‘He’s Panicking’: Ex-Trump Senior Aide Says Trump’s Press Conference Shows ‘He Thinks His Team is Failing’

Former President Donald Trump announced a surprise 2 PM “general news conference” on social media, which at least one notable voice experienced in Trump’s communications strategy to see as evidence of his “panicking.”

Stephanie Grisham is the former White House Communications Director — and Press Secretary — under Trump. Since leaving the Trump administration, she has become an openly critical voice of the 45th president and Republican nominee in the 2024 general election. And in her opinion, Trump’s sudden call for a press conference shows “He’s panicking.”

“Re: Trump’s self-announced press conference today at 2 pm: He’s panicking. I’ve seen this play many times.,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “He thinks his team is failing him & no one can speak better/“save” his campaign/defend him but him. He hates the coverage Harris is getting & thinks only he can fix it.”

Grisham has been a vocal critic of Trump since leaving his administration, but that should not take away from her real-life experience with the former president when it comes to addressing the media at a time when he wants to change a narrative.

And…changing the narrative in today’s political media landscape appears to be a priority for Trump, as his once sizeable lead over his political rival has disappeared in the past 18 days since Vice President Kamala Harris became the likely, then presumptive, Democratic nominee for president.

Of course, Trump’s appearance before assembled reporters will serve another political purpose: to shine a spotlight on criticism that Harris has not taken any questions from the press or sat for an interview in the week and a half since she became the nominee.