After Politico reporter Eugene Daniels got wind that Donald Trump’s campaign was privately explaining interview cancellations were due to their candidates’ “exhaustion,” the campaign naturally denied it and said Trump was “running laps” around Kamala Harris. But there’s no doubt about the cancellations themselves. He was scheduled to talk to the National Rifle Association in Georgia, but it was called off. He has backed out of interviews with 60 Minutes, with NBC Philadelphia, with CNBC’s Squawk Box, and with The Shade Room, a site with a large Black audience.
This follows on his terrible debate performance and refusal to risk a repeat. It follows on his bizarre 39-minutes of trance dancing at a rally in Oaks, Pennsylvania, and his horrible car wreck of an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.
When he has done interviews, they’ve been with friendly outlets, but they still haven’t gone well. Last Sunday, he raised eyebrows during an interview with Fox News when he avoided a question about having a peaceful election by saying, “I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical-left lunatics,” and arguing that “it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” It’s unclear how Trump, as a mere candidate for office, could order the national guard or military to attack people on the left, but it gives some insight into how he plans to deal with critics if reelected.
On Friday morning, he went on Fox & Friends and seemed similarly dismissive about the First Amendment and the people’s right to free speech.
Before the former president left the show’s signature couch, he said he plans to meet Friday with [Rupert] Murdoch, the founder of Fox Corp. and the company’s longtime executive chair, and voice his displeasure with ads the network airs that are critical of him — and bringing on a myriad of guests on shows who are not supportive of him.
“I’m going to see Rupert Murdoch,” the former president continued. “I don’t know if he’s thrilled that I say it … and I’m going to tell him something very simple … don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days and don’t put on … they’re horrible people that come on and lie. I’m going to say, ‘Rupert, please do it this way.’”
It’s not just Trump trying this nonsense. On Thursday, a federal judge had to step in to stop Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida’s threats to criminally prosecute local TV stations “if they run a political ad in support of a referendum that would repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.” This idea that political officeholders and even political candidates can silence their opponents’ right to run political advertising is new, but then the right’s full unapologetic embrace of fascism is new, too.
It’s clear that the American electorate is seriously considering fascism as an option, but I don’t think the prospect of censorship is what is tempting them. It’s not a winning message for the last three weeks of the campaign. Trump is seriously off message much of the time, and he can’t answer hard questions. This is reason enough to shield him from interviews, whether friendly or not. But Trump’s energy level has been suspect for some time. In July 2020, he responded to his pollster Tony Fabrizio warning him the American people were tired of chaos by snapping, “They’re fucking tired? Well I’m fucking tired and fatigued too.” And we all noticed that he could not remain awake during his trial for fraud in New York, in which he was convicted of 34 felony violations of state law.
The man is in the home stretch, and he needs a nap.