Ex-WH Adviser Navarro: Trump Should Focus on Policy

Peter Navarro, a White House adviser in the Trump administration, said Monday that former President Donald Trump should focus on his policy differences with Vice President Kamala Harris, rather than resorting to personal attacks.

"He needs votes, and the current rally formula is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences — policy differences — between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in key battleground states," Navarro said Monday while filling in for imprisoned host Steve Bannon on his "War Room" podcast. "Instead, when Trump attacks Harris personally rather than on policy, Harris' support among swing voters rises, particularly among women."

Harris has seen her poll numbers on an uptick since President Joe Biden withdrew from the election on July 21, which former President Donald Trump has dismissed as being a honeymoon phase.

Last week, Navarro wrote that Republicans need to beat Harris "with the policy stick," instead of with personal attacks.

"It's the Trump policy agenda, stupid!" Navarro wrote in a self-published blog last Tuesday. "That's how to beat Kamala Harris."

He said a winning strategy for Harris "will be to consolidate Democrat women, successfully woo independent women, and peel off a small fraction of Republican women."

"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," Navarro wrote, referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion. "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."

The best GOP strategy, Navarro wrote, is "to run hard on the Trump policy agenda," noting that polling shows the former president's agenda "provides huge leads" on the top issues for voters.

"Inflation tops the pollster's list, Bidenomics is at the root of this evil, and Kamala Harris has given a full-throated endorsement of Bidenomics," he wrote. "Trump runs away with the election on this issue alone — voters vividly remember that in Trump's America, you didn't have to choose between food on the table, medicine in the cabinet, and a roof over your head."

Navarro was recently released from federal prison after serving four months for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena related to an investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Bannon is one month into a four-month sentence also for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena related to an investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.