Why Trump is 'far less concerned with what threatening people might mean': NYT’s Maggie Haberman

The New York Times' Maggie Haberman on Thursday questioned why Donald Tump's rhetoric is becoming "darker" just a few weeks ahead of Election Day.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the White House correspondent, "Why is he escalating his threats to political opponents that he deems 'the enemy within'? Why is this his closing message with less than three weeks until the election?"

Haberman replied, "Because it's what he wants to talk about, and because he was told earlier in the election cycle that he shouldn't talk about retribution because it was problematic with some voters, and for whatever reason, his language — and I think we can point to a couple reason — but his language has gotten much darker, it's gotten much more apocalyptic, and he's gotten far less concerned with what threatening people might mean."

READ MORE: 'Is he OK?' Trump’s dark of night rage posting backfires

The CNN political analyst continued, "And he's railing against Kamala Harris, as he always does, but especially on social media, writing this — and I'm quoting him now — 'Kamala should be investigated and forced off the campaign, and Joe Biden allowed to take back his rightful place.'"

Blitzer then asked, "Why is he still so obsessed with Biden?"

"It's a great question," Haberman said. "He has been fixated on this, Wolf. He continues to believe that it was unfair the Democrats changed out their nominee. He believed he had this, essentially, in the bag against Joe Biden. The atmosphere at the Republican National Convention was jubilant. They were all on a high. It was right after the assassination attempt in Butler [Pennsylvania], and they believed that they were headed into a lock. And that obviously has not been the case.

However, the Times correspondent emphasized, "Now, he still may win. It's a very tight race. But it has been a much more competitive race than it looked like it was going to be after the Trump-Biden debate. And he's very angry about it."

READ MORE: Trump’s 'imaginary world' is a 'dark, dystopian place' — and getting worse: analysis

Watch the video below or at this link.