Let them have their convention, and who knows how that’s going to turn out? Joe Biden is a very angry man, they took it away from him, they usurped it, they took it away from him, terrible terrible. I’m not sure they picked the right guy in him but he got 14 million votes — he got 14 million votes, she got no votes and you look at what happens, that’s not the way it was supposed to happen. They’re a threat to democracy, right? As they say.
—Trump in North Carolina 8/14
He just can’t quit Joe.
He’s more unstable than ever. Losing Joe left him “gutted.” And that assassination attempt pushed him over the edge:
“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,” said a Republican close to the campaign, reported Vanity Fair.
The July 13 assassination attempt of Trump came amid a whirlwind month of political news, which included the RNC, the announcement of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate, and, most notably, Joe Biden announcing that he was bowing out of the presidential race.
That vicious news cycle meant the attempt on Trump’s life quickly took a back seat to other news stories, like Kamala Harris’ surging momentum and the unearthing of controversial past remarks by Vance.
Trump has been notably quieter on the campaign trail in recent weeks, opting to stay at Mar-a-Lago while his running mate tailed Harris at her campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin last week. He’s still posted regularly to Truth Social, called into Fox News, and has been apart of two livestreams in August—one with Elon Musk, and the other with the controversial streamer Adin Ross.
Yet that activity pales in comparison to Trump at this point in his campaigns in 2016 and 2020, political analysts have noted. Sources who spoke to Vanity Fair suggested that just might be because of the trauma—or because Trump is gutted he’s no longer facing Biden.
A source who spoke to the magazine claimed Trump has told people close to him that “they cheated by swapping Biden.” In social posts, Trump has suggested that Biden may crash the DNC next week and force himself back to the top of the ticket—something no Democrat or media outlet has suggested.
With Harris overwhelmingly likely to be the Democrats’ candidate in November, some in Trump’s circle, like Roger Stone, have reportedly encouraged the ex-president to attack her on policy and not by calling her “Laffin Kamala” and “Kamabla.”
“I do think it’s counterproductive to call her stupid,” Stone told Vanity Fair.
To push back against the advice from all over, the magazine reported that Trump has told advisers: “I know what I’m doing.”
Sure he does…
When Roger Stone says you shouldn’t be calling someone stupid…