Trump Allies Fear He’s Sabotaging His Own Campaign

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-allies-fear-sabotaging-campaign

30 Comments

  1. vanityfairmagazine on

    The former president can’t get over feeling “cheated” by Joe Biden’s exit from the race, says one source, while another speculates he might “have PTSD” following last month’s assassination attempt.

    – VF correspondent Gabriel Sherman

  2. RuncibleSpork on

    Did they just meet him this week or something? He’s a malignant narcissist with zero self control, and he’s in the early stages of a narcissistic collapse as the very real possibility of getting defeated by a Black woman creeps into his consciousness. Irrationality, paranoia, impulsive behavior, and lashing out at those close to him are all to be expected, and as time goes on it will only get worse.

  3. Bored_guy_in_dc on

    >“He’s been watching that seven-second clip of how close he was to getting shot right in the head—over and over and over again,” the Republican close to the campaign said. “He may actually legit have PTSD.”

    That has been my guess all along. I know it would freak the hell out of me, and I wouldn’t want to get back up on stage. PTSD is a hell of a thing.

  4. trump never planned on a legitimate win through votes. His plan is to use a corrupt electorate to hand him a win no matter what the votes say.

  5. RamonaQ-JunieB on

    Remember when they all used to say, “Let Trump be Trump,”? I guess they got what they wanted. But now those bills are coming due.

  6. Itsprobablysarcasm on

    Alt headline: **Man with lifelong history of shitting the bed and ruining things SHOCKS allies when he shits the bed and ruins things**

  7. >The former president can’t get over feeling “cheated” by Joe Biden’s exit from the race

    Sleepy Joe Biden is undefeated against Trump

  8. Are these allies the same ones who assured all of us that Trump would moderate and listen to his advisors once he became president? They are still holding out hope that he will start behaving like a normal person, huh?

  9. TintedApostle on

    He bankrupted 3 casinos – CASINOS – in 1 year. It is what he does with everything.

  10. ranchoparksteve on

    Donald Trump is the blind squirrel that found a nut eight years ago. He hasn’t demonstrated any amazing political talent or strategic abilities. Perhaps Republicans are recognizing a tiny bit of this reality.

  11. TheToastedTaint on

    I literally don’t know how in 2024 republicans are surprised that trump is acting misanthropic

  12. TheReal8symbols on

    He’s been doing that for eight years. The difference now is the Dems have taken the gloves off. Everyone is afraid of the bully until they see someone stand up to them and expose them for the weird cowards they really are.

  13. Trump being a petulant and vindcative ball of pure negative energy is *exactly* who you endorsed and voted for. Don’t get upset now just it’s suddenly is achieving the opposite effect for you, Republicans.

  14. johnnycyberpunk on

    >sabotaging his own campaign

    Trump doesn’t see it that way.
    His paranoia has driven him to get rid of *anyone* and *everyone* who isn’t 100% loyal.
    That paranoia, combined with his narcissism, has convinced him that **he** is the only one who should be giving himself advice, guidance, and direction.
    You can see it in everything he does now.

    I guarantee that EVERY. SINGLE. REPUBLICAN. CAMPAIGN. ADVISOR. that exists or ever existed would have told him NOT to do the NABJ interview.
    NOT to do the Aiden Ross interview.
    NOT to do the Elon Musk interview.

    He’s running his own train off the tracks but HE thinks he’s just making a new path.

  15. The level of delusion from of these people is astonishing. Trump isn’t secretly brilliant with a perfect plan for everything.

  16. CulturalKing5623 on

    Sabotage has to be intentional, the person has to set out to purposely undermine the effort. That’s not what Trump is doing.

    He’s just a scared, very old man that can’t adjust to the new dynamics of the world he inhabits. And much like his constituency, instead of adapting, he flails and lashes out while he openly pines for the good old days of 3 weeks ago where everything was Great and *Sleepy Joe Biden* was his opponent and he was cake walking back to the White House.

    This is, of course, all *extremely* disqualifying behavior for a man that wants to be commander-in-chief. He tells us he alone can fix the problems of the world, but he seems to have the same grasp on object permanence as a toddler and is currently screaming his head off because President Biden played the best game of peek-a-boo ever. He’s shown the same level of discipline as a puppy in ball pit and has spent the last 3 weeks workshopping a silly name for Kamala *and hasn’t even figured one out yet.*

    Trump isn’t sabotaging his own campaign, he’s actually trying *really* hard to win by being exactly who he’s always been. I just hope by November, white people finally see this clown for who he is and decide to distance themselves from quite possibly the worst American to ever live.

  17. NachosWithJalapenos on

    He’s basically given up campaigning on winning. It’s entirely about trying to overturn the results. He’s counting on a civil war being fought on his behalf.

  18. I don’t think so, everything he’s doing is still resonating with his most hardcore fans. I think the best description for what’s happening is that part of this is his “Fat Elvis” stage, where he’s just playing his greatest hits for a dwindling group of rabid fans, mostly because he’s got nothing else… There is a drop in his polls, but that’s from a huge change outside, the people that still want to hear “Heartbreak Hotel” will still stay until the King leaves the building.

    But my take, if you forgive me continuing the musical metaphor (…and I know I’m gonna get a ton of crap from Dead-heads about this one) are that the people within the MAGAsphere wondering if he’s sabotaging himself are like the old joke about the two hippies coming down from their high in the middle of a Grateful Dead concert: “What’s this shit we’re listening to?”

    To carry further, “Wait, are they even trying?” “Jerry’s playing another auto-wah pedal solo again, really?” “I thought they were a lot better in ’67…”

    It isn’t that Trump isn’t trying, it’s just that he isn’t trying different because in his case, he can’t; and time and outside forces have changed some people in the audience’s perspective and perception of what’s actually happening onstage.

    Now, that might give some a hope that the cult of MAGA might actually have the spell broken because of this, but there are plenty of people that will go right back to the supply of “I hate the libs” handed out free from the candymen on the radio and cable tv for most of these folks to keep on Truckin’.

    And to finally carry this absurd metaphor out: Many of the Dems will breathe a sigh of relief when the Grateful MAGA ends the set, but you better believe the HORDE tour wants to pickup that audience the second it does, and some of those acts are better rehearsed.

  19. mountainsunset123 on

    People with dementia insist that their version of reality is the true version, and you can’t convince them otherwise.

  20. I always had the impression that he enjoyed campaigning for President infinitely more than actually _being_ President. Even when he was in office he tried to spend as much time in Mar-a-Lago as possible. And his wife hated DC. He openly derided the physical White House as an anachronistic relic. I have trouble believing he actually _wants_ to return to Washington. All those stupid documents!

  21. purplebrown_updown on

    He won because people thought he was different – not because he was good. Now that a different choice appears that brings hope and change, he’s on the run.

  22. TerrifyinglyAlive on

    Trump Allies Fear He’s Sabotaging His Own Campaign, *and we’re all here for it*