Trump and his campaign enter turbulent phase in final weeks

Donald Trump’s top advisers have insisted for months that his 2024 bid for the presidency is the most disciplined campaign he has ever run. They pointed to fewer leaks, less infighting and a more deliberate strategy honed by seasoned professionals and driven by data.

But with just 45 days left until the election, the past three weeks reveal whatever control and self-restraint helped launch Trump’s third presidential campaign has largely disappeared in the crucial final stretch.

On the Monday before Trump’s first debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, his running mate shared on social media, without evidence, the claim that Haitian immigrants were abducting and eating their neighbors’ pets - one Trump repeated the following night on the debate stage, in a moment that instantly went viral.

Trump’s chaotic and widely criticized debate performance coincided with an already tumultuous period for the former president. He had recently welcomed back into his orbit Corey Lewandowski - his former 2016 campaign manager who was exiled after allegations of sexual assault by a donor - and had begun traveling around the country with Laura Loomer, a far-right ally who has spread conspiracy theories. Two failed apparent assassination attempts, as well as additional threats against him, have also left the freewheeling president constrained by a mushrooming security presence and has made staging campaign events more challenging.

Meanwhile, after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris following the debate, Trump picked a fight with the international icon, posting last Sunday on social media, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” - the sort of impulsive, impetuous display that has become increasingly common in recent weeks. In a single 24-hour span at the end of last month, for example, he amplified a crude joke about Harris performing a sex act; falsely accused her of staging a coup against President Joe Biden; promoted tributes to the QAnon conspiracy theory; hawked digital trading cards; and became embroiled in a public feud with staff and officials at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Swift attack was especially concerning to Trump’s advisers, who are worried about attracting female voters. But Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump was more popular than Swift - citing a Siena poll - and that Gold Star families who had lost loved ones serving in the military had invited Trump to Arlington Cemetery.

By early last week, Trump and his No. 2, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), found themselves trying to reverse-engineer evidence of Haitians eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, arguing they were simply trying to draw attention to the real problem of immigration. They also used inflammatory rhetoric to blame Biden and Harris - whom Trump called “the enemy from within” - for what the Republican ticket claimed was inflammatory rhetoric that lead to the apparent attempts on Trump’s life.

“The through-line,” said one Trump confidant, “is his campaign is 96 percent him.”

“It’s not even ‘Let Trump be Trump,’” this person continued, referring to the oft-quoted unofficial motto of Trump advisers. “It’s ‘Let Trump be unsupervised at all times.’ They just feel like, ‘We can’t control him, so let’s hope he wins anyways.’”

This account of the Trump campaign’s recent frenetic period is based on interviews with nine aides, advisers and others familiar with the situation, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal details.

In many ways, the past three weeks or so have been quintessentially unruly and turbulent, and hark back to Trump’s first, quixotic presidential bid in 2016, when he alarmed allies and party elders before pulling off an improbable victory.

In addition to the shenanigans and controversies that have become a hallmark of Trump’s political career, the current period has also ushered in a degree of policy incoherence. He has vacillated on abortion - an issue that has bedeviled him since Roe v. Wade was overturned with the help of Supreme Court justices he appointed - while abruptly announcing a proposal for federal coverage of IVF treatment.

Facing pressure to compete with Harris, who is promising various tax credits if elected, Trump promised Tuesday in a social media post to “get SALT back” - an apparent reversal of the 2017 law on state and local tax deductions that he implemented as president. He also offered an incoherent answer recently on how he would handle child care expenses, suggesting that his proposed sweeping tariffs would bring down those costs.

With polls continuing to show a close contest, Trump’s team remains optimistic he will prevail in November. They privately point to what they believe are sufficient organizing and canvassing efforts, despite having outsourced much of the activity. They believe strong voter registration numbers, especially in Pennsylvania, and early ballot requests favor them, as well as the fact that the economy remains the top issue for many voters. They also remain confident that immigration will be a leading issue and one where the American public prefers Trump over Harris.

Tony Fabrizio, the campaign’s pollster, has continually shared internal data that is more promising than public data, which has shown Harris receiving a modest bounce after the Democratic convention, campaign advisers say.

And there is a sense among some strategists, both Democratic and Republican, that Trump is impervious to the sort of chaos and controversies that might sink another politician. Marc Short, chief of staff to former vice president Mike Pence, described the recent events as “a wash.”

“It’s a statement to the loyalty among his core voters that, despite however rocky events may be, it doesn’t falter,” Short said. “There’s definitely a core audience that loves him, and I think there’s also an audience that’s tuned out the drama.”

But some advisers have also tried to remind mid-level staffers that the race is going to be close no matter what, saying that Trump is “in a position to win” and urging them to “tune out the noise.”

“President Trump has built the most powerful and most professional team in political history and, under his leadership, has overcome every single obstacle in his way,” Cheung said. “From the illegal witch-hunts to the weaponization of the justice system to an assassination attempt to the political coup of replacing Biden, the enemies of America will stop at nothing to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House.”

Heading into the summer and especially as the polls have tightened following Biden’s abrupt withdrawal from the race, Trump’s top advisers - including Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles - have been thrust into the very tumult and knife-fighting that defined his past campaigns and which they explicitly sought to avoid, multiple advisers said.

Wiles and LaCivita are still in charge - and most Trump allies expect them to survive until Election Day - but critics say their more tenuous hold on the campaign has led them to weigh concerns about self-preservation over attempting to rein in their boss.

Some on the campaign blame the newfound drama on the arrival of Lewandowski who - still fresh from 2021 allegations of unwanted sexual advances - was already viewed with skepticism by some of Trump’s family members and allies.

Lewandowski soon began telling others he was in charge of the campaign as the chairman, which was not true. He raised questions with Trump and others about how Wiles had spent money, particularly on advertisements, forcing her to spend time defending herself internally. Others on the campaign defended Wiles as frugal. And he also began calling staffers in swing states and asking if the campaign was being well-run - outreach that filtered back to Wiles and rattled other staff.

Privately, Wiles has told allies that it has been difficult to see the close-knit, disciplined operation that she helped build face such tumult and infighting in the final months - and that the past few weeks have been among her least favorite since joining the operation in 2021.

Lewandowski did not respond to detailed questions but slammed The Washington Post for its reporting.

“Same old nonsense that has already been written by the Washington Compost,” he wrote in a text message. “Your obsession with my volunteer efforts just demonstrates your continued hatred of Donald J. Trump and prove you will stop at nothing to try and prevent him from becoming the 47th President of the United States.”

Cheung, meanwhile, said the campaign was all “rowing in the same direction.”

Loomer, too, has been a source of much frustration within Trump’s orbit. She accompanied him to the presidential debate in Philadelphia, and she also joined him the following day at events commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite previously pushing the false conspiracy theory that the attacks were an “inside job.”

Some outside advisers and donors called Trump to express their concern that her unofficial role is detrimental to the campaign. Trump finally distanced himself from her in milquetoast public remarks describing her as “a supporter” and a “free spirit.” He also promised advisers he would not regularly invite her to travel with him on his plane, and last weekend he privately referred to her as “crazy” to several people, according to someone familiar with comments.

Trump has also begun to privately criticize Lewandowski, downplaying his role on the campaign and their relationship, three people familiar with his comments said.

Some campaign advisers are eager to move on from Trump and Vance’s unverifiable claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs - a potentially detrimental news cycle that has stretched into its second week - but also acknowledge Trump rarely retreats, even when it might be politically advantageous to do so.

Baseless claims about immigrants stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets had already gone viral in far-right circles when Vance - who had also received several calls from concerned constituents - shared the allegation in a post on X on the Monday before the debate.

Though Trump and Vance did not talk about the issue before the debate - and though the topic never came up in debate prep - Trump repeated the claim following an exchange in which Harris mocked the size of his rally crowds.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he said. “The people that came in - they’re eating the cats. They’re eating - they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

A campaign adviser said they were not shocked Trump mentioned it - “it was so salacious, and it was all over the news,” this person said - and added that the general issue of immigration is one that Trump and his team think ultimately benefits him.

A second campaign adviser added that the operation does not internally view the eating pets claims as damaging as many outsiders do. And Trump himself has said he plans to visit Springfield in coming weeks.

“President Trump and Senator Vance are highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many other across the country,” Cheung aid.

Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist, said Trump is running a campaign intended to turn out his base, and he’s not surprised Trump and Vance have doubled down on the false immigration claims.

“Trump is directly communicating with millions of small-town voters that feel crime and immigration is totally out of control,” Reed said. “And he’s communicating with them in a way that normally they’re neglected. It’s an item in the news, he glommed onto it, he nationalized it, and he’s probably going to keep it up.”

Still, the campaign has found itself scrambling to alternately explain away or come up with excuses for the litany of false claims; a Post analysis found that Vance repeatedly shared misinformation about Springfield, despite his staff being told on the day of his first post that there was no verifiable evidence or news reports to support the claim.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance told CNN host Dana Bash last Sunday, when pressed on the issue. “Because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.”

He quickly sought to clarify his comments to Bash, telling her he was referring to “first hand accounts from my constituents.” “I say that we’re creating a story, meaning that we’re creating the American media focusing on it,” he said.

Other turmoil has also bubbled up, and aides have recently struggled to focus the former president. Inside and outside the campaign, advisers and confidantes have urged Trump to define Harris more aggressively, including a few who say they are unconvinced that his chosen nicknames - “Comrade Kamala” and the deliberate mispronunciation of her name as “Kamabla” - are the right ones.

Campaign advisers also have been battling for weeks over sending out mailings to voters, according to multiple advisers. Trump is skeptical of the strategy entirely and would prefer to spend the money on television ads, the people said, while there have been disagreements over how much to spend on mail and what the messaging should be.

Allies have grown concerned that Trump and the Republicans are being outspent in almost every state - some by large margins - and that Democrats are far outraising Republicans. “The campaign has been smart with its resources and is implementing a strategic plan to maximize turnout and media impressions,” Cheung said.

Trump also spent part of last Saturday discussing whether he should participate in another debate against Harris, after saying he was not going to do it, according to people who spoke to him. Some, including adviser Kellyanne Conway, have privately been pushing him to do another debate, and he has not ruled it out despite publicly saying he won’t.

Trump also spent several days after the debate calling allies to tell them how well he’d done, which struck some as defensive.

“I personally hope he debates again,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally. “I think the narrative is she’s smart, she’s talented, and I think she’s a mile wide and an inch deep, and it’s mostly happy talk.”

Trump has also struggled to adjust to his new reality of facing Harris, a Black and Indian American women who is faring better against him in the polls than Biden was, according to someone familiar with his thinking.

On a recent Saturday night, Trump continued to complain to advisers that Biden had stepped aside.

“I don’t think he is ever going to give it up,” said one person who heard the gripes.