Ex-Trump aide says he’s 'growing darker' and 'coming to grips' with losing the election

16 August 2024

A staffer in former President Donald Trump's first administration is now saying his old boss is likely realizing his chances of winning the November election are dwindling fast.

According to the Daily Beast, Anthony Scaramucci — who worked in the Trump White House's communications office and has since become one of the ex-president's biggest critics — says the 45th president of the United States is "coming to grips" with a potential loss to Vice President Kamala Harris this fall. He opined that this is evident in that Trump is "growing darker" on the campaign trial as Harris continues to gain on him in both national and swing state polls.

"Will be a rough 81 days," Scaramucci tweeted, in reference to the time remaining before voters head to the polls.

Scaramucci's assessment of the former president's state of mind comes amid a wave of new polls showing Harris steadily building her coalition that she hopes will get her to the 270 electoral vote threshold in November. Earlier this week, the latest national poll conducted by Emerson College – which FiveThirtyEight ranks among its top 10 most trusted pollsters — found that Harris not only leads Trump nationally, but that she's beating the former president with older voters in both the Baby Boomer and Silent Generations.

This is a significant setback for Trump, as those generations have been among the most reliable voting blocs for Republicans this century. According to Newsweek, that subset of voters has sided with the GOP in the last six consecutive elections. The vice president's favorables among that group are also in the majority, whereas a majority of those voters disapprove of Trump. And Harris has yet to benefit from the well-known post-convention polling boost, in which party nominees usually see a 2% to 4% increase in their approval ratings following their respective party conventions.

As Scaramucci noted, the remaining months between now and Election Day could be rough for Trump. Not only because Harris will benefit from the incumbency advantage when the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in years when it meets next month, but because Trump will have to appear for his sentencing for 34 class E felony convictions in a New York courtroom on September 18th.

Judge Juan Merchan has the discretion to sentence Trump to as much as 20 years in prison for his crimes, though his sentence will likely be far less than that due to the former president being 78 years old and a first-time offender. And no matter the sentence, Trump will likely appeal whatever Merchan hands down, which would postpone Trump actually serving his sentence until after the election. Or, if he wins, likely until he would finally leave office in 2029.

Harris and Trump will both likely draw tens of millions of viewers for their upcoming debate on September 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which will be broadcasted by ABC. Even though pressure is on Harris to perform well given President Joe Biden's widely panned performance in the June debate on CNN, the pressure will likely be even higher for Trump if he continues to trail Harris in polls.

In Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – whose electoral votes may end up deciding the 2024 election — Harris is leading Trump in a Cook Political Report survey of likely voters in the so-called "Blue Wall" states. She's also ahead in Arizona and North Carolina, and is in a statistical tie with Trump in Georgia, which Biden narrowly won by roughly 12,000 votes in 2020.

Click here to read the Beast's report in full (subscription required).

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