Trump's Goat Is Officially Gotten
Donald Trump does not like to be criticized. He likes it even less from someone who really knows how to push his buttons. Even worse is if it's a woman, and still worse than that is if it's a woman of color. There was no question he'd see Michelle Obama's Monday night address, and that it would infuriate him. The only question is whether he would give her the satisfaction of reacting publicly. And being who he is, it was not the least bit surprising when he went on a Tuesday morning Twitter jag, composed of a dozen or so Tweets. The "highlight":
DonaldTrump
@realDonaldTrump
Looking back into history, the response by the ObamaBiden team to the H1N1 Swine Flu was considered a weak and pathetic one. Check out the polling, it’s really bad. The big difference is that they got a free pass from the Corrupt Fake News Media!
Later in the day, Trump mocked the fact that the video was clearly pre-taped, as the death total noted by the former first lady was far too low.
It really should go without saying that drawing attention to H1N1 is politically unwise, because even the most uninformed voter will notice that they cannot remember an occasion during the Obama presidency where the nation (partly) shut down, and 170,000-plus people died. That is rather indicative that Team Obama was more effective than Team Trump, not less so. Even worse is crowing about Michelle Obama's fatality figure being too low. That's like saying: "Ha! She said I went bankrupt three times! Doesn't she know it's six?" or saying "Michelle Obama claimed that I am accused of sexual misconduct with 15 women. Shows what she knows—it's actually 25. Dummy!"
In short, lashing out like this may make Trump feel better personally, but it can only hurt him politically. And this is a dimension of the campaign worth keeping an eye on. During the 2016 campaign, there weren't all that many prominent Democrats willing or able to goad Trump into temper tantrums. Maybe Bernie Sanders or Bill Clinton, but Hillary Clinton largely refrained because she knows that some voters don't like so-called "nasty" women, and the Obamas refrained because as sitting president and first lady, they were expected to be above the fray.
If Trump can't bite his tongue—and you know full well he can't—then he might be manipulated into shooting himself in the foot multiple times in the next 80 days.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2020/Pres/Maps/Aug19.html#item-2
Keep tweetin', little boy, keeeeeep tweetin'!
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