Donald Trump’s top brass gathered reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., this month to showcase the inner workings of the former president’s campaign and exude a we-have-it-under-control confidence.
As PowerPoints flashed on a screen, they laid out their 90-day plan — the 11 percent of the U.S. population they had identified as “target persuadables,” a ground strategy that would motivate Republicans and discourage Democrats and the five-word frame to dismantle his new rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, as “failed, weak and dangerously liberal.”
The only thing missing was the candidate, who sat a few miles away at his Mar-a-Lago estate with his own plans for blowing up the news cycle.
Hours after the Aug. 8 briefing ended, Trump appeared on cable news networks for a news conference filled with false or unsupported claims unrelated to the campaign’s plan to defeat Harris — his crowd sizes, the “unconstitutional” elevation of Harris as the nominee, a near-helicopter crash with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown that Brown says never happened. Trump decided to hold a news conference because he heard his team was holding the briefing, but he wanted to talk, according to people familiar with the situation who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussions.The reporters who had come to South Florida for a campaign briefing suddenly found themselves with a more pressing story.
Most presidential candidates rely on their campaign teams to advise them on what to say, where to say it and how to shift course when trouble arises. But Trump’s 2024 campaign operation, much like his 2016 and 2020 operations, runs on the opposite assumption: The candidate follows his instincts, while the campaign tries to keep up — offering suggestions along the way and adapting on the fly.
That dynamic has challenged his team as it seeks to regain momentum after Harris replaced President Joe Biden in the race, with the addition this past week of new advisers to his team and a broadening network of people kibitzing in his ear. Trump campaign officials are barreling forward with their plan, focused on Harris and her record while well aware that there are limits to their control.
Advisers and donors are trying to keep Trump focused. At a high-end fundraiser in Aspen last weekend, hotelier Steve Wynn encouraged the former president to stick to the issues at a private roundtable, according to people who attended. His team was mingling with donors at the fundraiser. Trump had gotten frustrated earlier that day after his airplane malfunctioned.
At times, Trump has taken pride in having a disciplined operation without the infighting and drama of some previous efforts. But the former president has also mocked the “disciplined” line he often hears in the news media about his campaign.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung described Trump as the “best” candidate in recent history, adding that he had overcome significant obstacles — including legal prosecutions and an attempted assassination — while keeping up a steady travel schedule.
“President Trump has continued to speak about sky-high inflation that has crushed American families, an out-of-control border that threatens every community and rampant crime while Kamala Harris continues to hide from the press,” Cheung said in a statement.
