MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Monday called out former President Donald Trump's recent campaign rallies, invoking a heavily favorited adjective amongst Democrats describing the GOP: "weird."
Maddow kicked off her Monday monologue by underscoring some of the key differences between the former president's campaign and that of Vice President Kamala Harris, noting how MAGA events have been altogether strange. Harris had seen surging popularity ever since President Joe Biden chose to withdraw from the presidential race. The veep's campaign has raised $540 million since its launch in July; her campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, wrote in a memo that the money raised is "the most for any presidential campaign ever.”
Yet, Maddow cautioned her viewers to remember that the race is still a narrow one despite Harris' strong polling.
“When it is this close, little differences between the candidates and their campaigns can make a very interesting, not only for an interesting contrast but can make a big difference,” the host said.
Still, Harris' ballooning funds and energized base of supporters are compounded by reports that Trump is "terrified" to face her on the debate stage on September 10. On Sunday night, the ex-president on his Truth Social platform teased that he would not appear for the debate, which ABC will host. Trump wrote that he had watched ABC's Sunday show, which featured a “so-called Panel of Trump Haters."
“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" he asked.
Maddow argued that Trump's team “may try to get all the way to the election without a single debate.”
“Also worth noting that Trump’s campaign events are getting a little bit weird,” she continued, before citing a recent rally in Glendale, Arizona, in which Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake — a fervent MAGA supporter — spoke for much longer than her allotted time onstage. The MSNBC host displayed images taken from behind where Lake was standing to illustrate how the GOP-er was repeatedly told to exit the stage to clear the way for Trump.
“As you see there, it says minus 5:35, meaning you are five minutes and 35 seconds over your allotted time," Maddow explained. "And then it says underneath, ‘please get off the stage.’ But then look almost a minute later, there’s this other shot. Now let’s see 6:23, so she’s now six minutes and 23 seconds over her allotted time. And now the instruction to her says, ‘Please get off stage Trump waiting.’”
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Maddow continued by noting how Trump at the same event got an endorsement from an Arizona police union.
"While the union president was making his pro-Trump remarks, basically giving the endorsement, it seems like Trump got bored or annoyed," Maddow observed. "He just kinda crept up on the guy and was looming over his shoulder and frowning at him while the guy was speaking."
Trump eventually told the speaker, Justin Harris, "gotta go," leading Harris to gather his speech papers and depart the stage awkwardly.
“That’s a nice way to receive an endorsement," Maddow added. "And now today, that same police union announced that they’re endorsing the Democratic US Senate candidate in Arizona, the guy who’s running against Republican Kari Lake."
“I mean, they had already given [Trump] his endorsement, so presumably, that one couldn’t be reeled back in. But you know, if this situation here, if this was Trump trying to turn on the charm to also get this union’s endorsement for the Republican Senate candidate he was ostensibly there to support. Well, we all know how good he is at sharing the glory,” she concluded.
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