Dejected Donald Trump is holed up watching old video clips of himself yelling about Obama
Now that the majority of the American people are accurately blaming Donald Trump for his government shutdown, it turns out Trump isn’t taking it particularly well. His tweets have been roughly as cranky and belligerent as ever. But behind the scenes, Trump is engaging in behavior that’s so off the rails as to be almost unbelievable. In fact, if this weren’t coming from the New York Times, we wouldn’t believe it.
Here’s how the NY Times is characterizing Trump’s behavior behind the scenes, in the final paragraph of a lengthy article (link): “Irritated to have missed his big event in Florida, Mr. Trump spent much of his day watching old TV clips of him berating President Barack Obama for a lack of leadership during the 2013 government shutdown, a White House aide said, seeming content to sit back and watch the show.” That’s right, Trump is literally sitting around and watching old clips of himself yelling about Obama.
Meanwhile Trump is tweeting this nonsense: “Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!” Nevermind, of course, that five Republicans voted against the continuing resolution on Friday night, meaning the party wouldn’t even have enough votes to pass that, let alone a budget, even if it changed the Senate rules to require a simple majority.
If Donald Trump is so far out of his mind that he’s sitting around watching old clips of himself, he’s clearly deteriorating in real time as the shutdown plays out. It’s just a matter of time before he explodes on Twitter in the kind of rant that will catch even the biggest of cynics off guard.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report