Donald Trump has found a whole new way to lose

| 7:30 pm EDT April 26, 2020
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Like any addict who feels clinically compelled to continue indulging his addiction until he completely bottoms out, Donald Trump had to feel the pain of his disinfectant meltdown before he finally realized he had to break off his addiction to the attention that he gets from his press briefings.

Now Trump is doing what so many addicts do once they’ve finally broken off a particular addiction: he’s indulging in a different addition. In Trump’s case he’s gone from his attention-seeking press conference meltdowns, to his old habit of attention-seeking Twitter meltdowns.

Trump’s tweets today include everything from a rant about a hamburger, to a meltdown about Pulitzer Prizes, which he thinks are Nobel Prizes, which he thinks are spelled Noble Prizes. Trump is “succeeding” in grabbing everyone’s attention with these tweets, just as he was “succeeding” in getting everyone to tune in for his press briefings.

But as Donald Trump’s sinking approval numbers and poll numbers show, attention does not translate to votes. In fact, Trump is bringing himself the kind of attention that’s costing him votes. Like any addict, though, he’s wired to care more about getting attention than anything else – whatever it costs him.