Donald Trump’s recent 90-minute speech in Ohio was full of the usual half-truths, disinformation and fear-mongering about “bloodbaths,” but one candid comment stood out as a brief moment of honesty.
In the middle of a rant about the many investigations he’s facing, Trump acknowledged that the tirade would be unwelcome by his advisers, sharing with the crowd that he had promised them on the flight to Dayton that he was “not going to talk about it” on stage.
Trump would be smart to listen to his team. This time around, he has seasoned and disciplined operatives Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita running the campaign and managing spending at the Republican National Committee, respectively. They almost certainly advised him against airing his grievances, as any smart campaign operative would.
There is only so much that staff can do to right the ship when the candidate is on a different path.
In the end, though, there is only so much staff can do to right the ship when the candidate is on a different path. Trump can’t seem to help but complain about his legal travails. Because, for Trump personally, the stakes of a Biden victory are an existential and — given today’s news about his inability to post bond in the New York fraud case — a very present threat. A loss in November will not only leave Trump as a defendant in multiple legal cases, but he would also then face juries as a twice-defeated, twice-impeached former president.
Trump blamed the off-topic rant on the fact that a faulty teleprompter made it hard to read his prepared remarks. “I didn’t know I wouldn’t have teleprompters,” he told the crowd to explain his diversion into complaints about investigations. But as far as revealing what’s at stake for him in the election, he was probably being truthful when he told the crowd. “I have nothing else to talk about, to be honest.”
Jennifer Palmieri
Jennifer Palmieri was the communications director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.