Ex-aide claims press event was Trump's effort to show 'flailing' campaign 'how it's done'

Former President Donald Trump's bizarre news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday is making his advisers pound their heads on their desks, said former Trump administration communications chief Anthony Scaramucci on CNN.

Furthermore, he added, it doesn't bode well for Trump's own mental state and his confidence in the election, following Vice President Kamala Harris' rapid rise as the replacement nominee for President Joe Biden.

"He spent the whole time talking about fearmongering," Scaramucci said when asked to react to what he heard.

"He's talking about fear on the border, he's talking about fear in the economy, he's talking about fear of crime. And so it's a very fear-based approach."

Trump's strategists, he added, can't possibly be on board with any of this.

"They're sitting there cringing. He's sitting there saying, okay, we're flailing, so I'm going to show you how it's done. I'm going to go out to the press, speak unhinged for 40 minutes to an hour, and I'm going to set everybody straight on what we're doing. And so it's not working.

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"If I'm a Democratic strategist, please let him go on for another two hours, like Benito Mussolini or Fidel Castro, just let him unwind himself."

The key takeaway, said Scaramucci, is that "this is a frightened Donald Trump."

"He's looking at the poll numbers, and it was a big tell when he does the accordion thing and tells you how great he is doing in the polls. That's a big tell for him. He's not doing well in the polls. He knows that.

"And so that's another big lie that he's saying from that podium. So let him keep talking, he'll dig a bigger hole for himself, and people will remember, well, I don't really want to go back to what was going on in this country, 2017 to January of 2021."

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