President blows his top in Friday argument and reportedly tells Brad Parscale ‘I’m not fucking losing to Joe Biden’ in November

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

A row between Donald Trump and his election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, over a recent drop in the president’s poll numbers resulted in Trump threatening Parscale with a lawsuit.

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The argument reportedly happened last Friday, as the US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic reached 50,000 in three months and the fallout continued from Trump’s suggestion at the White House the night before that taking disinfectant internally could be examined as a possible treatment for coronavirus, even though it is potentially lethal.

But the blow-up was just the latest in a series of tense moments between Trump and his 2020 re-election team, according to reports from multiple outlets including the Washington Post, the Associated Press and CNN.

“I’m not fucking losing to Joe Biden,” Trump reportedly said on a call with Parscale during a meeting with aides. According to multiple sources who spoke to the AP, the president cursed at Parscale repeatedly.

Trump deflected much of the blame for the disappointing polls, ignoring criticism of his performances at the podium during daily White House coronavirus press briefings, where he has repeatedly attacked the media for questioning delays in the government’s response, pushed misinformation and shown little empathy for victims.

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In a meeting two days before the call, political advisers briefed Trump on data sourced internally and from the Republican National Committee. The figures showed the president losing ground against Biden in key battleground states.

Advisers had warned Trump to change his tone at daily coronavirus briefings, citing data that showed the negative coverage was fueling a decline in approval ratings.

The president allegedly balked at the guidance, insisting viewers “love” them and think he’s “fighting for them”. Trump instead pointed to restricted travel and an inability to host campaign rallies as the source of the slump.

After initially refusing to comply with recommendations he step back from the briefings, Trump later relented – after making headlines over the disinfectant row, which prompted cleaning product companies to issue public warnings against ingesting or injecting disinfectant for any reason.

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Last Friday, the president took no questions and abruptly left the short briefing, which had been stretching over two hours in evening prime time, and cancelled his weekend press briefings altogether.

“He’s pissed because he knows he messed up in those briefings,” a Republican close to the White House reportedly told CNN.

He also reportedly ranted about a New York Times story on him watching hours of cable news a day and then fuming about his coverage, before spending the weekend attacking reporters and media organizations on Twitter for their coronavirus journalism.

One official told the Washington Post the president was “in a terrible mood with everyone late last week”.

Trump shot back at reports of his growing frustration on Wednesday, telling Reuters he doesn’t “believe the polls”.

“I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent,” he said of Biden. Trump said he thought the election did not represent a referendum on his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

While neither the sincerity nor the grounds of the president’s lawsuit threat against Parscale isn’t clear, sources told CNN the two patched things up by that same night. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that Parscale “is doing a great job”.

“I never shouted at him (been with me for years, including the 2016 win), and have no intention to do so,” he wrote.

The president then lashed out at media outlets for reporting on the alleged tensions, taking particular aim at MSNBC and its lead anchor, Brian Williams, in a flood of tweets.

The new White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, last week signaled that the president’s White House coronavirus briefings would be less frequent and would take a different slant, pivoting to preparations for reopening the US economy. This week, Trump has been meeting with some state governors in the Oval Office.