Six days before the midterm election, more than two dozen of President Trump’s senior strategists joined a private video call to discuss the campaign’s prospects. The mood was bleak, and the conversation opened with a joke about cyanide, according to the account provided.
Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s chief pollster, asked whether the group wanted the “white pill” or the “black pill” first. Republican data consultant Tim Saler then outlined two possible outcomes. In the more optimistic scenario, he said, the MAGA Inc. super PAC’s $400 million operation was reaching the voters it had expected to turn out. The alternative, he warned, was a wipeout.
James Blair, who had left the White House to manage Trump’s midterm strategy, joked that he was getting his affairs in order and advised the others to do the same. The call continued for about 30 minutes with dark humor about funeral plans, prison food, presidential pardons and leaving the country, according to four people who participated.
Blair also sarcastically remarked that Benjamin Netanyahu would protect the group after the Israeli election. Netanyahu’s bloc had fallen short of a majority, and his party later claimed the election had been stolen.
Sources: The New York Times Politics.