After Obama got personal at the DNC, Trump asks: “Do I still have to stick to my policies?”

Former President Trump cites personal attacks by former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago as justification for ignoring the advice of his allies to stop insults and focus on political attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? He shot your president. And Michelle did, too,” Trump told his supporters at a rally in contested North Carolina on Wednesday.

Referring to Trump, the former First Lady stressed during her speech to the DNC: “Considering small things is petty, it is unhealthy and, quite frankly, unpresidential.”

And she argued that “it's still the same old scam: it relies on ugly, misogynistic and racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that would actually improve people's lives.”

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A few minutes later, former President Obama described his successor in the White House as “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn't stopped complaining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”

“It's been a constant stream of nagging and complaining that's gotten even worse since he's been afraid of losing to Kamala. There are the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd size,” he added, making a hand gesture that seemed to suggest he was mocking Trump's masculinity.

Trump, who was making light of last night's verbal attacks on him, appeared to scoff at the advice of his Republican allies.

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“You know, they always say, 'Sir, please follow the guidelines, don't get personal,'” Trump said. “And yet these people keep getting personal all night long.”

“Do I still have to stick to my policies?” Trump asked his supporters in the crowd.

While Trump criticized Harris on key issues such as border security, crime and inflation, he also continually attacked and insulted the Vice President in speeches, press conferences and social media posts over the past four weeks.

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum in Asheboro, North Carolina on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Sources close to Trump's political circle have told Fox News that senior advisers to the former president were secretly trying to persuade him to stop insulting Harris and questioning the vice president's ethnic identity and instead focus on branding her an ultra-liberal.

Trump allies publicly called on the former president to turn his attention back to him.

“This campaign cannot be based on personalities,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News' “America's Newsroom” last week. “Stop questioning the size of their following and start questioning their position.”

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McCarthy stressed that Trump “has very little time to do this, so don't sit back. Go out there and start making your case.”

In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News' “Special Report” last week, former UN ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley – Trump's main rival in the Republican presidential primaries earlier this year – also had some unsolicited advice for her former boss.

Haley, who reiterated that she wants Trump to win the presidential election, stressed: “The election is not won by talking about crowd sizes. It is not won by talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It is not won by talking about whether she is stupid. She is not. You cannot win with those things. Americans are smart. Let's treat them that way.”

At his rally on Wednesday, Trump imitated allies who had urged him to avoid personal insults.

“Sir, you have to stick to your policies. You're going to win at the border. You're going to win with inflation. You're going to win with your great military that you've built,” Trump said.

And a few minutes later, he surveyed his supporters in the crowd, asking, “Should I get personal, or should I not get personal?”

The personal decision won by a very clear margin.

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