Trump has falsely insinuated that Scarborough was involved in the death of a staffer in 2001, at a time when the anchor was a Republican congressman from Florida.
The deceased woman, Lori Klausutis, was 28 when she died after collapsing, apparently as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition, and striking her head.
Despite that, Trump has continued to raise the issue. On Wednesday morning, he tweeted again about “Psycho Joe Scarborough” purportedly being “rattled” by “all of the things and facts that are coming out.”
A Republican strategist with ties to the White House was among those who expressed concern.
“It really feels out of place and extremely inappropriate for what we are dealing with as a country,” this strategist told The Hill.
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The Scarborough attacks are seen by some as an attempt to divert public attention from the coronavirus crisis.
Trump has intensified his attacks and smears on Scarborough just as the deaths in the United States from COVID-19 reach 100,000. More than 38 million people have filed new unemployment claims since the crisis began. The unemployment rate is now 14.7 percent, significantly above its worst levels during the Great Recession a decade ago.
Those problems are compounded by a slide in the opinion polls for the president. Not only is Trump trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
Joe Biden in head-to-head polls, but there is also concern in Trump’s orbit about voters’ views of the country’s direction.
A new Economist-YouGov poll released Wednesday showed just 31 percent of Americans believing the nation was on the right track, compared to 60 percent who believe it is on the wrong track. Even some longtime Trump allies believe those kinds of numbers pose a real problem for an incumbent president seeking reelection.
But even if Trump is using the Scarborough matter as a self-ignited fire to distract from other problems, there are real questions as to how effective that could be.
“I’ve no doubt he is under a lot of pressure,” said Conant. “I can’t speak to his psychology. I don’t know how he reacts to that. But if I were giving him advice, I would tell him to focus 100 percent on the economy and the pandemic and leave Twitter to the trolls.”
Others in Trump World worry that the president is retreating back into a comfort world of Twitter fights and television feuds because the challenges facing him seem so overwhelming.
