Clearly he's not used to the kind of scrutiny he's currently receiving. Did he assume that having dispatched 16 Republicans in the primaries, he would be left alone as the presumptive nominee? Heather Digby Parton, writing at Salon, thinks so: (And note that this was written before info came out about Trump's conference call with supporters this afternoon. Read about that here.)
Why
is Donald Trump so out of sorts? Against all odds he managed to win the
Republican nomination against the best and brightest stars from all factions of
the Republican party. He did it without spending nearly as much money as the
rest and without any study or preparation. He dominated the media which
reportedly gave him a couple of billion dollars worth of free airtime. He came
out of the primary five weeks ago on top of the world, ready to take on the
Democrats who were still skirmishing in their primary, divided and at each
others’ throats. It was the perfect time to make that presidential “pivot” from
the primary to the general and start to show non-Republican Americans that he
could be their president too. That didn’t happen.
Instead
we’ve seen Donald Trump do nothing but air his endless grievances, whine about
the press, complain that he’s being cheated, and double down on his dyspeptic
racism, sexism and xenophobia. The more people tell him to cool it the more he
explodes in public. He is the most ungracious winner in American politics. What
gives?
If
one had to guess it’s that he thought that he’d already gotten the hardest hits
he was going to have to take. It seems he believed that because he faced a
large group of GOP heavyweights and had the rapt attention of the press for six
months that he’d passed the crucible and he’d get unquestioning adoration from
here on in.
Unfortunately,
this is where political inexperience and an unwillingness to listen to anyone
but sycophants and the voices in your head creates a problem. The primary was a
cakewalk compared to the general election for a number of reasons, the most
important being that his rivals were all walking on eggshells trying not to
offend his voters. Most of them were also Republican office holders and
professional politicians who have a responsibility to their party and they
generally try not to destroy their own members just in case they become the
nominee. By the time they realized that it might actually be Donald Trump it
was too late. (Read the article here.)
Trump's been getting hammered over the last few days, not just by Hillary but by Republicans as well, specifically because of his comments, which he has refused to disavow, about the Judge hearing the Trump University case. From Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post, in a post titled "Did Donald Trump (Finally) Go Too Far?:"
Witness the reaction to Trump's comments over the past few
days regarding Gonzalo Curiel and the allegation that the judge's Mexican
heritage effectively disqualifies him from offering an unbiased view of a
pending case regarding Trump University.
Unlike even a few months ago when Trump was making offensive
comments, the condemnation from across the spectrum of the Republican party has
been both swift and biting. Newt Gingrich, widely rumored to be a member of
Trump's vice presidential shortlist, called the comment "inexcusable"
and described it as the "worst mistake" Trump has made in the
campaign to date. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a day after he endorsed Trump, said
that he "completely
disagree[d] with the thinking" behind Trump's comment on Curiel.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he "couldn't disagree more
with a statement like that." Maine Sen. Susan Collins tweeted out
her disapproval Monday morning.
… So what, you say? Lots of Republicans have called out
Trump before for things he said — and it helped him! And Clinton attacking
Trump is nothing but good for Trump as he tries to unite the GOP! I'm not so
sure. As I noted above, I think the number of Republicans condemning Trump and
the language they are using to do it is qualitatively different than in the
past. I also think Trump's circumstances have changed markedly since he made
most of his most famous/infamous comments. (Read the article here.)
Digby Parton finishes with this:
He
is a racist, sexist bigot. But his behavior points to something else as well.
He’s throwing up whatever distractions he can to muddy the waters about this
Trump University issue. And he’s fraying around the edges as people begin to
look more closely at all of his business ventures, many of which seem to be
similar scams, like Trump Mortgage and this multi-level marketing scheme, ACN.
It
appears that Donald Trump agreed to sell his name to just about anyone who
asked him, no matter how cheap or fraudulent. Why would he do that? Perhaps the
question he really doesn’t want to have to answer is, “does it make any sense
that a billionaire would be involved with a series of tawdry, snake oil
con games?” It looks like he’ll say anything to misdirect the press and
keep them from asking it.
The whole Trump phenomenon is looking different today and I find myself wondering if at some point he just walks away. Maybe to preempt further scrutiny of his business dealings, maybe because he doesn't want to be labeled an official Loser by losing the election, or maybe because at some point all of this will stop being fun. Maybe all of the above. It doesn't get mentioned very often but Trump turns 70 a week from tomorrow and running for president is really, really hard work. Today Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee. Will that still be the case on Election Day? As of right now, I'd say "possibly not."
Days until Election Day: 154
1 comment:
I think he has always been losing it every since he started running for the presidency. I don't understand how people actually think he would make a good leader.
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