NYT senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman, who has spent years covering former President Trump, discusses his behavior on the campaign trail, including his need to respond to every slight, even when it damages his appeal to voters. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Dave Davies.
There are 47 days left in a presidential campaign that's had more jolting developments than most of us have seen in any presidential campaign in our lifetimes.
The first debate resulted in President Joe Biden withdrawing from the race, replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris just weeks before the Democratic National Convention.
There have been two apparent assassination attempts against republican candidate and former President Donald Trump.
And weve seen more states seemingly come into play in this relentlessly contentious campaign that promises to be close and hard hitting to the end.
To provide some perspective on all this, were joined by New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Habermande.
Shes covered five presidential elections and shared a Pulitzer Prize for the Times reporting of Trump advisors and their connections to Russia in 2018.
She was last on fresh air in 2022 to talk about her bestselling book, Confidence, the making of Donald Trump, and the breaking of America.
Weve invited her back to discuss the remarkable twists and turns in the campaign, some generated by Trumps provocative and at times false assertions, and about criticism leveled at the media for its coverage of Trump.
I'll note that we recorded our conversation yesterday.
Well, Maggie Haberman, welcome back to Fresh Air.
You know, I recall that when we spoke in 2022, we ended our conversation by talking about the level of bitterness in american political discourse these days, how political identity is increasingly defined by who you hate and who hates you.
And you note that.
But this happened before Trump's appearance as a candidate.