When I left Donald Trump after our conversation, I was surprised to see eight men in full riot gear marching toward his Trump Tower office.
It served as a vivid reminder of the previous two assassination attempts. Trump was about to go to Pennsylvania, and these people were fully prepared.
I’d been informed he’d utilize the old Reagan phrase on Saturday night: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
I wondered how long it would be until he went off script.
Trump had told me he was visiting Arnold Palmer’s hometown in the Keystone State.
What I didn’t realize was that he would describe the late golfer as “all man” and wonder at the alleged magnitude of his male endowment. He also used the “S” word to describe Kamala Harris. So much for keeping with the script.
Critics, including the vice president, have described Trump as fatigued, citing a single second-hand statement, but he did not appear tired to me. If he spoke in a hushed tone, it was because we were virtually knee to knee in the tower’s library room.
As a cautious Kamala loses momentum, Democrats are terrified about a Trump victory.
This was my second meeting with the former president in a few months, and I pushed him on a variety of issues. How could he declare January 6 a “day of love” when police were being attacked? Why, despite the “60 Minutes” editing catastrophe with the Kamala interview, would you try to revoke CBS’ license? How can you refer to your political opponents as “the enemy within”? Would you seek retribution? Will you admit the myth that “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats?”
He dug in, even with the final one.
Whether you like or oppose Trump, “‘Morning Joe’ producers and other producers that watch us and all the producers that watch us – this is not just rhetoric,” Steve Bannon stated. “You cannot have a constitutional republic and allow what these deep-staters have done to the country.”
Kash Patel stated that “we will go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government but in the media…” We will pursue you, whether criminally or civilly,” but only on the basis of facts and law.
Now here’s what I’ve gathered from my reporting.
With little over two weeks to go, Trump has decided on his closing pitch. It is about immigration and the economy. He may digress by preparing fries at McDonald’s to cast doubt on Kamala’s teenage stint there, and he may use more profanity, but the final appeal is centered only on those two concerns.
Trump doubles down on proclaiming January 6 a ‘day of love’
According to the Trump campaign, Harris’ previous support for government money for gender-reassignment surgery for federal detainees has influenced voter turnout. Even Charlamagne Tha God questioned this throughout their conversation. Harris said she merely obeyed the law in the same way that Trump did.
The former president is attempting to relaunch his efforts by proclaiming a New Golden Age. That appears to be a direct response to Harris’s call for a new way forward. Both are claiming the mantle of the “change” candidate, with the majority of people believing the country is on the wrong track–the incumbent vs the former incumbent.
Trump did tell me a funny line about Kamala going to the center. “She has become MAGA. “I will send her a hat.”
However, Trump and his strategists are perplexed by the vice president’s lack of a concluding message and failure to attract as many Black supporters as Joe Biden did. Of course, there is an emphasis on abortion rights, as well as strong warnings about Trump’s instability and unhingedness. But is there anything that links everything together?
Trump has a long history of asking everyone around him, even makeup artists, what they think as a form of focus group. “Are you confident?” he has been asking recently. “Are you confident?”
He has received the following response: Yes, but you will win by a slim margin.