Is Harris' sudden rise putting Trump team in panic mode?

WASHINGTON: It was supposed to be a cakewalk. Instead, there's plenty of egg on the face - for now. The Trump-Vance campaign has run into unexpected headwinds from the rousing start Kamala Harris has got for her campaign, powered by America's "youngistan".

Polls are showing the presumptive Democratic nominee has enthused the younger voting demographic in America and has a stunning 20 point lead in the 18-34 age cohort.

While most polls show the two locked in an almost deadheat in the overall demographic, with Trump leading by one or two points (within the margin of error), the closeness of the race is surprising pundits who thought Harris would be a pushover, particularly after the ex-prez survived an assassination bid.

Although the attack occurred only a week ago, it seems to be fading from public memory.

Word from the FBI that it is still investigating whether he was nicked by a bullet or shrapnel has enraged Trump, who insisted on Friday that "a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard". "There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a 'bullet wound to the ear,' and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!" he raged online. But there is plenty of political shrapnel flying out after liberals and never-Trumpers dug up old remarks in interviews by Trump's running mate JD Vance, including comments arguing that families with kids should get more political weightage than single people, who are "obsessed with their jobs and status games".

Some Trump supporters are starting to express doubt about Vance as Trump's V-P pick, even going as far as to suggest he should be swapped for Nikki Haley, in part because of Harris and the likelihood of her choosing a white, male running mate.

Harris' strong start and framing the race as "Prosecutor v Felon" appears to have rattled the Trump campaign, which has not come up with much beyond attacking her as a "Marxist".

"My uncle is panicking. He's running against a strong black woman-and a former prosecutor-who isn't afraid to call him out or mock him. His whole campaign strategy was based around attacking Joe Biden-his age, his infirmity, his cognitive decline," Trump's niece and critic Mary Trump said. That line of attack has all but dissipated, and the shoe is now on the other foot, and a clumsy one at that - as the Harris campaign shared memes of him dancing awkwardly compared to her own sinuous moves.

Adding to Trump's woes, one of his nephews, Fred Trump, is coming out with a book in which he says Trump once said after a White House meeting with families of disabled people that "those kinds of people should just die", because "the shape they're in, all the expenses". Fred himself has a special needs child and he claims his uncle told him, "I don't know. He doesn't recognise you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida."

Critics have often said Trump lacks kindness or compassion, but coming from a family member, the outlook, combined with Vance's smackdown of single people, has put the campaign on the defensive.

Such is the sudden disarray in the Trump camp that on Thursday he left himself open to taunts he famously dishes out to others after he backed away from a Sept 10 debate he had agreed to with the Democratic candidate (when it was expected to be Biden) - at least until Harris is confirmed as the Democratic nominee.

"What happened to 'any time, any place'?" Harris wrote on X.