He’s also a very big baby
Trump really can't get ever being called "weird."
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) August 19, 2024
He is now crying about being called “weird," in Pennsylvania and is mocking Tim Walz’s enthusiasm and Kamala Harris’ laugh. pic.twitter.com/vOzLlRUrpk
From inflated crowd numbers and stories about Queen Elizabeth II’s good graces to beauty contests with Kamala Harris and AI endorsements from adoring Swities, it seems the Republican campaign just can’t get enough of itself.
In a move that perhaps recalls one of their top backers having turned Twitter into the world’s largest echo chamber, Trump insiders now claim to have shelled out just under $50,000 to run ads in and around Mar-a-Lago—apparently for the sole purpose of keeping both the presidential candidate and local donors in good spirits.
A source told the Bulwark that this is really about the donors and Trump’s ego is just a happy side effect. I don’t believe it. I think this is all about his ego. (They do this every time.)
George Conway is already there:
Florida Politics reports [he] has spent upward of “six figures” on a 60-second slot across ESPN, Fox News and the Golf Channel to air in exactly the same cherished Florida spot.
Part of his “PsychoPAC” initiative, Conway’s ad apparently features a solid roster of Trump’s greatest hits, such as references to “the late, great Hannibal Lecter,” claims that “windmill noise causes cancer,” struggles with bottled water and touting bleach as a miracle cure for COVID-19.
Whatever the contents of Trump’s forthcoming Mar-a-Lago clip, it’ll be hard pressed to beat Conway’s overarching message for pithiness. As the PsychoPAC website homepage reads: “Voters have forgotten one important fact: Trump is f—ing nuts.”
As Michael Tomasky in TNR wrote earlier, ridicule against Trump is very powerful. He can dish it out …
Harris’s campaign so far has been a work of genius on several levels, but maybe the most ingenious stroke of all has been the decision to mock Trump—to present him not only as someone to fear but also to ridicule. Harris perfectly encapsulated this two-pronged attack in these memorable lines from her acceptance speech: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences—but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.… Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
But the emphasis has been on ridicule (Tim Walz’s “weird” comment, Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s jab at Trump’s bone spurs, Barack Obama’s hilarious hand gesture when he was talking about Trump’s obsession with crowd size). It’s great on three levels. The first is that it must drive Trump nuts, and when he goes nuts, he says especially nutty things. Second, it’s arguably more persuasive to swing voters than calling Trump a fascist. Trump is a fascist, make no mistake. But he’s also ridiculous. Mocking him over his Hannibal Lecter obsession will stick in apolitical people’s minds far more strongly than warning about his plans to wreck the Justice Department, and in its way, it’s just as disqualifying. Do we really want a president who thinks an eater of human flesh, however fictional, was misunderstood?
Apparently, almost half the country thinks that’s just fine.