Donald Trump is reportedly obsessed with the ratings that Kamala Harris' acceptance speech will receive later this week at the Democratic National Convention.
The Republican nominee has been publicly ranting about the crowd size at the vice president's rallies, but two sources told Rolling Stone that Trump has been privately peppering his media and political allies with questions about what they think the convention's TV ratings will be like.
"In these private moments," the magazine reported, "Trump has been sure to stress that the viewership he pulled for his televised acceptance speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month was 'tremendous,' and that he feels it is unlikely Vice President Harris will be able to top his numbers on the evening she gives her big speech."
The DNC begins Monday in Chicago, and Harris is scheduled to deliver her acceptance speech Thursday night, and her campaign expects to use a ratings bonanza as another weapon to attempt to mess with Trump's head, which has been a major theme in their messaging since president Joe Biden ceded the race to her.
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"A Harris campaign official simply tells Rolling Stone that 'yes, of course' the campaign will publicly troll Team Trump if the vice president’s ratings end up being higher than his were," Rolling Stone reported.
Trump's ratings for his 2016 acceptance speech bested his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, but fewer viewers tuned in to his 2020 speech than Biden's.
A former senior White House official told Rolling Stone that Trump ordered his aides in early 2018 to show the media proof that his State of the Union address that year had the highest ratings of all time, although no such proof existed.
“He was just getting angry that people in the media were going on TV saying his [first SOTU] ratings were lower than other times,” that former official said.
