Donald Trump just broke himself
For weeks it’s been clear that Donald Trump’s press briefings have been harming his reelection prospects. His approval rating and 2020 poll numbers keep dropping. He’s now behind in every swing state. If there is a way for Trump to get himself back into contention, these briefings aren’t it. But because narcissists are addicts at heart, he just couldn’t stop himself.
Trump was clinically addicted to doing his daily briefings, because it was his only opportunity to get in front of the cameras, place the attention on himself, and be a jerk to the people in the room. His handlers were probably keeping his sinking poll numbers from him, but Trump had to know that none of this was going well for him. Then yesterday, like all out-of-control addicts, he bottomed out.
Trump made the unforced error of trying to promote the idea of defeating coronavirus by injecting disinfectants into the human body. It was one of the most inexplicably dumb things any U.S. President has ever said, dumb even by Trump’s standards. Not just dumb, but dangerously dumb. Shockingly dumb. Four alarm blaze dumb. It was the kind of thing that told voters on the fence exactly which side of the fence they should be listening to. Trump isn’t the “unconventional” outsider his apologists paint him as being. He’s a disastrous idiot who shouldn’t even be allowed into the White House on a visitor pass.
Donald Trump finally seems to understand that his narcissistic addiction to attention has gotten the best of him. His press briefing lasted just a few minutes today, and ended before reporters could ask any questions about his disinfectant scandal. Now Axios is reporting that Trump is supposedly going to significantly pull back on doing briefings. We’ll see if it sticks. But it’s clear that Trump knows he blew it. Now he’s finally pulling back from his briefings. He’s finally been broken. In fact he broke himself.
