Last week Donald Trump had his moment in the spotlight in Cleveland. By almost all accounts, it was an unmitigated disaster – although the candidate is still trying to claim that it was a historic success. But now the tables have turned and it is Hillary Clinton’s moment. The Democrats are showing the world how political conventions are handled competently.
Trump’s enormous ego demands center stage all the time. This morning his press conference was full of outrageous blather that is designed to make that happen – even if it includes a request for a foreign adversary to spy on our country’s State Department. This is exactly the kind of behavior we saw from him during the Republican primary. It indicates that the message coming out of the Democratic Convention is hitting it’s mark and getting under his skin.
As I’ve been saying all along, I refuse to take anything Trump says about policy positions seriously. But here are a few of the other things he said this morning that indicate he’s feeling threatened and is lashing out incoherently in response:
* When NBC’s Katy Tur pressed him with a follow-up question, he told her to “Be quiet.”
Tur asked Trump whether he has “any qualms about asking a foreign government … to hack into a system of anybody’s in this country” after Trump said he hoped Russia would find more emails from Hillary Clinton or the DNC.
“Hey, you know what gives me more pause, that a person in our government, crooked Hillary Clinton — here’s what gives me more pause,” Trump said, as Tur tried to ask follow-ups. “Be quiet, I know you want to, you know, save her.
* He said that Clinton is a security risk because her long-time aid Huma Abedin is married to Anthony Weiner.
“Her No. 1 person, Huma Abedin, is married to Anthony Weiner, who’s a sleazeball and pervert,” Trump said, referring to the former New York congressman’s repeated scandals over lewd texts and direct Twitter messages he sent to other women.
“I’m not saying that, that’s recorded history,” Trump continued. “I don’t like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets.”
* He spouted more pro-Putin foreign policy nonsense.
Donald Trump said Wednesday he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and lifting the sanctions against the country if he’s elected president.
* He had this to say about our current president:
President Barack Obama “has been the most ignorant president in our history,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
* Finally, he revealed that he hasn’t even taken the time to absorb who his competitor in this race chose as her running mate.
Donald Trump wants Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine to know he’s not very popular in New Jersey—a state Kaine’s never governed.
During a press conference Wednesday Trump seemed to confuse Kaine, the former governor and current senator from Virginia, with former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean.
The Republican nominee had to be corrected by reporters at his Doral, Florida property as he started on a tear against Kaine.
These are the unhinged rantings of a narcissist who is reacting to having his dominance challenged. My advice to the Democrats would be to notice what’s going on and keep it up.
