Donald Trump’s loyal media propagandists, sensing that the election may be slipping away, have been begging the former president to “focus on the issues” and be “disciplined” rather than getting “off on tangents” and making personal attacks. The message apparently isn’t getting through — Trump spent the weekend spinning a conspiracy theory about Vice President Kamala Harris using AI to fake the crowds at her rallies and mocking Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) weight.

Trump just experienced “the worst three weeks” of his 2024 campaign, as Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and rocketed to the lead in national and swing state polls, The New York Times reported Saturday. His response has been unmoored, featuring racist attacks on Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, for purportedly having “turn[ed] black” in recent years.

The former president’s campaign supporters are reportedly flummoxed by his apparent inability to respond to changing circumstances by maintaining a disciplined campaign. The Times described donors as “rattled” by his inability to pivot from racist demagoguery at a recent event, while Axios reported that his advisers “are deeply rattled by his meandering, mean and often middling public performances.”

Trump’s unhinged temperament and his predilection for racist invective were well-documented throughout his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and his presidency, making it puzzling how his avowed financial and campaign supporters are apparently caught off-guard by such behavior this late in his third run.

Trump’s Fox News propagandists are similarly voicing their hope that the 78-year-old former president will suddenly adopt a different, more politically adept personality. 

You can hear the desperation creep in during a recent exchange between Sean Hannity, the Trump political operative and Fox prime-time host, and Outkick personality Tomi Lahren.

“Will the Trump campaign be able to bypass this media that's in the tank for Kamala?” Hannity asked Lahren during the August 2 segment. 

“They can but they have to stay on message,” Lahren replied. “I’ve told you this for so long, Sean, but Donald Trump in some ways can be his own worst enemy. So stay on track, hit her with her policies first and make that your sole message and they can get around it with the Trump campaign. They’re smart enough, they just have to maybe have a little bit of discipline for the next few months.”

“I would agree,” Hannity responded. “No more talk about religion. I wouldn’t be talking about nationality or background. I would be talking about Kamala in her own words.”

Hannity and Lahren aren’t the only ones who seem to be all but trying to reach through the television screen and shake Trump into coherence. Their colleagues repeated the message all last week.

Trump “was very disciplined leading up to the convention, he should go back to that place,” co-host Katie Pavlich offered on The Five.

The election “hinges on whether Donald Trump can stay on message,” contributor Victor Davis Hanson told Laura Ingraham. “If he gets off on these tangents, I’m worried.” 

Trump “has to be disciplined,” Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones stressed. 

“All you have to do is put the right speech together, have these interviews, and he’ll begin to creep up,” his colleague Brian Kilmeade added. “Donald Trump needs to focus on the issues,” Ainsley Earhardt chimed in.

And when Trump even hints at sticking to an issues-based message, they’re striving to encourage him with praise.

“He said at one point, it's not about her, it's about her policies, and that seems to be his strategy going forward,” Jesse Watters said on The Five following a press conference in which Trump offered 162 lies and distortions, according to an NPR fact-check.

“I think that's a smart strategy, Jesse,” Greg Gutfeld responded.

“It is,” Watters added.

These people are either faking their belief that Trump is capable of becoming more disciplined, or they are totally delusional.

The Trump who spoke at a Friday night rally in Montana was not interested in sticking to the issues. He attacked Tester’s weight, Harris’ intelligence, and called New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman “Maggot Hag."

Meanwhile, on his Truth Social platform, he is promoting election denial and utterly deranged conspiracy theories.

The right is caught in the same trap that has characterized the last eight years. Republican politicians, right-wing pundits, and corporate fat cats want Trump to get elected so he can implement their preferred agenda of passing huge tax cuts for the rich, dismantling access to abortion, and slashing spending on safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

But Trump is, and will always be, a terrible vehicle for their ambitions. He’s a racist, nakedly corrupt would-be autocrat who walks the line between pathological liar and deluded fool. And crucially, as he told the horrified donors at an event chronicled by the Times, he has no interest in changing: “I am who I am.”