Trump-Vance antics are 'not the behavior of a winning campaign': ex-Bush speechwriter

After 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump survived an apparent second assassination attempt while golfing in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday, September 15, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), wasted no time blaming Democrats for the attack and claiming that their vehement criticism of Trump is encouraging violence against him. Many Democrats responded that in light of how incendiary Trump's rhetoric often is, Vance's claims were an example of pure "gaslighting."

Vance, however, also pointed the finger at Never Trump conservatives, including journalist and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum.

In a thread on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, September 17, Frum detailed examples of violence from "right-wing extremists," including a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and noted, "Trump really did mount a violent coup against the Constitution."

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Vance, in response, tweeted, "I'd say the most important difference is that people on your team tried to kill Donald Trump twice."

In an article published by The Atlantic the following day, Frum points to Vance's constant "rage-tweeting" as an example of the Trump campaign's unserious tone.

"Can you imagine, say, Dick Cheney, scrolling through his mentions, getting irritated, and firing off a retort?" Frum argues. "Neither can I…. What we've been seeing from Trump-Vance is not the behavior of a winning campaign."

The Never Trumper goes on to contrast Trump and Harris' campaign activities.

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Frum observes, "Vice President Kamala Harris has been driving a message of abortion rights and middle-income-oriented economic policy in must-win states…. Trump's main message of the week, meanwhile, has been that he was not wrong to accuse Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, of stealing and eating pets — a message that has put him at odds with the state's Republican governor and local mayors and police chiefs. The only thing Trump said that made more impact were the four words he posted Sunday morning: 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!'"

The Trump campaign, according to Frum, is suffering from "utter chaos."

"The campaign seems to have stumbled into a strange unintended message: 'Let's go to war with Taylor Swift to stop Haitians from eating dogs,'" Frum observes. "The VP candidate wants to raise tariffs on toasters and worries that with Roe v. Wade overturned, George Soros may every day fill a 747 airliner with abortion-seeking pregnant Black women. The stink of impending defeat fills the air — and so much of the defeat would be self-inflicted."

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David Frum's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).