'Slave to his own narcissism': Analyst sees hidden tactic behind Harris' trolling of Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has a clever ulterior motive behind its public taunts of former President Donald Trump that could foil his campaign if he snaps at the bait, a political analyst argued Monday.

Harris's repeated social media jabs at Trump's absence from the campaign trail in key swing states takes aim at a weak spot that his campaign staffers are frantically trying — and failing — to protect, Salon's Amanda Marcotte wrote in a new editorial.

"By going viral, they made it likelier an already-unhinged and jealous Trump would hear about it, and react by vetoing his campaign staff's wish that he would shut up and sit in a closet," writes Marcotte. "The Harris campaign certainly thinks they'll do better the more Trump is on TV."

Marcotte makes the case that Trump's campaign is plagued by the same problem that torpedoed his first presidential election opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — likability.

Both Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) have struggled in recent weeks to combat Harris' running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) characterization of the two men as "weird."

Marcotte suggests Trump's campaign has ultimately responded by trying to keep him out of the spotlight and avoid the "disaster" that she said was last week's press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

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"Trump's campaign managers surely know that the more voters see Trump, the more they hate him," she writes.

But attempts to swap in Vance — whose selection as running mate Marcotte describes as "uniquely stupid" — have failed to impress the Salon analyst, who notes low event turnout and eyebrow-raising responses to questions from the media.

Then again, she suggests, a lack of charisma is likely why Trump will allow Vance to take the lead.

"Vance is annoying, but he can speak in complete sentences, largely avoiding all talk of electrocution sharks and Hannibal Lecter," she writes. "If Vance were witty and charming and capable of drawing audiences larger than a bowling team, Trump would start feeling envious."

Trump's envy is exactly what the Harris campaign is trying to trigger as they troll him on social media, Marcotte argues.

She points to snarky campaign language that mocked him over a "public meltdown" in front of a crew of journalists at Mar-a-Lago.

'It's a smart move," Marcotte writes, "because Trump, ever the slave to his own narcissism, seems to be agitating to get back out in front of the cameras and microphones."

Marcotte concludes with the thesis that such public appearances will only hurt him with swing voters who are put off by the far-right MAGA message.

"The last thing Trump needs is for swing voters to catch a glimpse of him ranting about how he loves January 6 to a throng of bloodthirsty bigots," she writes. "The Harris campaign is betting, however, he won't be able to resist for long."