Former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro cautioned the former president to tone down his personal attacks on Kamala Harris.
The former White House trade adviser, who was recently released from jail after his conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress, warned in his Substack column that Trump could alienate the women voters he needs to flip key battleground states.
"Republican politicians, TV commentators, and radio talk show hosts who play the Willie Brown card, ridicule the infamous Harris cackle, or demean Harris as a DEI hire will only advance the Harris strategy," wrote Navarro in his subscription newsletter, called "Taking Back Trump's America." "Such personal attacks build a misplaced sympathy for Harris, particularly when the invective comes from men – like it or not, it’s a Mars vs. Venus world."
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Navarro urged the Republican nominee and all other advocates to stick to policy issues, saying those would appeal to swing women voters and independents, in general.
"The best Republican strategy is to run hard on the Trump policy agenda," Navarro advised. "Here, polls tell us that on the top salient issues likely to move undecided voters, the Trump policy agenda provides huge leads."
Navarro encouraged Trump to blame "Bidenomics" for inflation, which voters cite as their top concern, and argue that Harris has "given a full-throated endorsement" of president Joe Biden's policies, and he spouted off a series of misleading and overheated claims to urge him to focus on border security.
"Despite the efforts of the Fake News to scrub this essential fact, President Joe Biden did indeed order Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021 to serve as Border Czar," Navarro said. "Yet, Harris simply the nation’s Commander in Chief off, and a dangerous and motley crew of murderers, rapists, drug cartels, human traffickers, Islamic terrorists, and Communist Chinese spies have swarmed into our country."
Navarro assured his former boss that his policies on a host of issues – foreign policy, crime, education and abortion – were more appealing to independent voters, despite a raft of polling to the contrary, and called on Trump to lay off the personal attacks.
"Given this polling chess board, it is indeed the Trump policy agenda stupid!" Navarro said. "If Republicans are smart, they will follow this advice. To lose this election is to lose this country."
