Inside the Ruthless, Restless Final Days of Trump's Campaign

[Ocelot II]

At the end of June, in the afterglow of a debate performance that would ultimately prompt President Joe Biden to end his campaign for reelection, Donald Trump startled his aides by announcing that he’d come up with a new nickname for his opponent.

“The guy’s a retard. He’s retarded. I think that’s what I’ll start calling him,” Trump declared aboard his campaign plane, en route to a rally that evening, according to three people who heard him make the remarks: “Retarded Joe Biden.”

The staffers present—and, within hours, others who’d heard about the epithet secondhand—pleaded with Trump not to say this publicly. They warned him that it would antagonize the moderate voters who’d been breaking in their direction, while engendering sympathy for a politician who, at that moment, was the subject of widespread ridicule. As Trump demurred, musing that he might debut the nickname at that night’s event, his staffers puzzled over the timing. Biden was on the ropes. Polls showed Trump jumping out to the biggest lead he’d enjoyed in any of his three campaigns for the presidency. Everything was going right for the Republican Party and its nominee. Why would he jeopardize that for the sake of slinging a juvenile insult? (A campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said the nickname “was never discussed and this is materially false.”)

Over the next several days—as Trump’s aides held their breath, convinced he would debut this latest slur at any moment—they came to realize something about Trump: He was restless, unhappy, and, yes, tired of winning. For the previous 20 months, he’d been hemmed in by a campaign built on the principles of restraint and competence. The former president’s ugliest impulses were regularly curbed by his top advisers; his most obnoxious allies and most outlandish ideas were sidelined. These guardrails had produced a professional campaign—a campaign that was headed for victory. But now, like a predator toying with its wounded catch, Trump had become bored. It reminded some allies of his havoc-making decisions in the White House. Trump never had much use for calm and quiet. He didn’t appreciate normalcy. Above all, he couldn’t stand being babysat.

Much, much more at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-2024-campaign-lewandowski-conway/680456/

or https://archive.ph/aC1tA

Fascinating article about the (entirely predictable) chaos, infighting and dysfunction of the Trump campaign, including how they ended up hiring the "comedian" who called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.

[lees1975]

1. Worth the read, and worth posting a link on your social media. This is damning.

Of course, we are all exhausted by now when something comes out showing the self-serving corruption that defines anything Trump does. How so many Americans can be ignorant of this, or don't care, when they've already had money sucked out of their bank account by him, and are about to have a whole lot more is beyond me.

I put this on social media with a note to any of my Evangelical friends who still read my posts, that if they think this guy is "God's anointed," they're sadly mistaken. If they hate each other this much, think about how much they hate you.

[NNadir]

2. Interesting article. I can't imagine why it's said to be close.

If it actually turns out to be close there's something terribly wrong here.

[calimary]

4. Yeah, that's my main question, too.

HOW ON EARTH can this be a close election?????

[Hekate]

3. KnR to read in full later. Let's just say I wish them everything they deserve.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. Is the cult finally on the verge of breaking, from the inside out?