Trump's anxiety builds with Election Day in sight
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Former President Trump speaks at a rally in Milwaukee on Friday. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP wia Getty Images
Donald Trump's team is projecting confidence in the days before what looks to be a coin-flip election, but Trump is anxious, asking more questions about his status and demanding more work from his aides, a campaign official close to him tells Axios.
Why it matters: Trump's restlessness has helped shape his recent strategy, from flashy rallies and media stunts — which he enjoys — to headline-making allegations of voter fraud, his pet obsession.
Zoom in: Trump was boosted Thursday by an internal memo from Tony Fabrizio, the chief pollster for all three of Trump's presidential campaigns, that said Trump is in a better position to win this election than he was at this time in 2020.
- But beneath the surface, Trump's anxiety is evident in his late-night and early morning calls to aides in which he peppers them with questions on how things are going — and whether they think he'll win.
His restlessness is shared by others in his party. Some conservatives are sounding alarms about what they see as disappointing turnout among men in early voting.
- That's important in a gender-divided election such as this one, in which polls suggest most male voters will support Trump and most women voters are likely to back Kamala Harris.
"Early vote has been disproportionately female. If men stay at home, Kamala is president. It's that simple," Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk posted on X.
- "This is a concern and we encourage men to vote early if they can and on Election Day if they can't," Gavin Wax, president of the New York Young Republican Club told Axios over text. "... Men need to swamp the polls on Election Day and prior" to help Trump win.
The big picture: Trump's final stretch has been filled with attention-getting stops, some of which he's personally requested.
- The campaign spent more than $1 million to fulfill Trump's dream of holding a rally at Madison Square Garden, which dominated headlines for the series of racist and sexist jokes made by several speakers, including a comedian who set off a firestorm by calling Puerto Rico "garbage."
- Trump, a known germaphobe, donned a bright orange and yellow safety vest and hopped into a garbage truck to highlight a gaffe President Biden made after the New York rally, when he seemed to suggest that the garbage label should apply to Trump's supporters.
Trump's campaign aides convinced him to stay in the safety vest to give a speech at a rally later by telling Trump that he looks skinny in it, he revealed on stage.
- Trump also has made trips to Aurora, Colo., and Albuquerque, N.M. — not because his team thinks he'll win Colorado or New Mexico, but because he liked the backdrops to talk about illegal immigration.
At his behest, Trump's team — including a massive "election integrity" unit of poll workers and poll watchers — is filing lawsuits and aggressively publicizing any incident that can be remotely linked to potential voting problems.
- Members of the unit are fanning out across social media to show Trump that they're addressing viral claims of voting irregularities or alleged misconduct by election officials.
- Trump already has said that if he loses the election he'll blame Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley, who put together the "election integrity" unit with Lara Trump, the ex-president's daughter-in-law.
- The campaign's political director, James Blair, also has been increasingly visible on TV, podcasts and digital media.
- During his appearances Blair has been reciting positive poll numbers and defending a political operation that some Republicans have criticized for being too slow to build out a field program.
What's next: Over the next three days before Election Day, Trump will make four trips to North Carolina.
- Trump's team believes he can increase his chances of winning the swing state with repeated visits — even as he distances himself from the next most prominent Republican on the state's ticket, controversial Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
What they're saying: "President Trump and his campaign are solely focused on victory — that is why he has out-worked Kamala Harris every single day for months, and will end the campaign with over a dozen stops in four days," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said.
