In the middle of Donald Trump’s press conference, one of his staffers posted on X a montage of television screens showing the live broadcast. “Wall to wall. Kamala Harris can’t do this,” he wrote.

In the past, Team Trump had no reason to boast about this, but the competition for visibility has changed.

While the new Democratic list enjoys its honeymoon through the swing states, Mr Trump ends up on the wrong side of a split-screen election campaign.

The heavy lifting has been left to his running mate, JD Vance, who is holding “double rallies” while accompanying his opponents across the country.

The enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz show does not exactly ease his burden.

Trump’s press conference at Mar-a-Lago was about getting him back in the spotlight and back in the game – he’s going by gut feeling.

After abandoning the idea of ​​a televised debate, he now proposes three. Mrs Harris agreed to such a resolution on 10 September.

Trump’s change of plan is one measure of how the personnel changes have affected the presidential campaign; the Democrats’ significant rise in the polls is another.

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The public has a right to have Mrs Harris asked questions

Mr Trump criticized Ms Harris for not giving interviews. There are indeed legitimate questions for a vice president who has not given a single interview since it was clear that she would be the nominee.

Her team is discussing arranging a joint interview with Ms Harris and Tim Walzher running mate, in “a few weeks,” adding that she had been busy with other business.

While it is clear why the Democratic Party would want to risk its votes riding the wave of rallies and conventions, it is unacceptable to keep voters waiting. They are entitled to independent and regular surveys to help them make their decision, and Mrs Harris undoubtedly needs to be asked questions – not least about her years of about-faces on issues such as fracking and defunding police, to name just two.

Mr Trump says a debate will give him a chance to discuss the issues. When the time comes, enough advisers will push him to sell a solid conservative message on voters’ priorities – the economy, crime and immigration.

They were involved in his press conference in Florida, albeit wrapped up in a series of untruths.

He said, “No one was killed on January 6,” although in fact nine deaths are linked to the 2021 Capitol riots.

He claimed that there had been a “peaceful transfer of power,” although in reality this was not the case.

He said his January 6 speech in Washington DC drew a crowd similar in size, if not larger, than Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. MLK drew 250,000 people, while a congressional committee estimated Trump’s crowd at around 53,000.

Trump press conference fails fact check

It is not Mr Trump’s first press conference that has failed the fact check. Untruths – whether casual or calculated – are in many ways typical of Mr Trump. That did not change in the hour-long question and answer session at Mar-a-Lago, but now the context is different.

When Joe Biden was in the race, his weakness served as cover for Mr Trump. The negative focus on Mr Biden’s age and failings diminished the impact and significance of Mr Trump’s missteps.

Americans were fed up with this competition between two old men that they didn’t want, and much of the country was no longer listening to them.

Now Trump faces a younger, more spirited and sure-footed opposition, turning the presidential campaign on its head and refocusing public scrutiny.

For Mr Trump, the danger is that the increased attention will bring with it a new vulnerability as America watches with unbiased eyes.