Donald Trump just had a stunningly ugly 24 hours
How many fronts can someone fail on at once? It sounds like the premise of a dark comedy. Instead it’s somehow the most accurate description of a man who’s the de facto presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party.
Donald Trump made a major political gaffe yesterday when he tried to pivot toward the center on abortion – one of the few issues that you can’t pivot toward the center on without losing your base in the process. It pointed to total cluelessness, and it also further suggested that Trump is so far gone cognitively that he’s not even participating in these kinds of decisions.
Screwing up the abortion issue alone would make for a devastating enough day for a presidential candidate. But that was the least of Trump’s worries on Monday. Even as he was losing his political gambit, he also lost his last ditch appeal to delay the start of his first criminal trial. That trial date is now more locked in than ever, and jury selection will begin in just six days.
Screwing up politically, while also preparing to imminently go on criminal trial, adds up to quite a devastating day. But that still wasn’t the entire story. Even more questions surfaced about the legitimacy of the $175 million bond that Trump recently posted after he was found liable for a lifetime of financial fraud. The New York AG is now challenging the bond in court, which means it could well be rejected, and Trump’s homes could start being seized.
So Donald Trump is now looking at being a convicted felon, being broke, and going off a cliff politically. That’s before getting to the various polls that say Trump will lose a significant number of votes from conservatives outside his base once he’s convicted. Trump’s problems aren’t just ugly and numerous; they’re cascading.
Worse for Donald Trump, it’s not just that he’s failing on so many fronts. It’s that when faced with the question of how many fronts he can lose on at once, he almost seems to be taking it as a challenge. Trump seems intent on losing on every front possible, all at once. So be it.
