Donald Trump isn’t in Chicago but his presence hangs over everything and he is clearly following events here.
A couple of aides told me, a little implausibly, that the former president is not tuning into the Democratic National Convention because he has no interest in watching a Democratic Party “infomercial”.
But one senior campaign official confirms, anonymously, that Trump is watching and is irritated by the attacks against him.
In the view of one ally who speaks to the former president every week, Trump wins in November if he sticks to talking about the economy, the border and crime.
At the start of this week, that looked possible. Trump scheduled a string of rallies, in Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona – each was themed to focus on exactly those political and economic topics.
But with night after night of anti-Trump speeches here in Chicago, staying on message has gone out the window. And it’s not what his supporters tell him they want anyway.
The North Carolina event on Wednesday was vintage Trump – and it became a referendum on his own team’s strategy. “They always say, ‘Sir, please stick to policy, don’t get personal’… and yet [the Democrats are] getting personal all night long, these people. Do I still have to stick to policy?” Trump asked.
Then he polled the crowd: more policy or go personal? His fans roared, they wanted the Trump show, not a list of boring economic proposals. “My advisers are fired!” he joked. Then he said he’d stick to policy but couldn’t let the attacks go unanswered.
