Trump in the Dumps [View all]

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Trump in the Dumps

Maureen Dowd at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/opinion/sunday/trump-in-the-dumps.html

"SNIP...........


Before his campaign became infused with racial grievance, victimhood and violence, Trump told me, “I have fun with life and I understand life and I want to make life better for people.” If he had those better angels, he didn’t listen to them. Seduced by the roar of the angry crowd, Trump kept dishing out racially offensive comments about “my African-American,” a black man he spotted at a California rally; the “Mexican” judge on the Trump University case; and the “Afghan” who committed the atrocities in Orlando. Mitt Romney is right that Trump’s rhetoric causes “trickle-down racism” and misogyny. The Washington Post had a front-page story on Friday about the vulgarities freely directed at Hillary Clinton by men and women at Trump rallies.

Trump told me he could act like the toniest member of high society when he wanted, and he would as soon as he dispatched his G.O.P. rivals. He said his narcissism would not hinder him as he morphed into a leader. But he can’t stop lashing out and doesn’t get why that turns people against him. Everything is filtered through his ego. He reacted to Orlando not as a tragedy so much as a chance to brag about “the congrats” he got for “being right on radical Islamic terrorism.”

The presumptive but now tenuous nominee seemed bereft at a Dallas rally on Thursday night when he could no longer brag about his polls, which are shattering records for negativity. Finally, on Friday, Trump couldn’t stop himself from tweeting out a poll, even though it was one that showed him behind Hillary.

Trump has made his campaign all about his ability to win. So if he stops winning, what’s his raison d’être?


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