personal attacks on Harris and Biden

Former President Donald Trump delivered a speech Wednesday focused on his economic plans, but he went off on several tangents about President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and windmills.

Trump spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, after his allies and advisers have urged him to focus on his policy differences with Harris and drop personal attacks. While Trump outlined several areas where the two differ on policy, they were overshadowed by insults from top Democrats.

“For four years, he’s been laughing while the economy burns,” Trump said of Harris. “It’s the laugh of a madman, I tell you. He’s mad.”

He also called him and Biden “stupid” and later dismissed Walz as a “clown.”

Trump said Wednesday’s event “is not a protest. This is, we’re talking about a thing called the economy. They wanted to talk about the economy.”

He did not identify who “they” are, but added: “They say it’s the most important issue. I think crime is there. Raja is there personally. We have a lot of important issues because our country has become a third world nation. “

Trump floated some policy proposals, including a previously unannounced goal.

“Under my leadership, the United States will commit to the ambitious goal of cutting energy and electricity prices in half, at least in half,” he said in the first 18 months.

Then he quickly added a caveat: “And if it doesn’t work, you say, ‘Well, I voted for him. I still got it way down.'”

Trump said Wednesday that he would lower prices with “rapid approvals for new energy infrastructure,” freeing up new land for drilling and easing regulations, which he said would make the country “energy dominant.”

The US already produces more crude oil than any other country in history, says the US Energy Information Administration.

Trump followed Harris and Biden’s record on the economy and the border — two lines of attack that his allies say should be more prominent in his stump speeches.

“Kamala has declared that curbing inflation will be a priority on Day 1,” Trump said, “but Day 1 for Kamala was 3½ years ago. Why hasn’t he done that?”

“He’s a critic. That’s all he is,” he added.

Trump also predicted that if Harris wins the election, “the result will be a Terrible economic collapse, a 1929-style depression.” He made a similar prediction about Biden in 2020.

The remarks also included numerous other tangents, including criticism of windmills — Trump has said he opposes the use of wind and solar energy — and a dig at Biden when discussing next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“You know when he’s talking? Monday. Monday is – it’s the worst day, but that’s what they do, and it’s their own form – it’s just another, I think it’s a relatively minor form of fraud,” he said. .

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com