New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Thursday said there was “no question” that former President Donald Trump is “angrier” than he was eight years ago, and added that she was "struck" by the former president openly talking about revenge "as a closing message.”
The evaluation of Trump in the waning days of the campaign by Haberman, who has covered him extensively for years, came after CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked the journalist how Trump is different compared to six months ago.
“Well six months ago was before the assassination attempt in Butler, and it was before President Biden dropped out of the race. And I think that those were two seminal moments for Donald Trump,” Haberman said. “There’s no question that he is more incoherent, more rambling – he's older – and so I do think that's a part of it.”
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She continued by telling the host that there is no “marked huge difference in who he was eight years ago as a person as to who he is now.”
“I think people actually had a pretty good sense of who he was, and he said many of the same things then. The language is darker now, he seemed angrier, and he seems a little more focused on talking openly about revenge than he was earlier this year – more than a little. And that I am struck by, especially as a closing message,” Haberman said.
She added that some in Trump’s campaign have been trying to get the former president to reduce the length of his campaign speeches, which Haberman noted were an average of 82 minutes.
“They're concerned about some of the rhetoric and whether it will turn people off. They have been this whole time,” she said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.