Trump, allies hit Harris and Walz with barrage of personal attacks

• Republicans believe Trump has a clear path to victory if he can stay disciplined with a message centered on what they see as Harris and Walz's "dangerously liberal" economic and immigration policies.
• But feeling the heat of Harris' surging momentum in the polls, Trump is reverting to his basic brawler instincts — auditioning caustic attacks and incoherent nicknames in real time to figure out what sticks.

Zoom in: Trump and his allies have revived old claims by a pair of Army veterans accusing Walz — who served in the National Guard for 24 years — of "abandoning" his unit by retiring two months before it received deployment orders to Iraq in 2005.

• Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump's running mate and a Marine veteran, even accused Walz of "stolen valor" — citing a video of the governor calling for gun control laws for the types of assault weapons he "carried in war."
• Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier ever elected to Congress, never served in a combat zone, but was deployed in Europe and suffered ear damage from using heavy artillery.
• "In his 24 years of service, [Walz] carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times," the Harris campaign said in a statement. "Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American's service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country."

Between the lines: If the Trump playbook sounds familiar, that's because it is.

• Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita helped lead the notorious "Swift Boat" campaign to try to discredit the military service of then-Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004.
• During the 2016 campaign Trump himself attacked the late Sen. John McCain over his military service, which had included more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Trump denied the Arizona Republican was a "war hero," saying: "I like people who weren't captured."
• Not lost on Democrats is Trump's own record of avoiding the Vietnam War draft five times, including once for bone spurs.

Zoom out: Gone is much of the fleeting discipline Trump flashed when polls put him on course for a potential landslide over Biden earlier this summer.

• Now the former president has doubled down on his false, racist claim that Harris — the first Black, South Asian and woman vice president — recently "became a Black person" for political convenience.
• On Truth Social, Trump repeatedly has referred to Harris as "Kamabla" — a nonsensical nickname that appears intentional, but has bewildered journalists and even GOP surrogates.

• Trump's allies, meanwhile, have branded Walz "Tampon Tim," an anti-trans taunt that refers to a law he signed requiring Minnesota public schools to provide free menstrual products in bathrooms.

What they're saying: "Donald Trump is taking the week off, his VP pick is the most unpopular in modern times, and his Project 2025 agenda is toxic," Harris campaign spokesman James Singer said in a statement.

• "He's struggling, but here's the reality:  Lies can't fix that, rooting against America won't fix that, and smearing the public service of others won't fix that."
• The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but spokesman Steven Cheung repeatedly has shared his own "Kamabla" posts on social media.

The intrigue: Unlike many Democrats, Walz has shown a willingness to take the fight to Republicans in personal terms — stress-testing Michelle Obama's catchphrase: "When they go low, we go high."

• Walz — whose viral branding of pro-Trump Republicans as "weird" helped him win the VP nod — ruffled some pundit feathers when he alluded to an online sex joke about Vance at a rally on Tuesday.
• Harris herself seems somewhat uncomfortable playing that game, and even quieted "Lock him up" chants about Trump at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday: "You know what, the courts are going to handle that part of it. What we're going to do is beat him in November," she said.

The bottom line: During a call-in appearance on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, Trump acknowledged he was frustrated by Harris' political "honeymoon."

• Expect his team's attacks to grow more provocative — and more personal — if her momentum continues.