It appears Donald Trump couldn’t help but go off script during his excruciatingly long Republican National Convention speech, uttering the one word his aides said he wouldn’t.
The former president was not planning to mention President Joe Biden by name during his address on Thursday, his staff told multiple reporters, amid Trump’s supposed push for unity following the attempt on his life on Saturday.
Fox News’ Bret Baier reported ahead of the speech that “highly placed sources” had told him Trump would not use the word “Biden” once, as part of his new focus on unification. Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez also spoke of the plan to CBS News.
But less than halfway into his rambling, 92-minute speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump name-dropped Biden twice as he criticized him as worse than the last 10 worst presidents combined.
“Think of it. The 10 worst. Added them up, they will not have done the damage that Biden has done,” Trump said. “Only going to use the term once. Biden. I’m not going to use the name anymore. Just one time. The damage that he’s done to this country is unthinkable.”
Sofia Kinzinger, an ex-aide to former Vice President Mike Pence, tweeted that the pivot was a “perfect example of what the Trump White House was like- pure chaos.
“Planning was impossible,” added Kinzinger, who is married to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).
After the assassination attempt, Trump on Sunday said he planned to completely change his original RNC speech because he had been given an opportunity to “bring the country together.”
Trump began his speech with a more subdued tone as he discussed his brush with death, but he was back to his usual antics within 20 minutes.