Former President Donald Trump again tried to focus his campaign message on the economy on Saturday, but the Republican repeatedly resorted to illogical statements and personal attacks, including twice declaring that he looked better than Vice President Kamala Harris.

At a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania, Trump alternated between making his economic case and making a few insults and imitations of President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.

When attacking Democrats over inflation, he asked his supporters, “You don’t mind if I lose the teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates them.”

Trump’s rally took place in part of the crucial swing state, where he hopes conservative white working-class voters near Biden’s hometown will boost Republicans’ chances of retaking the White House.

His comments on Saturday came as Democrats prepare for their four-day convention that begins Monday in Chicago and marks the party’s welcome of Harris as its nominee. Her replacement of Biden less than four months before the November election gave new momentum to Democrats and their coalition and presents a new challenge to Trump.

Trump attacked Harris’ laughter, saying she was “not a very good wordsmith,” and mocked the names of the CNN moderators who moderated the debate between him and Biden in June.

He also criticized Harris on economic issues, linking her to the Biden administration’s inflation problems and comparing her recent anti-price gouging proposal to measures in communist countries. Trump said a federal ban on food price gouging would lead to food shortages, rationing and hunger, and asked her on Saturday why she had not worked to solve the price problem when she and Biden were sworn in in 2021.

“Day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. Why didn’t she do it then? So today is day 1,305,” Trump said.

His remarks ranged from stammering about the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan to imitating Macron’s French accent, but he took issue with how his outspoken style is usually portrayed in news reports.

“You’ll say he’s rambling. I’m not rambling. I’m a really smart guy.” “I’m not rambling.”

He predicted financial ruin for the country, and Pennsylvania in particular, if Harris won, citing her past opposition to fracking, a method of oil and gas extraction.

“Her country is going to be ruined anyway. She is totally against fracking,” Trump said.

In 2016 and 2020, Trump crushed his Democratic rivals in the county, which includes the blue-collar city of Wilkes-Barre. The Rust Belt region, which includes Biden’s hometown of Scranton, is giving Trump hope and helping him expose Democrats’ vulnerabilities now that the president has ended his re-election campaign and Harris has launched hers.

Her campaign tried to soften her stance on fracking by saying she would not ban it, even though that was already her position when she ran for president in 2020.

Some Democrats in Pennsylvania acknowledge the challenges but say the economy is the region’s biggest concern.

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis said in an interview that voters are “really hot.” David Harris’ rally in Philadelphia to introduce her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as well as 36 field offices, including several in Republican-leaning parts of the state.

“The energy has clearly shifted dramatically toward Vice President Harris,” Davis said, arguing that Trump “is just going on confused rants and attacking Harris personally.”

On Sunday, Harris is planning a bus trip that will begin in Pittsburgh and stop in Rochester, a small town further north. Trump has planned a visit to a factory in York that makes containers for nuclear fuel on Monday. Trump’s running mate JD Vance is expected in Philadelphia that day.

Trump’s rally on Saturday will be his fifth at the arena in Wilkes-Barre, the largest city in Luzerne County, where he won the last two elections. Biden defeated Trump in neighboring Lackawanna County, where the Democrat has long emphasized his working-class roots in Scranton.

Some of Biden’s loyal supporters in this former industrial city of 76,000 were angry that party leaders were pushing the president to resign.

Diane Munley, 63, says she called dozens of members of Congress to lobby for Biden. Munley eventually came to terms with Biden’s decision and is now a strong supporter of Harris.

“I can’t deny the excitement that exists right now for this ticket. I’m so excited,” Munley said. “It just didn’t work out for Joe, and I couldn’t see it at the time because I was so close to him.”

She said she doesn’t know a single Democrat or independent in her circle of several hundred people who doesn’t fully support Harris and Walz.

“We are fully committed to Kamala Harris,” Munley said. “We are 110% committed to Kamala Harris.”

Robert A. Bridy, 64, a laborer from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, had traveled to the rally to show his support for Trump. He said the election in that state was close, adding that his union and a close friend tried to convince him to vote for Harris and other Democrats, but he had voted for Trump since 2016.

“It’s a close call. You can’t change the Democrats’ minds no matter what you do. They only have one goal and that’s it,” he said.

Bridy called Trump a “working man like us.” Trump is a billionaire who made his fortune in real estate.

“He’s a fighter,” Bridy said. “I would like to see closed borders. He doesn’t waste time. He gets straight to work and takes care of things the way they should be done.”