108 Comments

Being back on X could be the biggest present he gives to the Dems (other than picking Vance for VP). The more visible he is the more weird he seems.

Expand full comment

About Trump's "stemwinder" speech in Montana that went on for more than an hour and a half: From what I could judge from the live feed, folks at the event had to wait about 9 hours before he appeared. During that time there were sporadic speeches from lesser dignataries and random rock videos including Elton John as the Pinball Wizard in the movie Tommy.

Expand full comment

"For a hamburger today, I will gladly pay you next Tuesday..." Just one? I say give the man 100....

Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13

Great article- thanks

Expand full comment

Campaign resets almost never work, because they are almost always necessitated by the same problem--a bad candidate. Trump is a bad candidate, even worse than he was in 2016 or 2020, and he's obviously not getting better.

If Trump's campaign is to be saved, it will have to be something external that saves him, like a stock market crash or some other calamity that can be tied to Harris as part of the current administration.

Expand full comment

That’s a great point. It explains why the GOP reset is doomed and why the Democratic reset is thus far a remarkable success.

Expand full comment

"...one Trump adviser said of his decision to start posting Monday on X. 'This is his campaign. We work for him. He sets the message'.”

That's not an advisor, it's a sycophant. An advisor with a spine would be telling that spoiled brat: "You say what I tell you to say or I'll find someone more reasonable to advise."

Expand full comment

Also maybe a CYA-er... .

Expand full comment

"...incapable and unwilling of staying tightly on message."

He is 100% capable, just unwilling. He's incapable of flying like a bird, but fully capable of walking on hot coals. Though the latter would be almost as painful to him as telling the truth and taking responsibility.

Expand full comment

My son and I read this book series called Dog Man. It's about a police officer with the body of a man and the head of a dog. It's actually very funny.

Any way, Dog Man is a good police officer, but in one episode, the crooks discovered his weakness. If they produced a ball, Dog Man couldn't resist chasing it, and they would get away. That's Trump. Forever chasing the ball.

Expand full comment

Taking him off Twitter was good for Turmp, almost no one paid attention to his insane posts anymore and he came across downright normal to the general public. If he starts Tweeting again it will be good for the Dems since it will remind voters who don't closely follow politics how crazy Trump is.

Expand full comment

The only people who I saw who re-posted his Social rants were reporters.

Would explain why he never need to go back to twitter---news orgs always gave him oxygen.

Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13

You are right. I thought it was a good thing when he was banned, because I thought his poison needed to be removed from the public square. But as it turns out, many Americans have the memories of goldfish, and seemed to forget how unfit he was.

Lately Trump has been reminding people how unfit he is, and X will be a great vehicle for reminding more people of that fact.

Expand full comment

Please stop calling them falsehoods. They are lies.

Expand full comment

They're both, but falsehoods become lies when it's clear that the person knows they are demonstrably false, but says them anyway to deceive others. And that's certainly the case here.

Expand full comment

"...the message is often strange, nonlinear and, at times, incoherent."

Uhm... "At times"... Seriously?

Expand full comment

What a Sh** show. Fuddle Trump and Fiddle Musk. I did not stay up to watch or listen. It was 3am in Spain. Yet, I have read about 20 reviews and they all pretty much say the same thing. It was a disaster. It was typical Trump. This election is certainly turning….

Expand full comment

CFT is the gift (to the Harris campaign) that keeps on giving.

The man literally has zero self-discipline, which is unsurprising given his personal history.

And a lot of people are simply just tired of his crap.

Expand full comment

That's his biggest issue: a majority of the electorate simply getting sick of him and wanting him to go away. It's already a gigantic problem. And he's going to make the problem much, much worse.

Expand full comment

Oh, my.

You may despise them, but you also have to feel sorry for his campaign staff.

Expand full comment

Oh hell no. They are every bit as culpable as the orange man himself. Enablers hiding behind ‘just doing their job’.

Expand full comment

No sympathy. I hadn't realized until the attempt to smear Walz, that La Cevita was behind the Kerry swiftboat defamation. Not one drop of pity if he is suffering.

Expand full comment

They are despicable, evil people. I hope they all are shamed for the rest of their lives. Will that do? Also, their dogs are ashamed of them.

Expand full comment

Why? They signed up. They own this. They are parcel and part of the disaster. Fuddle Trump and Fiddle Musk…

Expand full comment

no. they knew exactly what they were getting involved with. these are professional political operatives. they see him even more clearly than we do (hard to believe), and still sign onto his campaign! they may be regretting their choice, but they are the ones, with all the available information, and personal interactions with him, who attempt to enable his campaign with their expertise. a pox on all their houses!

Expand full comment

They literally do NOT have to do that job, so no I do not feel sorry for them at all. They literally do NOT have to work to elect that absolute PoS of a human being. I might actually respect them for NOT doing so.

His lawyers don't have to work for him either, but that can't resist being sucked into the shitshow.

Expand full comment

The MSM is still a diseased estate, treating this weirdo as anything other than a lecherous liar is malpractice,

Expand full comment

"MSM...a diseased estate".

Sadly true.

Especially some of the folks at CNN.

Expand full comment

Wow that interview makes him sound so old and awful. Heck of a lisp

Expand full comment

My theory is: ill-fitting dentures. He is too vain to go get them redone (and too worried about the visit to the dentist leaking).

Expand full comment

I'd hate to be that staffer you wrote about awhile ago, trump's walking personal printer... The positive news articles that she's supposed to feed to Trump must be getting hard to find these days...

Expand full comment

If she had any self respect she would quit.

Expand full comment

Wouldn't they all?

Expand full comment