He only has one rally/group therapy session lined up in the coming days/week, in the safe red state of Montana I think. Tells you all you need to know about how well he's coping with the Harris-Walz ticket surging ahead.
I think this is also somewhat proof that this isn't the same Trump as 2016. Back then, he was holding a lot of rallies to decent sized audiences, and now he seems to be completely hiding from a lot of the key battlegrounds.
From what I've seen Harris today is very different from how she came across in 2020, but we haven't seen her debating recently so it's certainly a concern.
One major issue for Trump is that he's facing a Harris that is enjoying a lot of success by simply making fun of him. She's discovered that he (and the Republicans) can't cope with dinner table insults, and it's unlikely that he's going to be able to stop himself from getting nasty when she starts calling him a weird old man. As long as she proves herself to be reasonably competent in terms of knowledge, her KO blow will come from describing Trump in a one-liner that can be endlessly quoted.
Having said that, any Vance-Walz debate will almost certainly be a trainwreck for Trump. It has to be playing heavily on his mind that Vance, although loyal, is not going to be a good lieutenant. He needs someone who can get out there and fight in every battleground with their political experience, and Vance is not that person.
He's a shadow of the man he was in 2016.
He certainly is. Trump in 2016 was running a very energetic campaign, whereas he seems almost afraid to step out now. Going back to what someone said above, that the assassination attempt might be playing on him, could be true. It would explain his reluctance to get into the trenches and fight, something that defined him in 2016 and now seems to be defining him in 2024.
