Is this what’s bringing Trump down?
A shocking report in Vanity Fair reveals the former president repeatedly watches footage of his near-assassination, leading his closest advisers to fear he may be self-sabotaging.
“He’s been watching that seven-second video over and over again of how close he came to being shot in the head,” said a Republican source close to the campaign. “He may actually be suffering from PTSD.”
Of course! How could I not?
It seems unlikely that Trump would seek professional help. A man of his generation and bearing would probably see that as a sign of weakness rather than strength.
But if he wants to save his faltering campaign — and that’s a substantial “if” — perhaps he should.
According to the NIH, common features of PTSD include “reliving the traumatic event,” “cognitive and mood symptoms,” and “feeling irritable and having outbursts of anger or aggression.”
A shocking report in Vanity Fair reveals the former president repeatedly watches footage of his near-assassination, leading his closest advisers to fear he may be self-sabotaging.
Those within the system are seeing these symptoms manifest. So are we.
In recent weeks, Trump has aged rapidly.
Trauma can do that, especially at an older age. Death is suddenly very close and you may be wondering if another career, another term, is still worth it.
Perhaps, after narrowly escaping an assassin’s bullet, he’d rather play golf and spend his few remaining good years with his grandchildren, who, as his 17-year-old granddaughter Kai demonstrated in her enthusiastic speech at the Republican National Convention, love him dearly.
After all, Trump’s own wife is said to have made it clear that she has no interest in a second term and would not return to the White House.
Ivanka and Jared are also out. Barron is off to college. Trump faces a lonely existence in the Oval Office, if he wins.
Maybe I don’t want to anymore.
“It’s like she chose to lose,” a source told Vanity Fair.
Another source said Trump is furious about taking on Kamala Harris.
“They cheated by changing Biden,” he complains.
And then there are his legal problems.
Trump is set to be sentenced in a Manhattan court on Sept. 18, found guilty of fraud, and still faces at least two other federal trials: one for Jan. 6 and the other for election interference in Georgia.
Add to that Harris’s rising poll numbers, the boost she’s about to get from the Democratic National Convention next week, and this slimy tongue-bath from the media (despite Harris not giving any interviews or holding any press conferences), and things are looking pretty bleak indeed.
We can see that Trump is feeling it.
His complexion is pale, his energy low, and in that disjointed conversation with Elon Musk, his voice sounded slurred.
His speeches lack the force and precision he once displayed. He now rambles, takes secondary oratorical paths, and seems to literally lose the thread or point he is trying to convey.
In recent weeks, Trump has aged rapidly. Traumas tend to do that, especially at an advanced age. Perhaps, after narrowly escaping an assassin’s bullet, he’d rather play golf and spend his remaining good years with his grandchildren.
After all, Trump’s own wife has made it clear that she has no interest in a second term and would not return to the White House. Ivanka and Jared are also out. Barron is off to college. Trump faces a lonely existence in the Oval Office, if he wins.
Ironically, in many ways, Trump suddenly looks less like anyone than his former rival, whose decrepitude made Trump — 78 to Biden’s 81 — seem positively youthful.
Now, opposite Harris, 59, Trump is the grumpy, forgetful, angry, somewhat racist and sexist old man that all the neighbors avoid.
That goodwill after the assassination attempt, the bravery and defiance Trump displayed in the seconds afterward, has all evaporated.
Trump is the only one to blame for this.
Nicknames are no longer funny: “Kamabla” has not taken hold. Racist taunts about how “black” she looks only serve her benefit, while making Trump look small and pathetic.
Kamala is having her summer as a “brat,” speaking to enthusiastic, adoring crowds, spreading her message of optimism and joy (somewhat vague, by the way) while Trump retreats.
Why doesn’t he attack Harris for her political weaknesses, which are legion, instead of being a bully?
“She actually called me weird,” Trump complained at a news conference Thursday. “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks. I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence and I think she’ll be a terrible president.”
Trump’s team, try as they might, cannot stop him.
“I think it’s counterproductive to call[Harris]stupid,” longtime Trump friend Roger Stone said this week.
Meanwhile, Republican members tell my colleague Andrew Neil that words like “unhinged” and “collapse” are increasingly being used to describe Trump’s mental state.
And this is not the first time.
In fact, Trump is the only presidential candidate who has ever run against a Democratic front-runner and won. He called Hillary Clinton many names, but he never called her stupid.
The job should be simple: All Trump needs to do is attack Harris on the economy, the border, foreign policy and Israel, and her lack of concrete plans or vision for the country.
What is she waiting for? Inflation is falling. The Federal Reserve has indicated that there will be another rate cut in September. Harris will take credit for having freed American hostages from Russian prisons.
In Tim Walz, you have an older, affable, nondescript Midwesterner that the base has embraced, unlike Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who has proven polarizing and can’t shake that “women with cats and no children” comment.
At this point, it looks like Kamala is going to lose this election.
She is shrewdly positioning herself as the underdog, albeit one that raised a record $81 million in the 24 hours after Biden withdrew.
The job should be simple: All Trump needs to do is attack Harris on the economy, the border, foreign policy and Israel, and her lack of concrete plans or vision for the country.
On Friday, he spoke in North Carolina about his plans to build an “opportunity economy”: calling for federal regulations on grocery store prices, giving low- and middle-income families thousands of dollars in child tax credits and providing $25,000 to first-time homebuyers toward a down payment.
He also promised to “cancel the medical debt of millions of Americans.”
Trump’s response? More insults.
“Comrade Kamala,” he said hours later, has revealed “a government price-fixing scheme that is more reminiscent of a third world regime than the United States.”
Maybe so, but while Trump is dealing with his own concerns, Harris is dealing with those of the average American.
“I know what I’m doing,” Trump tells his despondent advisers.
Maybe it is. It can never be ruled out.
But maybe, consciously or not, Trump really wants to lose.
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