As we noted the other day, the Trump- Pence (TP) ticket roll- out on Saturday was one of the most disastrous, "half-assed" political performances in recent memory. The form and content of the roll- out was yet another demonstration of vacuous narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump's unfitness for any public office (as always, please take time to read the entire pieces, if you can):
Ezra Klein:
What started as farce continued as farce. Trump emerged without Pence. He spoke, alone, at a podium adorned with Trump’s name, but not Pence’s. And then Trump proceeded to talk about himself for 28 minutes. There is no other way to say this than to say it: it was the single most bizarre, impulsive, narcissistic performance I have ever seen from a major politician. [snip]
I can tell you that he rambled, but that doesn’t do it justice. He spoke about Hillary Clinton, about himself, about his victories. He talked about crushing the Republican establishment in the primaries and talking to a buddy building plants in Mexico. He bragged about the beautiful hotel he is building in Washington, DC, and patted himself on the back for his foreign policy foresight over the years.
Every five minutes or so, he seemed to remember, just for a moment, like a man trying and failing to wake from a dream, that he was there to introduce Mike Pence, and so he would say something like, "now back to Mike Pence," but then he would slip back again, and tell another anecdote about himself.
Even when he did mention Pence, he often managed to say exactly the wrong thing. "One of the big reasons I chose Mike is party unity, I have to be honest," Trump admitted midway through his speech, at the moment another candidate would have said "I chose Mike because he’ll be a great president." Trump then segued into a riff on how thoroughly he had humiliated the Republican establishment in state after state. Thus he managed to turn Pence from a peace offering into a head on a pike, a warning to all who might come after. (our emphasis)James Fallows:
You would probably need to see the whole thing, from Trump’s entry 10 seconds into the clip to his baton-pass to Pence 28 minutes later, to assess the claim I’m about to make. But here it goes: I think this event rivals and even surpasses his “I hate mosquitos!” speech, described here, in raising concerns about Trump’s basic fitness to govern, at the temperamental and emotional level. (our emphasis)Fallows then lists several points in Rump's roll- out speech that were past bizarre, including this one:
The morning after an attempted coup in Turkey — a country that is a NATO ally, where U.S. nuclear weapons are based, which is at the center of international tensions over refugees and the struggles within Islam and dealing with ISIS and dealing with Syria — Trump’s comments, as potential commander in chief, were, in toto: “So many friends in Turkey. Great people, amazing people. We wish them well. A lot of anguish last night, but hopefully it will all work out.”What. A. Clueless. Moron.
With all that said, keep these numbers in mind:
Pre-convention national polls >— Adam Wollner (@AdamWollner) July 17, 2016
NBC/WSJ: Clinton 46, Trump 41
ABC/WaPo: Clinton 47, Trump 43
CNN/ORC: Clinton 49, Trump 42
An average of 42 percent of voters polled would choose this unfit narcissist to sit in the Oval Office with the nuclear launch codes. Appalling.
(Image: The first and last time we'll be so obvious -- promise!)
