Former President Donald Trump won't brook with any complaints that he's reading too angry — even as campaign insiders express panic it could torpedo his campaign.
The Republican nominee Thursday afternoon issued a lengthy Truth Social commentary defending his wrathful demeanor during the first presidential debate to pit Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
"I won the Debate, but was criticized by the Radical Left Lunatics because I looked 'angry and forceful,'" Trump wrote. "But think, why wouldn’t I be angry? I love the U.S.A., and it is being destroyed by grossly incompetent leadership."
Trump delivered this missive even as swing state voters, Fox News anchors and even a clinical psychiatrist expressed their concerns over the bitter responses he delivered during the ABC News-hosted debate Tuesday night.
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Before the debate, Trump insiders reportedly said they feared his presidential reelection campaign might depend on a successful performance and hoped Trump would prove able to limit his answers to policy instead of personal attacks.
"Trump’s campaign is most concerned ... with the former president’s mood," sources told the Guardian. "The campaign’s internal refrain is whether they get 'happy Trump' or 'angry Trump.''"
Instead, Trump complained that the size of his rallies had been misreported and echoed a false and repeatedly debunked claim, platformed by his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating pets.
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Trump on Thursday repeated another questionable anti-immigrant claim, that foreign prison and mental institution residents have been flocking into the U.S., to lambast Harris' smile.
"Am I supposed to be smiling, like Comrade Kamala Harris, with her FAKE one-and-a-half hour smile and long practiced facial expressions, despite all of the problems that she and Crooked Joe have caused," Trump wrote.
"No," Trump concluded, "there’s nothing to smile about."
