The hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America said they were “shocked” by how dark Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric was in the final 48 hours before Election Day.
Trump has said, among other things, that he should not have left the White House in 2021 and accused Democrats of “cheating” in elections.
George Stephanopoulos compared how Trump and Kamala Harris addressed voters on the stump and professed his belief that the most “hopeful” candidate usually wins.
“One thing that’s been pretty consistent over the last week is that we’ve seen the message from Donald Trump — pretty dark, pretty pessimistic,” Stephanopoulos said on the Monday morning panel.
‘On the last day, Kamala Harris appears much more hopeful and optimistic. A fundamental principle of modern American politics: the more hopeful, optimistic candidate wins. If Donald Trump brings this up, it will be a real test.”
Pictured: A panel of five on Good Morning America on Monday discussed the state of the race and concluded that Donald Trump is on a path of negativity
Former President Donald Trump is pictured at a rally in Macon, Georgia, on Sunday. Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020 with 12,670 votes
ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl also appeared on the panel, and even he, who has covered Trump for years, said he was “shocked” by some of the things he heard from the former president.
“Donald Trump has become incredibly dark, even in ways that have honestly shocked me. When he said yesterday – raised the idea of shooting through reporters and he wouldn’t mind – we have reached a new level,” Karl said.
He was referring to Trump’s tirade at a rally in Pennsylvania, which included a joke about an assassin having to shoot through reporters to get him.
“To get me, someone would have to go through the fake news, and I don’t mind that — I don’t mind that,” he said, chuckling.
One of Karl’s main conclusions was that the campaign from both sides was ‘intensely negative’ in tone.
“It will test so much of what we think we know about politics if Trump wins, both that and in terms of the ground game,” Karl said. “Look, this has been an intensely negative campaign all around. It’s the “end of democracy” versus “the end of our country as we know it.”
Jonathan Karl, pictured, shared some insights about his Sunday phone call with Trump with the panel. They discussed the state of the race, Trump’s message and whether or not he thinks he could lose
George Stephanopoulos called Vice President Kamala Harris the more hopeful, optimistic candidate compared to Trump
Karl also shared some insights from his Sunday phone call with Trump, where the two talked about how the campaign was going.
“I spoke to him early, his voice sounded tired, a little scratchy, he has an incredibly full campaign schedule,” he said, adding that Trump said he thinks he’s “taking the lead everywhere.”
Karl said Trump had not seen the latest New York Times poll, which found him trailing Harris in four critical swing states: Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
That poll also showed Trump with a lead in Arizona, while the two were tied in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“But he acknowledged something to me that I’ve never heard him acknowledge before,” Karl said. “I asked him, ‘Is there any way you can lose?’ And he said, “Yes, I think you might lose. Bad things might happen.”
According to Karl, Trump responded angrily to his advisers, some of whom said he had failed to emphasize key issues of the campaign in his speeches.
“The other thing is that he took issue with the idea that he wasn’t aware of the message, which some of his top advisers are concerned about. He was all over the map in his speeches, with a lot of negativity, and did not focus on the key economic issues that they think he should be focused on,” Karl said.
Trump reportedly told Karl that all he does is tap into what he calls “the fabric,” and that’s when he goes off on tangents but ultimately brings it back to the topic at hand.
“He told me that the fabric elected me president, and yesterday we saw that it continued,” Karl said.
While Stephanopoulos agreed with much of Karl’s reporting, he played devil’s advocate and said there could be a reason why Trump has been using high-profile rhetoric in recent days.
Another panelist pointed out that Trump is probably most concerned about North Carolina because he visits it so often (Trump is pictured at a rally on Sunday in Kinston, North Carolina)
Stephanopoulos played devil’s advocate, saying there is “some strategy” in playing to the most fervent political base.
“We just heard Jon [Karl] “I’m saying this is not exactly what the campaign wants Donald Trump to do, but there is a strategy behind it: trying to drive out angry young men,” Stephanopoulos said.
Rachel Scott, another ABC correspondent, agreed, pointing to the fact that Trump has been on a podcast blitz in recent months, a medium the campaign believed was more likely to be enjoyed by young men.
Scott also said Trump could be most concerned about North Carolina, as he pledged Saturday to visit the state every day until Election Day.
North Carolina was the only swing state that Trump won in both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
According to the New York Times poll, Harris defeated Trump in the state by two percentage points, although this was well within the margin of error.
A Morning Consult poll showed Trump ahead by two points, although that result was also within the margin of error.
The final DailyMail.com/JL Partners national poll before Election Day showed Trump overtaking Harris nationally by three percentage points.
The poll of 1,000 likely voters, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent, shows Trump trending upward, with support at 49 percent to Harris’ 46 percent.