Trump Just Had His Worst Week—Ever
He thought he had this race in the bag.
IT MUST BE HARD TO TRANSITION from martyr anointed by God and positioned to win in a blowout to jealous old whiner grumbling about the misunderstood relevance of Hannibal Lecter.
Life came at Donald Trump fast when Sleepy Joe Biden took his name off the Democratic ticket and endorsed Kamala Harris last week.
Within days, the vice president had captivated the nation, united her party, upended the campaign, raised record sums, tied up the race in polling, and seen a bounce in her favorability ratings.
In the same stretch of time Trump had backed out of a debate, watched JD Vance become a meme, fielded concerns about what a failure it was to pick Vance, and seen his own approval rating erode under Harris’s attacks.
Even his main man, Elon Musk, piled on—suddenly denying he had committed to spending $45 million per month supporting Trump’s campaign.
Trump had been riding high. He had a consistent lead over President Joe Biden both nationally and in all the swing state polling, in some places beyond the margin of error. Following his catastrophic debate on June 27, Biden refused to step aside, keeping the national debate focused on questions about his age and fitness. And after Trump was nearly killed at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, the image on every TV screen and newspaper front page showed him rising bloodied but defiant. He was, literally, the picture of strength.
Two days later, at the Republican convention, the faithful gathered in jubilation to celebrate his survival, his nomination, and his choice of running mate. Trump had escaped with his life, and the election was his to lose.
From that commanding position Trump chose Vance to juice the bro vote in the Rust Belt and to firm up connections to Silicon Valley. Harris had lower approval than Biden, and Democrats had long worried she would be a drag on the ticket.
Republicans weren’t licking their chops—they were drooling.
But one historic tweet from Rehoboth, Delaware changed everything. “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down,” wrote President Biden. Suddenly, a weak vs. strong campaign became one of future vs. past, young vs. old, positive vs. negative, possibility vs. fear. Trump’s candidacy is old and stale, and the third time is not charming. Harris may be the sitting vice president, but her candidacy is sparkling and new.
Trump lost altitude so quickly he forgot he was supposed to have been transformed by the attempt on his life. Suddenly he can no longer fake serenity and humility, and that crap about unity his supporters attested to after the attempted assassination.
A noticeably grouchy Trump admitted Saturday that was all BS. “No, I haven’t changed,” he said. “Maybe I’ve gotten worse. Because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day.”
Enraged by Harris’s surge, Trump is flailing about for any attack to use on her. He has accused her of “committing crimes,” said she doesn’t like Jewish people (despite being married to one), and called her “sick,” “a bum,” and “evil.”
The political world is buzzing, not only over Harris’s momentum but the coming announcement of her choice of running mate. Undecided voters are learning about impressive, capable, and normal Democrats all over the country—from Gov. Andy Beshear to Gov. Josh Shapiro to Gov. Tim Walz. They’re also seeing clips of the inimitable Pete Buttigieg pop up in their feeds, destroying Trump and Vance on television every few hours.
Meanwhile Vance is now a joke—starring in viral dolphin and couch content online and performing poorly out on the stump. The worst of all sins, in Trump’s book, is that he makes bad TV. He gives every appearance of being miserable.
But more dangerous for the Trump campaign is that Vance’s extremist comments about abortion, childless women, and his desire to “overthrow” Democrats “in some way” are likely to energize even more female vote against Trump.
These are the worst days Trump has had in his nearly a decade in politics. Getting indicted was nothing. Getting convicted was merely a speed bump. His 2020 electoral defeat and January 6th became opportunities to build his loyal base of the deceived and aggrieved. One could argue that Trump suffered a worse week in early October 2016 when the leaked Access Hollywood tape revealed he relished grabbing women “by the p—sy” and many in his party abandoned him in horror just weeks before the election. But back in 2016, Trump wasn’t trying to stay out of jail. A loss back then was going to get him a sweet perch on Fox & Friends to bash a President Hillary Clinton daily, and it might have even helped him land the Trump Tower Moscow deal he wanted so badly.
Ten days ago Trump thought he couldn’t lose. Yet new voter registration, donations, polling, and volunteer signups show Harris has been met with enthusiasm among young, black, Latino and independent voters.
Trump has been robbed of his mojo. Infuriated, he gripes nonsensically about wanting a refund for all the money he spent campaigning against Biden. He isn’t the messiah he thought he was two weeks ago, he is just the same man-baby he always was. And now he’s running against a black woman. He might lose to a black woman.
It’s very unfair.