Donald Trump’s allies and supporters are said to be “exasperated” by his recent rally remarks, leaving some questioning whether the former president is attempting to sabotage his own campaign at the 11th hour.
The former president has made a slew of controversial remarks during his final campaign blitz.
During a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, at the weekend, he claimed he “shouldn’t have left” the White House following his 2020 election loss, escalated rumors of election fraud, and joked that he wouldn’t “mind” if journalists were shot at his rallies.
Reporting from the ground at Trump’s Macon, Georgia, campaign stop on Sunday evening, CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes revealed that his abrasive rhetoric – and seemingly lewd gestures – on stage is leaving Trumpworld weary.
“I spoke to a number of allies who were completely exasperated after that Pennsylvania rally,” Holmes told CNN anchor Erin Burnett while stationed at Trump’s rally in the Peach State.
The journalist said one Trump ally told her: “‘How hard is it to go up there and just say, Kamala broke it and I’m going to fix it.’”
Another insider reportedly told Holmes they had spent time with campaign advisors trying to persuade the former president to focus on hard policy matters like the economy and inflation rather than peddling baseless claims and taking swipes at his political opponents.
“These allies are incredibly frustrated about the language that he is using on the campaign, the darkness of the rhetoric,” Homes continued.
“They believe that he can actually win this election, but he’s going to have to actually change how he is talking.”
In the studio, a CNN panel responded to Holmes’s report and reported that they had found Trump’s supporters equally unappeased.
“I call up a bunch of folks that I know who are Trump supporters. Some are just regular people, some who are doing grassroots stuff in critical states. And every last one of them said, ‘What in the hell is the president doing?’” CNN contributor Shermichael Singleton said.
“These are people that love Donald Trump, respect Donald Trump, they are voting for him, bringing people to the polls to vote for him… I’m hearing them say, ‘It’s almost like he doesn’t want to win.’”
Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of conservative news brand, The Dispatch, added: “Him being on message for 90 percent of a speech doesn’t matter at all. Because that’s not what breaks through, it’s the craziness that breaks through.”
Lulu Garcia-Navarro, co-host of the The New York Times podcast “The Interview”, said: “This is not normal. And I just think that we need to acknowledge that it is not normal that this man is going out and saying this over and over again.”
Despite furore from Trump allies, supporters and political pundits over the the former president’s remarks, his favorability rating remains relatively unchanged.
According to the latest polling from Fivethirtyeight, Trump maintains a 43.5 percent favorable opinion with the electorate. It marks little change from the beginning of August, which saw Trump at an approximately 43.1 percent favorability rating, as per the survey.
Meanwhile, 46.2 percent of respondents view Vice President Kamala Harris favorably – garnering a seven-point increase from when she stepped onto the Democratic ticket in July.
