Donald Trump has become a "victim" of the same tactics he once used to "disrupt" his opponents, said MSNBC's Joe Scarborough — and Republicans are planning to use that to challenge his potential election loss.
The former president made outrageous statements and wild accusations to keep his Republican opponents off balance during the 2016 primary election, and continued that tactic against Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but the "Morning Joe" host said the now-GOP presidential candidate hasn't been able to adjust his strategy as Kamala Harris became his Democratic opponent.
"Donald Trump has always been a disrupter," Scarborough said. "In 2016, every one of them looked foolish, they didn't know how to respond to the disrupter. Joe Biden, a creature of Washington since 29, a creature of Washington who played by the rules, the Marquess of Queensberry rules, always thrown off, always anguished by this disrupter who didn't play by the rules."
However, the president ended his re-election campaign after a disastrous debate performance which highlighted concerns about his age, and Harris ascended to the top of the ticket and clawed back the polling gains that Trump had made against Biden.
"Donald Trump is now the victim of disruption, of political disruption," Scarborough said. "They changed the candidate on him. He thinks they changed the rules on him, he planned for this, and his feet are still in cement. He's never figured out how to get those feet out of the cement, because it was the Democrats this time who were the disrupters against Donald Trump. First time that's ever happened to him in politics, in business, in media, in tabloid wars – you name it."
The GOP nominee isn't used to making adjustments on the fly or playing defense, said Politico's White House bureau chief and MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, so this new political reality exposes his biggest weaknesses.
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"Trump is a disrupter, but also a creature of habit, a creature of routine, usually the one in charge calling all the shots, and to your point, the rug was pulled out from underneath his feet," Lemire said.
"He says it publicly and I'm told privately on a daily basis, still complains about the ticket switch, still complains that he's now running against Harris and not Biden, believes it's unfair, believes it's rigged."
Republicans intend to base potential election challenges on the former president's complaints about his new rival, he said.
"It's part of his complaint to challenge the election were he to lose," Lemire said. "Republican efforts to challenge the vote after it's cast, that still is the one card the Republicans still have to play to disrupt this election. I know their legal teams are staffing up in preparation for just that."
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