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Salon
Salon
Politics
Tom Boggioni

Trump adviser: "The magic is gone"

In a deep dive into how things are going for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential run as he skips holding his rallies and holes up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Olivia Nuzzi notes that things are not well at all — and his advisers are admitting they are witnessing a downward spiral.

In the Intellinger report, under the telling headline "The Final Campaign: Inside Donald Trump's sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for reelection. (Which isn't to say he can't win)," Nuzzi spoke with multiple Trump insiders — and one lamented "the magic is gone."

According to her report, Nuzzi claims she interviewed the former president 28 days ago, and in the intervening time, he has rarely left the compound, saying defensively weeks ago: "I stay here "but I am outside of Mar-a-Lago quite a bit. I'm always largely outside of Mar-a-Lago at meetings and various other things and events. I'm down in Miami. I go to Miami, I go to different places in Florida."

Writing, "he is sensitive about smallness. His entire life, he has rejected smallness," Nuzzi spoke with some close associates who claimed that is what his life has come to after his announcement that he will run again in 2024 landed with a thud.

According to a former White House official, "it feels like he's going through the motions because he said he would."

Another questioned his actions while ensconced at his Florida resort, singling out his highly publicized dinner with controversial Kanye West: "He doesn't have anything else to do. What else can he do? Why did he see Kanye? He wants to be relevant and wants the limelight. He's thirsty."

One Trump adviser painted a sad portrait of the former president as his legal problems pile up and his approval ratings plummet.

"He just goes, plays golf, comes back and f**ks off. He has retreated to the golf course and to Mar-a-Lago," they reported before commenting: "His world has gotten much smaller. His world is so, so small."

Another complained about the quality of people who are still hanging on to Trump hoping for a comeback.

"It's not there. In this business, you can have it and have it so hot and it can go overnight and it's gone and you can't get it back. I think we're just seeing it's gone. The magic is gone," they remarked. "When Seb Gorka and Raheem Kassam and Kash Patel and Devin Nunes are your stars, that's the D-list."

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