After President Joe Biden announced his decision not to seek a second term, Donald Trump responded with uncharacteristic class, thanking the Democratic incumbent for his decades of service to the United States and the American people.
No, I’m just kidding. The Republican actually responded to Biden’s news with an ugly missive published by way of his social media platform, which read in part:
Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement.
Nearly an hour later, the former president followed up with a similar online message, which read in part:
Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation. He has done everything possible to destroy our Country. … He was not fit to serve from the very beginning, but the people around him lied to America about his Complete and Total Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Demise.
The Republican then concluded in a third online item, “Crooked Joe just got knocked out, so now I’ll have to do it a FOURTH TIME!!!”
I’m not altogether sure what that meant, unless Trump was making a rare reference to his ill-fated consideration of the Reform Party’s presidential nomination in 2000.
For good measure, the former president went on to suggest, for reasons unknown, that Biden’s recent Covid infection was an elaborate ruse for reasons that only make sense to Trump.
Regardless, the Republican nominee doesn’t actually gain anything from such viciousness. Biden is exiting the stage anyway. Trump likely would’ve benefited far more from a gracious statement than a spiteful one.
But we’re left with the same lesson we saw in his Republican National Convention speech: Trump, in a rather literal sense, simply can’t help himself. Taking the high road after Biden’s announcement would’ve helped his campaign, but the former president is who he appears to be. His instinct is to be needlessly malicious at all times, and he appears incapable of anything else.
As last week got underway, Axios reported that Americans should expect to see a different kind of Trump in the wake of the assassination attempt. “Almost dying rocks perspectives — and people,” the report read.
Axios added, “Yes, Trump has shown little appetite for changing his ways, tone and words. But his advisers tell us Trump plans to seize his moment by toning down his Trumpiness, and dialing up efforts to unite a tinder-box America.”
Four days later, Politico published a related report, noting that in the aftermath of the shooting in Pennsylvania, “Republicans who have observed and spoken with former President Donald Trump say they have detected a new softness to the man whose brand has been anything but.”
The article added, “GOP allies, in roughly a dozen interviews, used words like ‘emotional’ and ‘serene’ — even ‘spiritual’ — to describe Trump in the days since the attempt on his life.”
To the extent that such descriptions ever had merit, that time has clearly come and gone.
This post was updated to reflect Trump’s weird Covid-related claims.
