ELBAHRAIN.NET Even by his haywire standards, Donald Trump’s latest rhetoric and behavior is erratic, autocratic and vulgar and hints at four years of unpredictable leadership that may lie ahead if he’s elected president in 15 days.
Vice President Kamala Harris and top Democrats are seizing on the Republican nominee’s bizarre antics to inject new urgency and a sharper focus into her campaign, arguing he “demeans” the presidency and is “deranged.” As Trump cancels one-on-one interviews and piles up odd public appearances, Democrats are suggesting that he is “unstable” and showing cognitive decline, using the same critique he once used against President Joe Biden. The Harris campaign, for example, immediately highlighted the 78-year-old Trump saying on Sunday that he’s “not that close to 80” when calling for cognitive tests.
The former president this weekend described Harris as a “sh*t” vice president, opened a rally with a rambling and explicit story about late golfing legend Arnold Palmer’s anatomy, and justified his previous threat to use the military on enemies “from within” even as House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump meant nothing of the sort.
With polls deadlocked, Trump’s behavior hasn’t yet disqualified him. And he consistently leads surveys when voters are asked who they most trust to manage high prices for housing and groceries and to handle immigration.
The White House failed to neutralize both those issues politically, paving the way for their potency in the 2024 campaign. Officials repeatedly insisted that rising inflation early in the Biden term was “transitory” and that the economy was healthy even when millions of Americans were hurting. Similarly, administration spokespeople were long reluctant to consider rising numbers of border crossings as a “crisis” even though the asylum system was overwhelmed. Migrant crossings and inflation have both fallen considerably from their peaks, but the political damage may have been done. And Trump’s voters still regard him as a vessel for their frustration with a political and economic system they believe has poorly served them.
Trump’s behavior underscores stakes of deadlocked election
It will be up to voters to decide how to process Trump’s recent conduct.
The Harris campaign, which began as an attempt to spread joy, is now fully exploiting Trump’s rhetorical rampages.
The vice president told the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC on Sunday that “the president of the United States must set a standard” for this country and the world. “What you see in my opponent, a former president of the United States … demeans the office,” she said. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Saturday claimed in Nebraska that Trump lacked “stamina” to be president and was “far more unfit than he was in 2016. He’s more deranged.”
In Nevada the same day, former President Barack Obama slammed Republicans who make excuses for Trump when he “repeatedly lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, or just insults people, when he calls service members who died in
The most troubling of recent Trump comments are his suggestions that he could use the US military or National Guard against the “enemy from within,” a classic trope of authoritarian leaders. When asked who he meant, Trump has several times cited California Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, and Adam Schiff, who was a key figure in Trump’s first impeachment.
But Johnson insisted on “State of the Union” that Trump was referring specifically to “marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people who are destroying public property and threatening other American citizens,” even when CNN’s Jake Tapper played tape specifically referring to Schiff and Pelosi. And in an interview that aired on Fox’s “MediaBuzz” later Sunday, the ex-president yet again made clear exactly what he meant when he said that “of course” Schiff is an enemy
The ex-president has so polarized the country that he’s created a unique political environment. Liberals and media elites might, for example, view his appearance making fries at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Sunday as a stunt. Walz slammed it as an insult by a tycoon who spent decades “stiffing workers’ pay.” But to Trump supporters, the photo-op could convey authenticity and kinship.
That hold on the GOP base explains why Republicans repeatedly accommodate his crude and anti-democratic conduct. It’s why Johnson’s defended the party nominee on “State of the Union,” which sent particular alarm bells since the speaker may be called upon to play a role in defending constitutional governance in the event of a disputed election.
The McDonald’s logo is displayed at a restaurant in Burbank, California, on July 22, 2024.
battle ‘losers’ or fellow citizens ‘vermin’ or ‘the enemy within.’”
