Trump and Vance rally in battleground Georgia looking to put recent struggles behind them

CNN —

Former President Donald Trump defended his running mate and said his campaign needs to “work hard to define” Vice President Kamala Harris during a Saturday rally in Georgia, a battleground state that has taken on new importance in the wake of the shake-up on the Democratic ticket.

After spending the entire campaign cycle attacking President Joe Biden and largely ignoring Harris, the Trump campaign is now trying to craft its messaging to blunt Harris’ momentum after her quick ascent to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“Now they’re saying, ‘Oh, isn’t she wonderful, isn’t she wonderful?’ No, she’s not wonderful,” Trump told the crowd in Atlanta. “So we have to work hard to define her.”

Earlier this week, Atlanta symbolized exactly how much the race had changed since Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris to become the Democratic nominee.

After she’d locked up the support of party delegates and announced that she’d raised more than $200 million in her first week as a candidate, Harris rallied 10,000 supporters in the city’s Georgia State University Convocation Center, telling them that her path to the White House ran through the Peach State.

Trump and running mate JD Vance campaigned in the same venue Saturday but headed into the event without the fundraising spike, increased momentum or improved chances of winning a crucial state.

In his remarks, Trump sought to blunt some of that momentum and defend his beleaguered vice presidential nominee, who he said is doing a “great job.”

“They go after JD, you know why? He’s for the worker,” Trump said Saturday. “And frankly, they are people that have been taken advantage of, and he doesn’t like it, and he’s done great, everything we could have