Stephanie Grisham, a former press secretary in Donald Trump’s White House, said the GOP presidential nominee will struggle to keep to a reported plan for a campaign reset as Democratic rival Kamala Harris surges in popularity.
Trump’s campaign aides have discussed holding smaller “messaging events” or “mini-rallies” where Trump can speak about specific issues like the economy, according to The Bulwark reporter Marc Caputo, who joined Grisham on a CNN panel Tuesday. It’s part of a push by Trump’s team to curate his public appearances and encourage him to stay on message and be more policy-focused, Caputo reported.
Grisham said Trump won’t thrive at such events.
“I imagine he will do some of them, and maybe for a week he’ll, you know, attempt to stay on message,” she said. “It depends on how tough his staff is being with him, but he will get bored. He doesn’t like those small events; he never has. And he will be demanding to do a large rally sooner rather than later.”
She added: “They want him to be a fake version of himself. Donald Trump is a bombastic narcissist, and he loves attention.”
Looking back on her time working for Trump, Grisham predicted that his 2024 campaign aides will struggle to rein in the former president.
“He is not going to be happy, you know, being quiet or being on message. It’s not who he is, and so they all know that,” said Grisham, who was also a part of Trump’s 2016 election effort. “Look, we did this a million times. We did it in 2016. We did it throughout our time in the White House. We were all trying to keep him on message. Everybody was frustrated all the time.”