Triggered Trump trapped in  'mental-health death spiral' as campaign panics: analyst

The more Donald Trump loses, the crazier he gets, and the crazier Trump gets, the more he loses, a new analysis contends.

New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait warned Trump supporters Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris' recent barnstorming and polling victories have trapped the Republican nominee and convicted felon's campaign in a "mental-health death spiral."

"When Trump was ahead, he was capable of making rational choices that allowed him to maintain his lead," writes Chait. "Now that his lead is gone, so is his willingness to do the things that enable him to win."

Chait makes his case comparing Trump's public appearances before and after President Joe Biden stepped away from his reelection campaign and gave the nod to Harris, who has since reenergized Democrats with her hopeful message.

The columnist argues Trump's confidence — bolstered by the first presidential debate, positive polling and a four-day celebration to accept his party's nomination — rendered him a docile candidate for this staff to control.

"He was largely heeding the advice of his campaign team and acting relatively — relatively — normal," writes Chait, "which is to say far from normal but much closer to it than his usual performance."

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But Biden's decision to step down had the effect of "rattling" Trump into a potentially fatal campaign error, Chait argues: He stopped heeding the good advice his advisers are desperate for him to accept.

"But Trump doesn’t want to heed this advice," Chait writes. "He has been consumed by a mix of envy at Harris’s popularity and grievance at his own displacement."

An ill-prepared Trump last week was unable to explain at a press conference a Walz policy that turned Minnestota into a refuge state for trans teens, which could have proved catastrophic for the Harris-Walz ticket if attacked correctly, Chait argues.

Then over the weekend, on the heels of repeated reports that massive crowds gather at Harris rallies, the former president took to Truth Social to launch a conspiracy theory of "full lunacy," writes Chait.

"Trump began claiming wildly that Harris’s large crowds have actually been an elaborate hoax concocted through artificial intelligence," writes Chait. "It confirms once again that he is completely demented."

Not only have Trump's political advisers have lost the ability to wrangle their problematic candidate, they're fast losing the illusion that he's mentally fit to stand office, Chait concludes.

"Losing campaigns often identify their failures and make a course correction," he writes. "Trump’s campaign is instead spiraling into a mental breakdown."