Donald Trump must be scared out of his mind

| 12:40 pm EDT July 22, 2020
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When Donald Trump stepped in front of the cameras yesterday and stumbled his way through a trite prepared statement that he obviously had no hand in writing, it was clear that one or more of his advisers had convinced him that he was going to lose the election unless he went out there and do it

Trump’s willingness to read the statement, which included a full throated defense of wearing masks and an admission that the pandemic is going to get even worse, was a clear signal that he’s truly scared. He knows he’s in trouble. He’s even figured out that his usual way of doing things isn’t going to get him out of this jam.

In a sign of just how scared Trump is of his own shadow, he hasn’t even tweeted in nineteen hours. His handlers must have convinced him that his deranged Twitter meltdowns are harming his cause as well. Here’s the thing, though: it won’t last.

We’ve seen Donald Trump start playing to the script a few times in the past. He never sticks to the script for long. If anything, the more his handlers keep him pent-up, the more angry and deranged his eventual meltdown ends up being. Trump is supposedly doing another briefing this afternoon. We’ll see if he ends up going of script and off the deep end today, or if it takes a bit longer.

But the real story here is that Trump is scared enough about his sinking prospects that he’s at least briefly willing to pull back on his own instincts and try presidenting by numbers. Trump must be scared out of his mind.