mr George Floyd in 2020 prompted a movement for criminal justice reform, Trump accused Ms Harris of backing soft-on-crime policies, including a push to defund the police.