Donald Trump's staffers are terrified his campaign will crumble under the weight of his bigotry, according to a new report.
A campaign insider told the Washington Post Tuesday of fears sparked by Vice President Kamala Harris' assent into the 2024 presidential election.
“We hope he doesn’t act like a crazy racist and sexist person, but we can’t control him," the source told the Post. "There are probably dog whistles and racist and sexist tropes he’ll stumble into. "
The campaign will be working to control Trump's rhetoric, the source added, "but it’s going to be difficult.”
Trump's fellow Republicans fear his followers for parallel reasons, according to the report.
"They also worry that Trump and some of his more extreme supporters will be unable to refrain from deploying sexist and racially fraught language, which they fear will hurt him with crucial voting blocs," the Post reports.
"Already, House Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), have admonished their members not to attack Harris because of her race and overall identity after several Republican lawmakers dismissed her as the 'DEI candidate,' using the acronym for 'diversity, equity and inclusion.'"
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Harris' campaign meanwhile is preparing for an onslaught of gender- and race-based attacks they say they've come to expect after watching Trump target former President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist close to Harris, did not express fear so much as wry amusement when she discussed Trump's attempts to slam Harris within the new guidelines.
“When Trump started calling her ‘Laughing Kamala,’ I said, ‘Oh my God, he can’t use that as his moniker,'" Brazile told the Post. "The problem is he’s the biggest laughingstock in the world, so he can’t use that."
