Donald Trump
Donald Trump (Photo: Shutterstock)

A former spokesperson for Donald Trump says the former President is becoming “desperate” as Kamala Harris inches ahead of him in the polls. 

Sarah Matthews served as deputy press secretary to Trump from June 2020 to January 2021. She appeared as a guest on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki on Monday. 

“I think that he feels this election slipping away from him, and that’s where you’re beginning to see him spiral and cling to these conspiracy theories, as you noted with the AI-generated crowds, which obviously can be easily disproven,” said Matthews. 

Trump recently claimed, with zero evidence, that the Harris campaign had used AI to generate images of a crowd waiting to greet the Vice President at an airport in Michigan. 

Trump has long been known to place great importance on crowd size. Since becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris and her Vice Presidential pick, Tim Walz, have spoken at some particularly large rallies. 

“I know it’s insanity,” Matthews continued. “There will be people out there that will believe it, though, because he’s pushing it. And that’s what happens when he gets desperate, is he pushes these conspiracy theories.”

Matthews went on to point to other Trump appearances where he appeared defensive. This included his Q&A with a group of Black journalists in which Trump questioned whether Harris was actually Black. 

“These are not winning campaign messages,” Matthews said. “But that is what he does when he feels like he’s under attack, is he uses these kinds of lines of defense that don’t make much sense for campaigning.”

“Mind-boggling”

This is not the first time Matthews has been critical of Trump. She appeared before the January 6th committee to detail what was happening behind the scenes while the rioting in the capitol unfolded. Matthews said Trump should have put out a message “almost instantly” calling for calm, rather than delaying. 

She has previously said it’s “mind-boggling” how many members of Trump’s senior staff in the White House have now denounced him. 

“These are folks who saw him up close and personal and saw his leadership style,” Matthews said.

“The American people should listen to what these folks are saying because it should be alarming that the people that Trump hired to work for him a first term are saying that he’s unfit to serve for a second term.”

“It’s clear Donald’s already tenuous grasp of reality is deteriorating”

Another vocal critic of Donald Trump is his niece, Mary Trump. In her latest newsletter, she also questioned Donald’s mental state. She commented on the livestream “conversation” Donald had on Monday with X owner Elon Musk. 

“In addition to his incoherent and hateful ramblings about immigrants, at one point Donald actually said Vice President Kamala Harris’ portrait on the new cover of Time magazine looks like his wife, Melania. 

“I’m not even sure how to interpret that and I’m a trained clinical psychologist,” said Mary. “From everything we’ve seen in the last three weeks, it’s clear Donald’s already tenuous grasp of reality is deteriorating. The success of Kamala Harris’ campaign is getting to him in part because he knows there is nothing he can do to stop it.”

Kamala gains ground in Florida

Recent polls have shown that Harris has edged ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harris has also advanced in Florida, and a new poll places her just five points behind Trump in a state previously considered solidly red. It has a million more registered Republican voters than Democrats and Trump won it in both 2016 and 2020. 

“This poll seems to indicate that the overwhelming Republican Party registration advantage is partially offset by Kamala Harris winning independents, especially independent women,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said in a press release accompanying the survey. 

“Florida could become more of a battleground state than anyone would have expected, especially given that there will be an abortion rights question (Amendment 4) on the statewide ballot, which could drive up turnout among women.”

Slurring and lisping

Trump’s conversation with Elon Musk on Monday was initially plagued by technical problems. It was around 40 minutes late starting. Some commentators said Trump was speaking with a lisp and slurring some of his words. 

Yesterday, the former President reacted to these allegations. On Truth Social, he blamed it on “modern” technology. He’d asked his team to re-edit it and use a crisper sound recording. 

“Unfortunately, because of the complexity of modern day equipment, and cellphone technology, my voice was, in certain areas, somewhat different and strange,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, we have put out an actual, and perfect, recording of the conversation. ENJOY!!!”

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated