Trump struggled to sleep as he panicked over the economy and his re-election chances: new book

An excerpt from the new book The Big Lie, written by POLITICO White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire, reveals that former President Donald Trump had trouble sleeping during a trip to India just before he embarked "on one of the most consequential weeks of his term."

"In the months to come, it would become clear that for the first time in his political life, Trump’s lies weren’t going to save him. And it just so happened to be in an election year," Lemire writes, creating a picture of the COVID-19 pandemic's early grip on the economy.

Lemire contends that Trump's public confidence "was undermined by his private worry."

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"Trump had been up the night before, repeatedly calling [Larry Kudlow] and other economic advisers. He asked Kudlow what he had heard, what the titans of business were saying, and if he would go on cable TV — always the most important part of a Trump public relations overture — to defend the president’s precious economy."

"Trump was nervous about the first significant stock market slide caused by COVID-19, the mysterious new virus that had stealthily emerged in China some weeks prior and was beginning to race around the globe. There was suddenly talk of lockdowns, travel bans and mass death, and the stock market — so bullish for most of the Trump era, it had become an idealized symbol in his mind for economic prosperity — was shaken."

Read the full excerpt over at POLITICO.