Former President Donald Trump on Thursday delivered a rambling press conference in which he talking about rally crowd sizes and President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the race, while also bemoaning the fate of the violent criminals who assaulted the United States Capitol on his behalf.
Trump's decision to hold the press conference, which appeared unscripted and went off on several tangents about assorted grievances, baffled many political observers, who questioned how Trump could possibly think the appearance would help him.
"I’m not sure what the point of this was, he doesn’t look well at all," observed The Atlantic's Tom Nichols.
"Trump sounds horrible," noted former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. "His frustration (and fear) is overwhelming his message."
"Who in their right mind thought Trump doing this was a good idea?" wondered national security attorney Bradley Moss. "The audio and video contrast to what Harris is doing in the swing states this week will get tons of coverage."
"This is the kind of performance from Trump that, if the Republican party was still a functioning institution, would have a lot of people panicked and wondering about how to get him to drop out," argued MSNBC's Chris Hayes.
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The Financial Times' Edward Luce was astonished by Trump's over-the-top apocalyptic rhetoric.
"Good Lord!" he wrote. "45 seconds into Trump's statement, he's already said that we're on the brink of a great depression and world war three."
Pod Save America's Jon Favreau, on the other hand, didn't express alarm but only joy at Trump's performance.
"Trump is so triggered by the size of Kamala Harris's crowds, it's extremely funny," he cracked.
The National Review's Noah Rothman, however, delivered the most brutal review of Trump's press conference and simply said, "Trump is sounding like Biden."
