Did Donald Trump just surrender?

| 11:27 pm EDT September 28, 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.

Tonight is one of the last six Saturday nights of the 2024 presidential election, and how did Donald Trump spend it? He attended a college football game – in Alabama. It was an appearance that won’t put him a single vote closer to an Electoral College victory, and pretty obviously was only set up so that an increasingly fragile Trump could hear a crowd cheering for him. This is basically surrender on Trump’s part.

Trump spent his night “campaigning” in the reddest state his babysitters could park him in. And at one point on Saturday, JD Vance was wandering a sandwich shop parking lot looking for people to talk to after an attempted campaign event imploded. This is the most inept campaign in modern history. But because this is the internet, we keep being told that this weak farce is somehow proof that Trump has already won. “They don’t even need to campaign competently, because they’ve somehow magically already got it locked up!” Uh no, they don’t.

Meanwhile back in the real world, no one would ever intentionally run a campaign this incompetently. Even if they expected to in through ulterior means, they’d still be out there putting on a good show, so when they win they could point to the strong effort they made on the campaign trail.

What we’re watching is a senile candidate and an inept campaign getting their ass kicked. It’s falling apart so badly for them, they can’t even make it look like they know what they’re doing. Trump is wasting his time in Alabama. Vance is wandering a parking lot. This is not a campaign that has a secret evil genius master plan. They’re just screw-ups who are blowing it.

We are, obviously, winning. Trump is, obviously, losing. Pretending that things are the opposite of what they obviously are is a good way to go viral on the internet, and a good way to get ratings on TV. But again, in the real world, things are what they obviously are.

Because all modern presidential campaigns end up being competitive even when they’re not, this race isn’t over. We still have to keep working hard to fend off any flukes. We’ll have to keep working hard until the final day. But the notion that Trump’s side has a plan? That’s a joke.