Trump Aides Reveal Just How Badly Trump Veered Off Script in Debate

Donald Trump’s advisers are frustrated about how the former president veered wildly off script during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, according to reports from The Guardian and Axios.

Kamala Harris easily baited Trump with lines attacking the crowd size at his rallies and the fact that people left them early out of boredom. As a result, Trump lost his focus and went on angry rants, going against the carefully crafted plans from his debate prep team.

For example, if the ABC News debate moderators were to dispute the false rumor that Haitian immigrants are killing and eating people’s pets in Ohio, then Trump was supposed to say it was hearsay and attack Harris on how illegal immigration helps crime. But Trump got stuck arguing over the rumor and Harris’s attack on his rallies.

Trump advisers say that the Republican presidential nominee was also prepped on how to deflect Harris’s attacks back onto her, but he couldn’t help himself, launching into his trademark grievances like the 2020 election. They told him not to respond directly, but he did anyway.

The plan was to press the vice president about why she and President Biden weren’t implementing any of her solutions right now, and pin today’s problems on her and the administration, according to Axios. Trump was supposed to dismiss Harris’s plans for the future, point out failures in the present, and pin the blame on her for things like the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. But given the opportunity, Trump whiffed, offering up a word salad.

Trump’s advisers pointed to his closing argument as one of the few times when he appeared to stick to the script, but that wasn’t enough to erase his ranting and raving from earlier in the debate. Republicans have been hoping for years that one day Trump would eventually become presidential, leave behind his petty grievances, and focus on the important things. They thought he would do so after he was first elected president, and then again after the attempt on his life in July, but each time, he quickly dashed their expectations. Tuesday’s debate is only the latest evidence that he refuses to change.