'He's scared to death': White House reporter tells Mary Trump about ex-president's mindset

Donald Trump is "scared to death," a former White House reporter told Mary Trump, the ex-president's niece, in a post published Thursday.

Brian Karem, who famously askedTrump if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the 2020 election, recently said Trump won't be the GOP's nominee. Now, in an interview with the former president's family member, Karem doubled down on that assertion and added some color to the recent ballot challenges Trump's facing.

"I remain unconvinced that Donald Trump will be on the ballot next November, and so I'm holding onto that," Karem said, adding in jest a scenario about where Trump could potentially end up.

"I'm also convinced that at some point next year, since the federal government already controls Alcatraz, they'll just reclaim it as a prison and there will be only one prisoner held there and he'll have a two-hole golf course if he wants his Secret service entourage," Karem told Mary Trump. "And the only condition is that twice a day for two hours, he has to stand in a cage in an orange suit while tourists pay 20 bucks to have their picture taken with him."

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Karem also noted that, while some in the mainstream media think Trump is loving the fact that states are barring him from the ballot, he believes the legal losses are hitting Trump harder than anything. Karem said he could tell years ago that Trump had a plan to stay in office regardless of the vote.

"So, you kind of knew what was going on right then, the understanding that there was always a conspiracy to stay in office. If you didn't know it that day, then I think you're pretty dense. I mean, he kind of telegraphed everything," he said. He added that Trump will make money off the decisions.

"I know it scares the living crap out of him, but at the same time, Maggie Haberman in the New York Times said she believes he's happy with this decision. I don't think he's happy with this decision," he told Mary Trump in the interview published Thursday. "I think he's scared to death of this decision. I think he's scared to death of all the decisions that go against him, and I think he's in a panic mode."

You can read more of the interview at this link.