Olivia Nuzzi observes that things are not going well for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy, as he misses rallies and flees to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, and that his advisers are saying they are witnessing a downward spiral.
In the Intelligent report, under the telling headline “The Final Campaign: Inside Donald Trump’s sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for reelection. (Which isn’t to say he can’t win),” Nuzzi spoke with multiple Trump insiders and one lamented “The magic is gone.”
According to her report, Nuzzi claims she interviewed the former president 28 days ago. In the intervening time, he has rarely left the compound, saying defensively weeks ago, “I stay here but I am outside of Mar-a-Lago quite a bit. I’m always largely outside of Mar-a-Lago at meetings and other events. I’m down in Miami. I go to Miami, I go to different places in Florida.”
Writing, “He is sensitive about smallness. His entire life, he has rejected smallness,” Nuzzi spoke with several close acquaintances who stated that is what his life has come to since his announcement that he will run for president again in 2024 landed with a thud.
According to a former White House official. “It feels like he’s going through the motions because he said he would.”
Another questioned his actions while ensconced at his Florida resort, singling out his highly publicized dinner with controversial Kanye West, “He doesn’t have anything else to do. What else can he do? Why did he see Kanye? He wants to be relevant and wants the limelight. He’s thirsty.”
One Trump adviser offered a sad picture of the former president as his legal difficulties grow and his support ratings fall.
“He just goes, plays golf, comes back, and f*cks off. He has retreated to the golf course and to Mar-a-Lago,” they reported before commenting, “His world has gotten much smaller. His world is so, so small.”
Another criticized the quality of people who continue to support Trump in the hope of a comeback.
“It’s not there. In this business, you can have it and have it so hot and it can go overnight and it’s gone and you can’t get it back. I think we’re just seeing it’s gone. The magic is gone,” they remarked “When Seb Gorka and Raheem Kassam and Kash Patel and Devin Nunes are your stars, that’s the D-list.”