This is the single most remarkable thing I have read about Donald Trump in a very long time

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is the single most remarkable thing I have read about Donald Trump in a very long time

By Chris Cillizza
http://twitter.com/thefix

September 29 at 8:47 AM

I've spent the past 20 months or so covering the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. By now, I thought I had heard it all — from his penchant for insults and bullying to his decidedly unorthodox campaign style. I didn't know it was possible for me to be shocked by anything he said or did in the context of this presidential campaign. ... Then I read this paragraph in a terrific New York Times story headlined "New Debate Strategy for Donald Trump: Practice, Practice, Practice" (the bolding is mine):

The team had primed Mr. Trump to look for roughly a dozen key phrases and expressions Mrs. Clinton uses when she is uncertain or uncomfortable, but he did not seem to pay attention during the practice sessions, one aide said, and failed to home in on her vulnerabilities during the debate.

Now. Go back and read that sentence again. Done? Read it once more. It's that important.

Donald Trump is one of two people who will be president next January. (Sorry Gary Johnson!) Monday night was, inarguably, the most important day of the general election campaign to date. Every person in politics — and not — had circled the first debate as a major moment in the campaign, Trump's best chance to fight back against the narrative that he lacks the policy chops and the temperament to be president of the United States. The audience for the debate was expected to be somewhere between 80 and 100 million, the largest for a political event ever. (It wound up achieving that goal.)

All of these things pointed to the absolute necessity for Trump to perform well. And, what happened? His debate prep team couldn't get him to pay attention. That is, literally, stunning. Put yourself in a comparable situation. You are applying for a job you really want. Your interview is in five days. You hire an interview coach to help you do well. Then you just can't bring yourself to pay attention to the advice he or she gives you.

[jcgoldie]

1. Does it really surprise anyone?

He seems to have the attention span of a 2nd grader. At least Sarah Palin knew she was ignorant and wasn't too arrogant to attempt to cram.

[yellowcanine]

11. Actually most 2nd graders have a longer attention span than Trump.

And they don't insult people either.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Still hasn't figured out Trump World.

Losers play by the rules.

[Soxfan58]

3. And thats

Presidental material?

[sarae]

4. That's exactly what Tony Schwartz ("Art of the Deal" ghostwriter) said about Trump.

He said Trump absolutely cannot focus on anything for more than 5 minutes at a time. Whenever he had meetings with him, he couldn't get Trump to concentrate at all, which is frightening when you think of having someone like that as president.

[Brainstormy]

5. You beat me to it

I've seen Schwartz's take on Trump demonstrated repeatedly throughout this campaign.

[sarae]

6. The man knows Trump well...:)

[Avalux]

7. He's incapable of preparing. Won't change for next debate.

There's no way in hell, within a week, he will suddenly be any different. In fact, he's going to hunker down and be more even extreme.

Time for Hillary to finish him off.

[NewJeffCT]

18. yes

expect him to bring up Bill's infidelities and how Hillary "enabled" him, how Rosie O'Donnell and Alicia Machado are fat pigs and so on and so forth.

[brush]

8. We all may have to admit (or go all schadenfreude about it), Trump is a little dense.

Intelligence and attention span — closely related — if the attention span is too short to absorb info and formulate ways to use it, and then subsequently recall that information and deploy it at the crucial times, you just have to conclude the individual in question is just not that smart (schadenfreude goes here imo).

In other words he's just a blowhard, spoiled rich kid (still) whose racist father propped him up with millions for several years before he finally learned how to make a profit by throwing his weight/name around while stiffing and suing people and fooling creditors to lend to him enormous sums, but then ultimately stiffing them too with multiple bankruptcies.

Sleezy, yes. Smart, no. Who is stupid enough to smirk and make what he thinks is a smart remark in front of 84 million people that he's too smart to pay taxes.

And he wants to be the leader of the country.

Many, often times take their cues from following what their leaders do and if a leader says it's smart to not pay taxes, they will figure out ways to not pay them also.

Duh, Trump, don't you get it (obviously he doesn't)?

No taxes, bye bye country. There will be no money to empower the Federal government to maintain the institutions of the nation.

[ALBliberal]

20. Excellent summation. Nt

[brush]

23. Thank you.

[LAS14]

9. When a president is elected who is not super smart, we...

... take comfort in the fact that he's surrounded by really smart advisors. We wouldn't be able to in this case. Combine inability to pay attention with inability to let subordinates make the actual decisions and you have a true disaster of mythic proportions.

[unitedwethrive]

10. Exactly!

[retrowire]

12. this is a very important point that i didnt really focus on

But damn it, they're right! He can't take instructions or council? Fuck that! That would be a terrible president!

I can't fucking believe he's THIS CLOSE!!! What the fuck is wrong with our country???!!

[lark]

13. He can't pay attention becaue he's not interested.

He doesn't want to do the job of being the US president. he just wants the power to do things to help himself and let Pence run everything else. He wants to end the sanctions on Russia so he can sell the oligarchs mansions again, wants to let Russia invade Ukraine and not participate with NATO counter measures so his loans from Russia get cancelled, wants to change the tax code to advantage himself and everything not benefits him directly gets handled by Pence. That's why he can't summon up the attention, he truly doesn't give a damn. He thinks winning is a given and that's all that matters to delusional him.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. He wants only the prestige of being POTUS, none of the work associated with the job.

Which is probably not a big leap from his previous experience.

[pnwmom]

22. He can't pay attention because he's his own god. He's the center of the universe.

He knows everything already, and no one else has anything to teach him.

[PatSeg]

15. I remember reading something similar

about Sarah Palin when she was governor of Alaska. Her aides couldn't get her to sit still and focus for more than a few minutes. Trump and Palin are the type of people who want the attention and accolades without any of the necessary work.

[Lifelong Protester]

16. We will not see a "new" Donald

EVER. The next debate, or ever. He is what he is. He's like watching a wreck in slow motion.

[randr]

17. He walked off the dais with one thing on his mind

and it must have obsessed him throughout the debate.
What would he blame his sniffles on? His immediate response to blamed the mike must have come to him as he was being distracted by actual dialogue. I recall that after a certain rant he actually asked if he had been asked a question.
When the mike excused distracted enough reporters he swiftly threw out the misogynistic attack on his former employee and that ballooned enough to hide what 80+ million people saw as a very poor performance.
He is not the genius he is purported to b; he has merely figured out that most people go into denial when treated as imbeciles.

[Doc_Technical]

19. Donald Trump is a Pakled

ST/NG

[UCmeNdc]

21. Trump is incompetent

Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent!

[oasis]

24. Trump's a pampered, know-it-all. That much was always clear. nt

[HenryJ]

25. Trump clearly thought he could bluff his way through. n/t

[yallerdawg]

26. "Rich, white, male privilege."

AND he packs a gun!

I'm sure the only conversation he is paying attention to is the internal dialogue in his head!

[Gabi Hayes]

27. Trump hates himself more than anyone else in the world does, which is a VERY large number,

and very difficult to imagine, considering his loathsomeness.

His insanity does not allow him to NOT stab himself in the back at moments of his greatest apparent success.

He so needs to be analyzed by a professional

that said, how could this defect not be more obvious

somebody who can write.......please expand upon this notion