'Absolute dumpster fire': Ex-Trump aide scorches 'ranting and raving' news conference

Former President Donald Trump's bizarre press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday was a desperate attempt to force the media's focus off Vice President Kamala Harris and back onto himself, argued former Trump administration communications official Alyssa Farah Griffin on CNN.

The problem is, she added, it wasn't the kind of attention that benefits him.

"We've seen Trump do this before, arrange a news conference when he doesn't like the way the news cycle is going," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "But he is very clearly trying to get it back now from Harris, from her crowd sizes, from the momentum she's seeing. He was claiming there's only 1,500 people at her rally. It was closer to 15,000. What did you see in that press conference today?"

"I mean, it was an absolute dumpster fire of a press conference," said Griffin. "I don't know how you could frame it any other way."

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"He does feel like the focus is not on him," Griffin agreed. "She's getting a lot of attention and he's kind of getting into 'I alone can fix it' mode. I don't think advisers would have told him that 90 minutes of ranting and raving and re-litigating the former election is a useful way to be campaigning, but he did what he's going to do. He had shouted some of his greatest hits."

As for why he has been oddly absent from the campaign trail lately, Griffin continued, "I think that there is something to the fact that the last time he was in a battleground state was in Georgia. He went after the popular governor and his wife. That's not helpful in a swing state. So I think advisers are thinking, maybe have him do these interviews with influencers, maybe have him call into Fox News, but figure out, until he can hone a message and have some level of discipline, having him out there actually isn't that helpful."

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