Fewer diners, ice cream shops: Trump and Harris shift strategies on the trail amid security threats

Amid heightened security concerns and mounting staffing issues within the U.S. Secret Service, both presidential campaigns have curtailed the frequency and kinds of events they’re holding on the trail, four sources with the campaigns said. 

Officials with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s camps say they’ve pulled back on “off-the-record” stops — when a candidate breaks from larger-scale events to drop into a diner, ice cream shop or barber — because of more burdensome security requirements. There’s an element of surprise to many of these stops, which is what can create local buzz about the candidate. 

But since a July assassination attempt on Trump, the worlds for both candidates have drastically changed. 

Each of the campaigns say Secret Service safety demands have created new challenges to booking the stops, in some cases requiring 48-hour advance notice and often far more detailed plans than they had in the past. Planning the local stops now can be as labor-intensive for campaign staff as putting on a full event, the sources said.  

On top of the time and resources required, the new demands scuttle the intent of the events, which are aimed to be more impromptu, organic visits in a community. They also provide intimate settings for candidates to mix it up with small-business owners and potential voters.  

“It takes a lot of the surprise element out of the experience,” said a Harris campaign official who, like others in this article, were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The limitations on local stops is the new reality as both candidates race across battleground states in what polling has shown to be a contest that hangs within the margin of error. These kinds of visits typify the last stretch of the race, often garnering positive local media coverage in targeted areas within battleground states. They also often provide fresh fodder for the campaigns to post on social media.  

“In order to maintain operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not discuss the specific means and methods used to conduct its protective operations. However, in this increased threat environment, the Secret Service is constantly adjusting our protective posture to ensure the highest levels of protection at all times and in all places,” U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Special Agent Matt Young said in a statement to NBC News.

“The Secret Service continues to work closely with our local, state, and federal partners to ensure that our protectees are receiving the highest levels of protection on the campaign trail," he added. "We take our responsibility to ensure that all candidates remain safe and secure in all campaign settings very seriously.”

On top of the security concerns from the Secret Service, even small-business owners who back the presidential candidate are increasingly expressing reservations about hosting the events, according to two of the sources.  

“Some have come back and said, ‘You know what? I would prefer that you don’t come by’ because of how much their safety is now at stake because of the retribution and the doxing and the trolling online,” one of the officials said. 

The new dynamic is the latest example of how the presidential landscape has transformed since a July 13 assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was grazed by a bullet after a gunman managed to fire rounds even after people in the crowd outside the event venue sounded the alarm about a man crawling on a rooftop. One person was killed in the shooting, and two people were injured. The extraordinary events caused a reckoning within the Secret Service, forcing the director to resign and prompting the acting director to call for a "paradigm shift" in the nearly 160-year-old agency. 

It has all meant an unprecedented level of security for both Harris and Trump on the trail, including a surge in personnel and additional layers of protection, like erecting bullet-proof glass around outdoor lecterns and curbing outdoor events all together. 

A person familiar with planning Trump’s events said the new security restrictions have also forced a change in the optics, because many strong visual moments aimed for TV or social media have been eliminated.

In one example, according to the source, Trump’s recent stop at a barbershop required his car to drop him off behind a tent when he arrived, depriving him of “a hero’s welcome, like the bodega,” referring to a surprise appearance Trump made in Harlem after a court appearance in April. Then, cameras had access to film Trump as he walked onto the sidewalk and into the bodega, and a cordoned-off crowd cheered on either side of him.

On Monday, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio defended Trump from criticisms that his Sunday visit to a Pennsylvania McDonald’s was “stage managed,” underscoring the recent shifts in security intensity. The McDonald's was closed for normal business, and the cars that went through the drive-thru were pre-selected and screened by Secret Service in advance.

“The fact that these people are accusing him of a stage-managed thing, of course the president has to have security because there have been two attempts on his life in the last eight weeks,” Vance said in a morning interview on Fox news. “He can’t just walk into a McDonald’s and sign a W9 and actually go on the payroll. That’s just not how this works, especially given the security threats on his life.”

Both campaigns note though they haven’t completely dropped the events. Last week, Vance, joined by his wife and oldest son, stopped by a feed and agriculture center in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with their German shepherd puppy, Atlas, in tow. Vance ended up purchasing a Trump chew toy. 

“I don’t know if he’ll be pleased about that or pissed off about that,” Vance said after a big laugh, and later added a chew toy resembling President Joe Biden. 

After recording a podcast with Charlemagne Tha God in Michigan, Harris stopped at the Cred Cafe in Detroit. She held up a T-shirt that read “Detroit vs Everybody,” and talked to the crowd about working hard to win the election.   

That brought this local headline on Fox 2 Detroit’s Facebook page: “It was standing room only at CRED Cafe in Detroit where Harris crashed her own watch party.”