Presidential campaigns typically spend plenty of time strategizing and staging a closing message, the final bid for support and an ending appeal for your vote.
Donald Trump? He’s a meandering mess drawing his reelection campaign to a close with a rambling litany of grievances and say-it-out-loud fantasies about violence for his perceived enemies, including the news media.
Vice President Kamala Harris must be thrilled by all this. She’s been working on a rigidly scripted message of unity and optimism. Trump is offering her a perfect contrast.
I don’t know who wins this race. But I know Trump sounds like he knows he’s losing. That’s why he’s ramping up lies about voter fraud again. It’s also why he wishes to see violence against journalists. He always needs someone to blame because Trump could never conceive of accepting responsibility for his own fate.
Trump finishes campaigning by doing what he does: Lying and sowing violence
Trump tossed away his typical rally script on Sunday during a stop in Lititz, a little Pennsylvania burg about 63 miles west of Philadelphia. He mused about the ballistic glass now erected to protect him during outdoor rallies after a failed assassination attempt in another small Pennsylvania town in July.
“I have this piece of glass here,” Trump told the crowd before veering toward violence. “But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.”
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One of Trump’s supporters was killed during that July attempt on his life, while two others were wounded. And here was Trump openly wishing for gunfire to rake through the crowd. This is his closing message.
Trump’s campaign staff reacted the only way they know how – by wrapping a lie in a blanket of outrage. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung claimed that the boss was speaking “brilliantly” about the July shootings, and that what he said “has nothing to to with the media being harmed.” Trump, Cheung claimed, was really talking about protecting the media.
In short, Cheung claimed that what we all heard was not what we all heard. Imagine a job where you have to demand detachment from reality every single day.
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This sort of absurd deflection and media bashing is on brand for Trump and his campaign in the closing days of the race.
Trump last week told a rally crowd in Wisconsin that, if elected president again, he would serve as a protector of women, “whether the women like it or not.” This is how a guy found liable for sexual assault in a civil trial talks about women?
Harris, who has made restoring access to abortion a centerpiece of her campaign to contrast with Trump’s nominating three U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, pounced on the creepiness of Trump’s statement, calling it “offensive to everybody.”
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That’s not a helpful narrative for Trump. His campaign needed to change the subject. So Trump sued CBS News because that network’s news show “60 Minutes” aired an edited version of an interview with Harris last month.
That is as frivolous as it gets, but Trump, who chickened out of appearing on the show, had been complaining about it regularly and now could use a doomed-to-fail legal action to say, “Hey, look over here!”
Trump threatens Liz Cheney, then distracts by attacking the news media
Need another example? You may have heard how Trump on Thursday openly wished for a violent end to former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican who has urged voters in her party to back Harris.
“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson about Cheney. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Again, Trump opened the door and Harris rushed right in, condemning what he said, while saying “this must be disqualifying” for the presidency. It’s not, of course. It’s standard fare now from Trump. His campaign later insisted his words were taken out of context.
So, that thing we all heard? Trump’s camp must insist you detach from that reality and unhear it. And maybe they’ll wave something shiny to distract you.
And just like that, on Friday, Trump opened a new front for his war on the news media, filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing The Washington Post of making “in-kind contributions” to Harris’ campaign because of how the newspaper markets its journalism.
Another heap of nonsense. Trump won’t win this fight. But it gives him something to talk about that maybe changes the subject from how dead he wishes Cheney could be.
We all know what Trump has said. Trust in that when you vote.
If you haven’t already voted, I hope you go to the polls on Election Day and cast your ballot. When you do, think about the rhetoric you’ve been hearing in this final week of the campaign.
Sure, Harris’ allegiance to prepared remarks can sound stale, especially when she hits the same notes over and over. But try to imagine her wishing aloud for violence against Trump or his campaign. I just can’t hear it.
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But Trump? That’s easy to hear because we’ve heard it all before and we’re going to hear it some more. If Trump really feels the race slipping away, his rhetoric will call more and more to the violence, even as his campaign scrambles to post up legal distractions while insisting that he didn’t just say the thing we all heard him say.
Trust your hearing. Use it to inform your vote.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Trump threatens violence on Cheney, media. Vote accordingly
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