This summer, for what seems like a fleeting moment now, former President Donald Trump seemed to be in the lap of luxury.
According to polls, he was leading the presidential race. Possibly the worst debate performance in recent memory was given by his opponent. A Florida judge dismissed his lawsuit over classified papers, and the Supreme Court granted Trump limited presidential immunity. He escaped an actual attempt at murder.
However, the pictures of Trump grinning and surrounded by partygoers sporting their own bandages around their ears, with Hulk Hogan taking off his shirt to show support for the former president, seem like a thing of the past.
There has been a noticeable buzz surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign ever since she was announced as the presumed Democratic nominee. She has closed the gap and even taken the lead in several swing state polls, and her donations have broken records.
The former president even appears a little alarmed by the recent surge of interest surrounding Harris’ selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running partner.
Business Insider contacted Steven Chueng, the Trump campaign spokesperson, regarding allegations that the president is annoyed with the momentum of the Harris campaign. Chueng labeled the reports as “fake news.”
He said in an email that “President Trump and his campaign team are doing everything necessary to win this election,” that the stakes were too great, and that “everyone knows to row in unison in the same direction.” Never before have the party and the movement been more connected.”
Trump’s breaks from the message
Trump seems to have little issue sticking to his platform when facing President Joe Biden: Biden is too elderly, look at the border, notice how expensive groceries are, etc.
However, Trump struggles to deliver a compelling counter-message when it comes to Harris. At points, during a press conference this week, he even looked obviously irritated by the excitement around her campaign.
Despite allies pushing him to focus on the problems, he has been unable to avoid bringing up race and gender, even wrongly questioning Harris’ origins during a speech at a conference for Black journalists.
He has even started to stand up for Biden in a way.
He utterly misrepresented the president as having been “stolen” from Biden by Harris and other Democrats in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
He reiterated his claim that Biden had “the right to run” but that Democrats “took it away” at a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
During the same press conference, a reporter asked Trump if he was concerned about the size of the crowds Harris was pulling. Trump seemed frustrated in response. He remarked, “Oh, give me a break,” and added that the media was disregarding the enormous audiences he had attracted.
He even deviated from the topic at hand, asserting that on January 6, 2021, he attracted a greater number of people to the national mall than Martin Luther King Jr. did in 1963 at the delivery of the well-known “I Have a Dream” speech. (King’s population was projected to be 250,000. According to the January 6 Committee, Trump had 53,000.
A few Trump supporters are also concerned.
Not only does Trump appear somewhat rattled by the way the election has gone, but other conservatives are beginning to doubt the former president’s chances of winning in November.
Republican National Committee member Richard Porter told The Washington Post, “At the convention, it was game over, and the Democrats realized that.” “It felt like it was too good to be true, and it was.”
The Post was informed by five campaign officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity that Trump is continuously expressing dissatisfaction with the way the race is going. Trump reportedly told an ally, “It’s unfair that I beat him and now I have to beat her, too,” according to the outlet.
Trump’s close buddy Sen. Lindsey Graham admitted to the Post that the campaign had “hit a few speed bumps.”
Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro stated to The New York Times that Trump should concentrate on disparaging the Harris-Walz campaign and “stick to a simple point: You were better off in 2019 than you are in 2024.”
It’s hard to predict if the Harris campaign’s immense momentum will result in victory in November.
Trump’s approach to the situation may not be supporting him in the interim.