Senior political reporter Maggie Haberman said former President Trump was “clearly spooked” by the momentum of Harris’ campaign after weeks of active campaigning and the Democratic National Convention.
Haberman sat down with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday to discuss Trump’s calls to Fox News and Newsmax shortly after Harris’ Thursday night speech in which she formally accepted the Democratic nomination.
“When he’s not at the helm, he’s very reactive to everything and we’ve seen that over the last nine years that he’s been in the political and political arena,” Haberman said. Highlighted by Mediaite. “He’s obviously upset about her.”
The former president, who live-streamed his reaction to Harris’ speech on his website Truth Social, later told Fox News that Harris was not succeeding despite her growing popularity in the polls. He attacked her on issues she did not mention in her speech, including the border and China.
Harris’ speech capped a tumultuous few weeks that have seen her campaign gain momentum since President Biden dropped out of the race.
She broke donation records and hosted sold-out rallies across the country. The Chicago convention marked the culmination of a rollercoaster of emotions for Democrats after the first presidential debate sparked panic and left doubts about whether Harris could beat Trump.
Haberman said with all the attention focused on Harris since Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, Trump is doing all he can to regain control of the national debate.
“He’s trying to point out, at least by omission, how she’s different from President Biden, which is that he doesn’t connect her to their shared track record,” Huberman said. “There are some people in Trump’s inner circle who would like him to basically say ‘Biden-Harris, Biden-Harris’ all the time. That’s the way he operates.”
“Let’s see if he can keep it up,” she concluded.
