Donald Trump has said the "shackles" are off him to fight for America the way he wants to, and now he has literally gone off teleprompter, dismantling his defective ones during a stump speech Friday night in Charlotte, N.C.
"By the way these teleprompters haven't been working for the last 20 minutes," Trump told his supporters. "And I actually like my speech better without teleprompters."
Trump then walked over to one and it fell apart.
The Trump campaign had been criticized this summer for becoming "unhinged" and "going off prompter," but the self-proclaimed comeback candidate spoke to that criticism amid his tumultuous week where he has absorbed sexual assault allegations from a growing list of women.
"I like it much better without the teleprompter," Trump said Friday night. "You know, it's very funny. I went through 17 very professional politicians [in the Republican primary], top people, and I went without any teleprompters.
"Then they said, 'Well, now, you're running in the election. You need teleprompters,' And I like teleprompters; they're fine, but it's sort of cooler without it, right? Don't ya think?"
Trump then ripped Hillary Clinton for staying on prompter in her speeches, "And it's short and then she goes home and goes to sleep."
"The last time she prepped for the debate, and let's face it, I really beat here easily," Trump continued, before walking over to his second malfunctioning teleprompter to his left, taking it apart, and setting it beside the podium.
"So here's the story: Here's the way I work; here's the way government works," Trump resumed. "The teleprompter's a bummer. It doesn't work. That means the company doing the teleprompter is in the back. That means they didn't do a good job. So, I won't pay them. I won't pay them.
"And tomorrow, I'll have a story in the newspaper, 'Donald Trump did not pay a contractor who put up the teleprompters. Well, why should I? They don't work.
"No, it's true. It's true. And they'll make me like a bad guy, like I am a bad person."
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