Trump cancels a streak of events with only days until election
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Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Oct. 15 in Atlanta. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Former President Trump's planned appearance at a National Rifle Association event next week was cancelled Thursday, the latest in a slew of scuttled public appearances and interviews by the former president in recent weeks.
Why it matters: With only 17 days to go until Election Day, the spate of cancellations gives voters fewer chances to hear from Trump before heading to the polls in a coin toss race.
- Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has been on a media blitz after enduring criticism from Republicans about a perceived lack of interviews.
- And while Harris has ventured into the unfriendly territory of a Fox News interview, Trump has stuck to the safe spaces of conservative outlets.
- In the appearances he has made, Trump's rhetoric has grown more violent and nativist. In recent weeks, he has decried his critics as the "enemy from within" and fanned the flames of false conspiracy theories about migrants.
Driving the news: The NRA said Thursday it had cancelled its "Defend the 2nd" event with Trump in Savannah, Georgia, next week due to "campaign scheduling changes."
- Trump also pulled out of two mainstream media interviews this week, with NBC News and CNBC's "Squawk Box."
- Earlier this month he backed out of a scheduled appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes," while Harris appeared on the program.
- The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Between the lines: Several of the events and interviews Trump has appeared at in recent weeks have raised eyebrows.
- Trump cut short a Pennsylvania town hall this week to listen and sway to music for more than half an hour. "Let's make it into a music fest," Trump said. "Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?"
- In an interview with Bloomberg News at the Chicago Economic Club Tuesday, Trump downplayed the Capitol riot and struggled to respond when confronted about the costs of his economic plans.
- Trump later claimed he was "hoodwinked" into the interview.
- During an all-women Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday, Trump declared himself the "father of IVF," a decades-old fertility treatment that has come under threat since overturning Roe v. Wade — which Trump has repeatedly bragged about ending.
- During a podcast appearance Thursday, Trump once again falsely insinuated Harris, who has been open about having both Indian and Black heritage, was somehow hiding her racial identity, saying a "lot of people didn't know" she was Black.
Zoom out: The recent cancellations aren't the first times Trump has backed out of press appearances on the 2024 campaign trail.
- In September, Trump cancelled an appearance in Pennsylvania alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda, Reuters reported.
- In August, The Detroit News said the campaign had canceled a planned interview with Trump after the newspaper began asking about crime data. Trump had previously claimed Michigan was experiencing a record-high "crime wave" despite FBI data showing the opposite.
The big picture: It's not just events and interviews that have taken a hit — Trump is also hosting fewer rallies this election cycle than he did in 2016.
- Meanwhile in 2020, Trump openly mocked President Biden for campaigning from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Go deeper: Trump's rhetorical rampage casts shadow over campaign's final weeks
