One month ago, former President Donald Trump seemed poised to retake the White House from an ailing President Joe Biden. Now that he’s falling behind Vice President Kamala Harris, people close to Trump’s campaign are complaining to Vanity Fair that the GOP nominee is only making matters worse. “It’s like he’s choosing to lose,” one of them vented.
The first obvious signs of the unraveling came in late July, as Harris’ entry into the race seemed to re-awaken Trump’s deep–seated impulse to attack rivals based on their identity. At a July 31 conference for Black journalists, Trump said that Harris, who is mixed-race, changed her identity from Indian to Black for political gain, an attack line he continues to use on the campaign trail. At a rally in Georgia days later, Trump spent 10 minutes ranting about Brian Kemp, the state’s popular Republican governor, for being insufficiently loyal during his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. “Little Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy,” he taunted.
On Truth Social, Trump has been posting far-fetched conspiracy theories, including a prediction that Biden will crash the Democratic National Convention to wrest back the nomination and disproven claims that Democrats are creating AI images of Harris’ packed rallies. “It’s nuts,” one Trump confidante told Vanity Fair.
The Biden theory might reflect the implausible hopes of a candidate who prepared his campaign for a rematch against the president but is now struggling to adjust to a Harris-led ticket. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the swap and alleged AI-image scheme is tantamount to “cheating” and should, in the latter case, disqualify the vice president from appearing on the ballot, potentially setting the stage for him to dispute the election results should he lose.
Trump’s allies fear that Harris’ momentum has thrown their candidate into a panicked fury, and are urging him to focus on the policy debate. “I do think it’s counterproductive to call her stupid,” longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told Vanity Fair, referring to one of several epithets that Trump has lobbed against Harris alongside nicknames like “Laffin Kamala” and “Kambala.” Trump is reportedly unmoved, telling his circle: “I know what I’m doing.”
According to Vanity Fair’s sources, another theory floating among Trump’s circle is that he is suffering from the trauma of the assassination attempt against him in July.
“He’s been watching that seven-second clip of how close he was to getting shot right in the head—over and over and over again,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “He may actually legit have PTSD.” A campaign official confirmed that it continues to affect Trump. “He’s been through a lot,” he said.