Trump Says He’s ‘Entitled’ to Attack Harris at News Conference

Toward the end of a meandering news conference, former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday insisted he was “entitled” to continue his barrage of personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, even as Republican allies are pushing him to shift his tone and emphasize policy issues.

Saying he was “very angry” at Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump told reporters outside the clubhouse of his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., that “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks,” and that he had little respect for his Democratic opponent.

“I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and I think she’ll be a terrible president,” he said, adding, “She certainly attacks me personally.”

The former president said that he didn’t need to moderate his tone to win the Republican primary, insisting that he was now running a “very calm campaign” — and even a calm news conference. “I didn’t rant and rave,” he said of his own performance as he was in the middle of it on Thursday. “I’m a very calm person.” Still, Mr. Trump repeatedly cast his opponents as “radical” and “sick.”

His nearly 80-minute news conference was intended, in part, to show his renewed emphasis on the economy, inflation and other policy issues. He had props displayed on either side of him in anticipation of such a focus: a grocery-store haul that included three gallons of milk, seven Campbell’s soup cans, at least three dozen eggs and a box of Cheerios cereal that Mr. Trump said he wanted to take home with him.

But during both his remarks and a question-and-answer session with reporters, Mr. Trump bounced between his proposals to fight inflation, his dry recitation of economic figures that he used to criticize Ms. Harris and the Biden administration and a number of other wide-ranging tangents, including complaints about Hillary Clinton, windmills, the news media and President Biden’s decision to exit the race.