'Frantic calls from Trumpworld': CNN reporter says campaign wasn't prepared for curveball

Former President Donald Trump's team was caught unawares this week by a recent turn in the campaign and have no idea how to respond, a CNN analyst said Thursday.

Calls for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race caught an unprepared Trump campaign completely by surprise, reporter Alayna Treene told anchor Pamela Brown Thursday afternoon.

"There's a lot of discussion behind the scenes about how to deal with this," Treene said. "They really are uncertain about how to move forward."

Treene argues this is why Trump has recently ramped up attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris as was seen in a recent foulmouthed campaign ad that relied on hot mic footage.

According to Treene's theory, Trump's campaign wasn't prepared to attack anyone but Biden.

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"They have spent months, over a year, really, building out their general campaign infrastructure mining, data, honing their data operation, and the money," Treene said. "All of that [was] geared toward a single person, going against Joe Biden."

Treene said the campaign has been trying to keep Trump quiet to allow the media to focus on Biden's mental health, but that hasn't stopped the former president from insulting journalists and political foes on the Fourth of July.

Nor could he resist the urge to promote calls that his outspoken critic Liz Cheney face a "televised military tribunal."

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The strange state of affairs has the campaign confused, said Treene.

"I got frantic calls from all corners of Trumpworld on Monday afternoon asking 'What's going to happen?'" Treene said. "They're trying to look now behind the scenes about how that may have to change for their own campaign."

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