Increasing Anxiety Infuses Trump Campaign

In any 50-50 race there will be massive mood swings based on information dripping down on a daily basis. But in the few remaining days tensions really flare, especially when verifiable data comes in from the early returns. In this context and in this race Kalama Harris’s campaign sees good signs and team Trump knows it. They know it to the point they “feel” it. Perhaps it is that tension that has led Donald Trump to lash out with shockingly violent statements. He is well beyond anger, now issuing the type of threats that invite action by his followers with the requisite instability to act.

Stochastic terrorism, as most surely know, flows from otherwise toss-away statements that mirror Henry II’s,  “Will no one deliver me from this turbulent priest.” It is a comment, not a demand or order – something setting out how a random person might please the power behind it. But yesterday Trump got more specific as he spoke to Tucker Carlson in Arizona about his conservative critic Liz Cheney. As reported by NPR:

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

He wants nine guns pointed at her face. It very nearly goes beyond “stochastic” or even terrorism, boiling right down to a plain old terrifying death threat. And over what? Over criticism. It will forever remain a mystery how it is that the penultimate “alpha male” cannot simply wave his hand with a laugh and shake of the head – as self-assured confident alphas do, why he is so threatened that he must furiously respond with rage.

There is absolutely no excusing this. To the extent that something is drawing it out, it would likely be fear that the election is slipping away in this last week. As discussed on Morning Joe, today, the Trump campaign does feel the weight of some depressing data coming out of the swing states. The quotes are gathered up by Rawstory: 

“The Trump campaign has two things happening: one, Donald Trump is starting –– you know things are going well in Pennsylvania for [Kamala] Harris because he is starting to claim, ‘Oh, my gosh, they’re stealing the vote from me. That’s one hand.

I doubt that’s it. We know per reports that Trump planned on setting up a “turbulent” aftermath in case he were to lose at the ballot box. He likely wants the predicate in place regardless. There is no downside in the event he wins, so why not start by screaming foul? But they went to hit something more convincing:

On the other hand, Charlie Kirk and other people attached to the Trump campaign, are literally freaking out, saying publicly, we’re going to lose if the voting patterns continue this way.”

That’s a more solid indicator. An admission, “We will lose if… ” At least it acknowledges that there is a vote, that it matters, and they might well lose, at least at the current pace. That is a statement worth pondering even if Kirk is doing nothing more than motivating Trump voters. But according to Morning Joe’s Jonathan Lemire, Kirk is relaying the analysis of the people deep inside the Trump campaign:

“Yeah, you’re seeing a false confidence being put forward by the Trump campaign… Behind the scenes, there is growing worry… Trump folks were feeling much better a couple weeks ago than they are today.”

Now that is a statement that can be taken to the bank. Lemire is an experienced reporter who wouldn’t go on the word of one single person but would verify it with a blind double source, so one can trust that the “mood” has evolved and further – because it’s so late in the campaign – it’s changed due to signs on the ground.

Joe Scarborough extrapolated further about Donald Trump’s own mood – not the campaign:

The Truth Social is a window into his soul, what he really thinks and there is a growing anxiety at Mar-a-Lago that this might be slipping away from him.

That is a bit more out there. Yes, Truth Social can be an indicator, at least so far as what may be grabbing Trump’s attention that day. But he’s going to lash out and complain under any circumstances. Furthermore, he is just not the type to sit back to contemplate the landscape, warm all over. He will rage at something. He could grab a clear win on Tuesday and ten minutes later be furious about something. That’s his thing and why some people like him. They’re angry,, too.

But things should never circle the drain such that Trump circles armed wagons while asking that guns be pointed at anyone, anyone. It is just so damned dangerous. I do not believe that the average Trump supporter is violent. No. Nor do I think the average guy (They are primarily guys) will feel obligated to fight, much less shoot. But it only takes one. That’s the point and Trump knows it. It seems to come from an inner need to hurt others without regard to where he stands or how the world treats him.

As one notes the signs coming out of Pennsylvania, the state that seems destined to determine the winner, we’re all obligated to be wary of any sense of doom coming out of Trump and his campaign. The dangerous instability is as infuriating as it is intolerable. But he won’t stop. They might. Everyone has a line.

As for Trump himself, he only knows one direction. He pushes forward to find new lines, new ways to stoke that inner need to inflict pain. He may see encouraging signs and hold for a while. But as the days pass, he will feel pressure from somewhere and pick up right where he left off. It is just so damned dangerous.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak

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