Trump’s team has used exhaustion as an excuse for canceling interviews down the home stretch of the campaign, Politico reports
Politico reported on Friday that Trump’s team told The Shade Room — a podcast popular with young, Black listeners that the campaign had been talking to for weeks about setting up an interview before backing out — that Trump was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change.”

Politico adds that the campaign offered up Trump-loving rapper Waka Flocka Flame as a replacement.

Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied the report in typical fashion. “President Trump is running laps around Kamala Harris on the campaign trail,” Leavitt said in a statement to Politico. “And has done media interviews every day this week. He has more energy and a harder work ethic than anyone in politics.”

Trump is indeed still doing interviews and maintaining a busy schedule, but he’s showing signs of mental wear and tear that aren’t evident in Harris. He routinely gives meandering, unrelated responses to questions about his plans for the nation, while frequently flubbing his words and getting basic facts wrong (earlier this week he told supporters to make sure to get out and vote in January). At a town hall in Pennsylvania, Trump only answered a few questions before opting to play music videos to the crowd as he swayed onstage for nearly an hour.

“Let’s not do any more questions,” Trump said. “Let’s just listen to music.”