Donald Trump declined to take part in a sit-down interview with "60 Minutes" in an apparent dispute over fact-checking, but MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire said his refusal actually hints at growing strife inside his re-election campaign.
Kamala Harris sat down with the CBS News program, as every major party candidate has done since its launch in 1968, while correspondent Scott Pelley told viewers that Trump's campaign objected to real-time fact-checks and demanded an apology from correspondent Leslie Stahl for pushing back on his claims four years ago about Hunter Biden's laptop.
"Last night, as I was watching this, I started asking, like, what's going on, man?" said "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough. "I've heard from people inside his campaign. I know you have, too, though they're very careful, a real frustration. They have no idea what this guy is going to do.
"He doesn't do the things he should do to win, and they can't control him at all. What are you hearing? Is there an understanding on his part that he is no longer up to sitting for serious interviews where people challenge him? Is his age, as Peter Baker wrote in the New York Times [Sunday], really preventing him from doing serious interviews? The debate, not doing the debate – really, I'm dumbfounded. This is just not the behavior of somebody who wants to win an election."
Harris has drawn criticism for not doing many interviews, but Lemire said she's ramping up her media schedule as Trump recedes to his rallies.
"She sat for '60 Minutes,' today she's with 'The View,' Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert — she's ramping up her own media appearances," Lemire said. "She's been consistent, saying, 'Hey, I want a second debate with Donald Trump, Trump is the one who said no to the debate and Trump said no to '60 Minutes.'
"There are a couple of things at play here. First of all, we heard J.D. Vance in the vice presidential debate being upset, saying to moderators, 'Wait, I thought you weren't going to fact-check me,' when they did even modestly because he was lying about something. Of course, now Trump did not want to submit himself to the fact-checking last night."
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"This is something his aides have grown more and more frustrated with, their inability to steer him," Lemire continued. "People watching this will say, no one can ever control Donald Trump, and that's largely true. There were moments when Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, those running the campaign, instilled messaging through Trump — this is what we want to talk about this election. That was much more effective when the opponent was President [Joe] Biden versus Vice President Harris. Now it's gone.
"Trump only says what he wants, he only sits for friendly interviews. I was talking to a Republican over the weekend saying, 'If he'd talk about the economy every day,' and even though the metrics are still good but Americans don't feel it, they were like, 'If he talked about the economy every day, we'd win.' But he can't and he won't."
"He wants to relitigate past grievances with Leslie Stahl," Lemire added. "He wants to say, you know, racist things about migrants. He wants to just fight, and they can't keep him on message. Right now, there's a refusal for him to be challenged whatsoever, both in interviews and, I'm told, and I think Joe's heard this as well, even by his aides. He won't listen to them anymore, he does only what he wants to do."
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