It should be remembered that last spring theĀ New York Post, in endorsing Donald Trump–during the primaries, while there were still other viable candidates in the race–predicted that he would “pivot.” Ā In other words, though his behavior at the time was atrocious, he would at some point in the future start to behave himself, act more dignified and presidential. Ā Then, when he actually got the nomination, the Republican party leaders, while announcing their support of him, started trying to give him some remedial coaching, as if his problem were that he didn’t know how to run for office and needed to be taught.
I have to confess, from the point of view of someone who is virulently anti-Trump and horrified that there’s a possibility he’ll become our president, that I start to get really anxious every time a couple of weeks in a row go by when Trump doesn’t do anything grossly outrageous. Ā I start to think, maybe he is Ā controlling himself now, maybe he is letting the party coach him, and maybe he will persuade enough people to put him into the White House, which of course I regard as a total disaster no matter how many days in a row he can go without shooting off his mouth. Ā But the good behavior, such as it is, never lasts long, as we’re seeing this week.
I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, if you were running for a high office and if you had a team of expert advisers at your beck and call, wouldn’t you consider it the most basic common sense–truly the most basic common sense–that you would not, under any circumstances, issue a public statement without consulting with those advisers first? Ā And of course sending out a tweet on TwitterĀ is issuing a public statement. Ā What’s more, if you knew that the other party was going to be trying to bait you into having an outburst that would make you look undignified and vicious, wouldn’t you be taking care not to take the bait?
In last Monday night’s debate, Hillary Clinton referred to an episode where he had aĀ called formerĀ Miss Universe winnerĀ Miss Piggy and Miss Housekeeping, and said “Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
So, what did Trump do a few days later, early in the morning? Ā Send out a tweet that included these words: “Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?”
Very presidential, Mr. Trump, very dignified.
And now, a new bombshell has come out, with theĀ New York Times obtaining Ā portions of Trump’s 1995 tax returns from some unknown inside source, and printing them. Ā This has resulted in some more undignified tweets from Trump, including some remarks about the Clintons’ sex lives–precisely what the Republican Party leaders were admonishing him to steer clear of.
Here are some links, and there’s more at the right side of this page on the automated news feed:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-early-tweet-storm-alicia-machado-228947
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-early-tweeting-response-228971
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-tax-records-new-york-times-229012
