Republican Donald Trump has campaigned in the swing state of North Carolina, struggling to turn the page on a difficult stretch of a White House bid in which his lead in opinion polls has all but evaporated.
Speaking at an event in Asheville, the former president made a series of personal and policy-based attacks at Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
Mr Trump told supporters that he would open up federal lands to drilling and ease the permitting process for pipelines among other measures designed to bring down consumers prices should he win the 5 November presidential election.
He resumed attacks on Vice President Harris' intellect that many allies and donors had hoped he would ditch, at one point calling her "stupid" and denigrating her laugh as a "cackle," saying: "That's the laugh of a person with some big problems."
Some allies, donors and advisers have expressed concern at Mr Trump's deeply personal attacks on Harris in recent weeks and suggested that he instead focus on what they argue are the failed policies she has promoted while in office.
In his speech, he sought to do both and steered clear of broadsides challenging Ms Harris' racial identity which have provoked concerns in previous events.
In recent weeks he has frequently implied that Harris, whose mother was born in India and whose father was born in Jamaica, has only recently leaned into her Black identity.
"Personally it makes no difference to me what Kamala wants to identify as," said Bill Bean, a major Republican donor who hosted Trump's vice presidential pick, JD Vance, at an Indiana fundraiser in late July.
Mr Bean said he had talked with Vance and Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley about the need to attack Ms Harris on her policy record, not her identity.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not address those criticisms directly, but argued Mr Trump would beat Ms Harris due to the vice president's record in office.
"Kamala is weak, dishonest, and dangerously liberal, and that's why the American people will reject her on November 5th," she said in a statement.
National polling averages show Ms Harris has opened a modest lead against Mr Trump, while polls in the swing states likely to decide the 5 November election consistently show a tight race.
In a memo released before the event, Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler accused Mr Trump of neglecting the middle class by opposing union protections and backing corporate tax cuts, among other measures.
Ms Harris on Friday will travel to North Carolina, where she will talk about economic policy in a speech in Raleigh.
She will outline a plan "to lower costs for middle-class families and take on corporate price-gouging," a campaign official said.
Mr Trump maintains a slim lead in North Carolina, according to an average maintained by the website Real Clear Politics, though Ms Harris is within striking distance.
That represents a marked difference from a month ago, when Mr Biden was the candidate and Republicans appeared to be running away with the state and were turning their attention to traditionally Democratic states like Minnesota and Virginia.
Earlier today, Mr Trump cast his ballot in the Republican primary for federal and state offices in Florida.
While the former president has encouraged voters to cast their ballots whenever is convenient for them, he has also said - without providing evidence - that early voting is corrupt and prone to fraud.
Mr Vance spoke to supporters near Grand Rapids, Michigan, today where he accused Ms Harris of lacking an economic plan and criticised her for not answering enough questions from the press.
Mr Trump's appearance in Asheville follows an at-times rambling interview on X with billionaire Elon Musk on Monday night, which was marred by technical difficulties.
Last week, Mr Trump convened a meandering press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and over the weekend he falsely accused the Harris campaign of using artificial intelligence to make her crowds at a rally in Michigan appear larger than they were.
Read more: Trump holds one key advantage in this race: the economy
Asheville is part of a series of planned campaign stops themed around specific topics and will be followed on Saturday by an event focusing on consumer prices, crime and immigration in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Mr Trump won his narrowest victory in North Carolina in his losing 2020 campaign, and it is considered one of the handful of swing states that tend to decide US elections.
But Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, is a liberal enclave and some locals have been scratching their heads over Mr Trump's decision to visit.
