Donald Trump’s increasingly unserious nature is becoming a thing

| 9:09 am EDT September 2, 2024
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

A few days ago I joked that President Biden should grow a mustache just to screw with everyone. Wouldn’t you know it, yesterday Donald Trump posted a fake picture of Kamala Harris with a mustache. I’m sure it’s just coincidence. But it shows you how unbelievably unserious of a candidate Trump has become. He’s literally at the “draw a mustache on your opponent” of unseriousness.

It further underscores my increasing belief that Trump isn’t trying to win this election. He may think he’s trying to win. But when you’re reduced to asking if your Black opponent is really Black, posting sexually explicit memes about her, and drawing a mustache on her, you’ve given up whether you realize you’ve given up or not.

Meanwhile Kamala Harris is out there barnstorming successfully in swing states like Georgia. So is Tim Walz. Kamala’s other surrogates are on a bus tour in Florida in the hope of bringing it into play. It’s a fully functioning campaign – which wouldn’t stand out as being unusual, if not for the fact that they’re running against a guy who’s sitting home drawing mustaches on people.

As I’ve pointed out a few times in recent weeks, Trump’s lack of interest in winning isn’t an excuse for us to rest easy. He arguably wasn’t trying to win in 2016 either, for different reasons, and we all saw how that turned out. But if nothing else it’s nice knowing that Trump isn’t even really trying. And we have to remember that whenever he does something like his Arlington stunt, its odds of helping him are nearly zero and its odds of hurting him are high. We don’t have to worry about whatever he’s doing at any given time. We’ll keep tabs on him, but we don’t need to fret over anything he does.

Meanwhile, what we have to worry about is running up the score. Kamala Harris’ best national polls now have her up by six, seven, and eight points. But when you factor in her worst polls, the polling averages still only have her ahead by about four points nationwide. She has all the momentum, but we need to get that number higher. I’ll feel safer if and when it gets up to around seven points.

So let’s keep at it. As Trump continues to draw mustaches on people and JD Vance continues to bungle his attempts at campaigning on Trump’s behalf, we have an opportunity to jump in and run up the score. Now is the time to phone bank, knock on doors, participate in voter registration drives, and all of the real world efforts that actually change vote totals. And let’s keep donating what we can, where we can. Just because the other side isn’t trying to win, it doesn’t mean we can stop trying to win. No days off. Let’s go win this!

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.