Donald Trump woke up in a foul mood Sunday morning and his campaign staff watched in horror as he took out his frustrations in an off-message speech in Pennsylvania, according to a report.
The 78-year-old former president was stewing over a poll released Saturday afternoon showing Kamala Harris with a three-point lead in Iowa, before the vice president made a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live." His pollster Tony Fabrizio and data chief Tim Saler scrambled to craft a memo questioning New York Times' polling that suggested he would lose tight races in swing states, reported The Bulwark.
“This was as much about pushing back on the media as it was placating the boss — he was infuriated,” said a campaign adviser. “But all of us trust Tony’s numbers, including the boss. In Tony we trust, [but] Sunday morning sucked.”
Trump went onstage in Lititz, Pennsylvania, "rattled by the news," The Bulwark's Marc Caputo wrote. He largely ignored the teleprompter for 96 minutes in his first of three rallies two days before the election, and while the crowd laughed and cheered as he suggested he wouldn't care if "bloodsucker" journalists were shot, his campaign staffers groaned because he sounded defeated.
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“He knew after he got off stage,” said a confidant who spoke with Trump afterward. “The thing about Donald Trump, is that, even when he goes off, he knows it’s not necessary to be mad or litigate grievances about 2020. It helps them. It hurts you.”
Co-campaign manager Susie Wiles walked into his line of sight as he aired his grievances from the stage and glowered at Trump, which a campaign adviser insisted was an effort to encourage him to wrap things up. He later seemed to agree with senior staffers after a plane ride to North Carolina that he should tone things down, the report stated.
“There wasn’t a come-to-Jesus talk with Trump," said a source. "We don’t have those, really. It was just making adjustments on the fly, kind of typical."
"We’re going to win this," that source added, "but he sounded like he thought he was losing.”