11 revelations that help tell the real story of the 2024 campaign, from Harvard’s Institute of Politics event with top campaign aides.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Donald Trump had a very clear message for his team: don’t spike the football after Joe Biden had a disastrous debate showing in June. Things were going well for Trump’s attempted return to political office, Biden wasas off his game, and the electorate was just starting to tune in. “Don’t go too hard on him. We want him around,” Trump told his staff, who shelved an ad for fear it would force Biden off the ballot, according to Trump’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita.
“We run shit like we ought to run it,” O’Malley Dillon said under persistent second-guessing of how Biden’s and then Harris’ campaigns were led.Over and over again, Trump’s aides and adversaries alike kept returning to the fact that a huge chunk of the GOP universe started with an immovable and immutable affinity for Trump. Efforts to tear him down never really found footing, and it was nearly impossible for other candidates to gain traction during the primaries.
It was similarly ill-fated for former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s bid. “We had a candidate who was very much in the mold of 2012, 2008, 2004,” Hutchinson campaign manager Rob Burgess said. In other words, someone who was totally mismatched to the moment. “The attacks that we levied against Ron worked because they were believable,” deputy campaign manager Taylor Budowich said. LaCivita even laughed at how his team trolled DeSantis, including handing out chocolates shaped like boots to suggest their rival was“He was never going to win Iowa. He raised expectations for him and lowered them for Trump,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said. “DeSantis ran a terrible campaign. He started with every advantage and he sort of imploded.
LaCivita said there were about 10 days when it was possible that Trump would have joined the primary debates. Network execs and star anchors were burning up Trump’s cell phone, making a self-interested play to get him onstage to boost their ratings. “Everyone in the world is calling him,” LaCivita said. But refusing to participate became a way for Trump to pick a fight with the Republican National Committee. “There was no way he was going to do it.
The Trump campaign understood they could win if the race was based on policy and performance, but could not prevail if voters were deciding on personalities, Fabrizio said. But “you cannot control it,” Fabrizio said of Trump. LaCivita was equally resigned: “Worry about what you can control. On the campaign, I worried about what I could control. He was not one of them.
“The President prepped. I was at debate prep. He was strong. He was ready,” O’Malley Dillon said. But, she added, “We all saw what happened at the debate. He also is old and he knew that and we knew that. He’s also Joe Biden. … We were not Pollyannish about any of that.”
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